Manav-Manush bow out in semi-finals of WTT Star Contender Doha

The Indian men's doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah, on Thursday, bowed out of the semi-finals of the WTT Star Contender Doha.

The pair from Gujarat went down 9-11, 11-7, 1-11, 11-8, 7-11 in a closely fought battle against second seeds Xu Yingbin and Xiang Peng of China.

Thakkar and Shah, ranked 10th in the world, were the third seeded men's doubles pair in the competition. Earlier in the day, they created history by becoming the first Indian men's doubles pair to qualify for the semi-finals of a WTT Star Contender event.

Thakkar and Shah had blanked Hong Kong's Kwan Man Ho and Lam Siu Hang 3-0 in the quarter-finals to achieve the feat.

Earlier, Thakkar had suffered a loss in the men's singles Round of 32 against Japan's Sora Matsushima. He went down 7-11, 7-11, 8-11 to end his singles campaign.

Manika Batra had also suffered an early loss in women's singles. She also crashed out of the tournament following a 1-4 loss to Britt Eerland.

Meanwhile, Sreeja Akula is the only Indian left in contention at the event. She reached the women's singles Round of 16 following a 3-1 victory over Jieni Shao of Portugal.

Akula is now poised to take on the fifth seeded Qian Tianyi in the pre-quarters on Friday.