Draws are out for the 2025 ITTF Table Tennis World Championships

The Indian table tennis players were handed challenging draws at the 2025 ITTF World Championships, which is scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar this month.

Two Indian pairs have been seeded in the top 10 of this prestigious tournament, with Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah seeded 8th in men's doubles, while Manush Shah and Diya Chitale are seeded 9th in mixed doubles.

In men's doubles, Thakkar and Shah will open their campaign against Peter Hribar and Deni Kozul of Slovenia. Meanwhile, the experienced duo of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai will face Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Vladislav Ursu in their first-round match.

In the mixed doubles category, the 9th-seeded pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale will take on Algeria's Mehdi Bouloussa and Malissa Nasri. Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade, India's second entry in mixed doubles, will battle against Thibault Poret and Leana Hochart of France.

For women's doubles, Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade will compete against Uzbekistan's Markhabo Magdieva and Asel Erkebaeva. The experienced duo of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee will face Turkey's Ozge Yilmaz and Ece Harac in their opening encounter.

In women's singles, Yashaswini Ghorpade will go up against Jia Nan Yuan of France, while Sreeja Akula faces Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut.

On the other hand, Diya Chitale will compete against Spain's Sofia-Xuan Zhang, and India's top-ranked woman player, Manika Batra, will take on Nigeria's Fatima Bello.

In the men's singles draw, Ankur Bhattacharjee will face Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong, China, while Manush Shah will battle against Portugal's Tiago Apolonia.

Meanwhile, the highest-ranked Indian men's singles paddler, Manav Thakkar, has been drawn against Timothy Choi of New Zealand, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will compete against France's Thibault Poret.

The 2025 ITTF World Championships will be held at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar, from 17th May to 25th May 2025.