Table Tennis
WTT Contender Tunis: Manush-Diya win the mixed doubles title
Meanwhile, Manav and Manush fell short in the Men's Doubles semifinals.
Diya Chitale-Manush Shah enter the finals of the Mixed doubles of WTT contender Tunis. (Photo credit: WTT)
India's Manush Shah and Diya Chitale clinched the mixed doubles title at the 2025 WTT Contender in Tunis on Saturday. The Indian duo defeated Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto in the final.
In a closely fought contest, Shah and Chitale edged past the world No.8 Japanese pair of Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto 11-9, 5-11, 14-12, 3-11, 11-6.
This was the maiden WTT Contender title for the duo.
With this triumph, Shah and Chitale also became only the second Indian pair after Manika Batra-Sathiyan Gnanasekaran to win a mixed doubles title at the WTT Contender series. It also marked India's first title of the 2025 season across disciplines.
Earlier, Shah and Chitale dominated their opponents Wassim Essid and Hana Goda, with a commanding 3-0 victory in what was a one-sided semifinal contest.
Meanwhile, the second-seeded men's doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah suffered a heartbreaking loss in the semifinals. They were beaten by the German combination of Benedikt Duda and Andre Bertelsmeier in a thrilling five-game encounter.
The Indian duo started strong by winning the first game 11-8, but couldn't maintain their momentum.
After a see-saw battle that lasted just over 40 minutes, they eventually went down 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12.
Diya's mixed fortunes
It was a day of mixed fortunes for Diya Chitale, who was also in action in the women's doubles and singles.
In women's doubles, Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade lost to the Chinese duo of Hu Yi and Ding Yijie 1-3, with the score line reading 6-11, 10-12, 12-10, 4-11.
In the women's singles, Chitale's run came to an end as she was defeated by Germany's Sabine Winter 1-3. After winning the opening game 11-8, Chitale lost the next three games 6-11, 7-11, 9-11.
Elsewhere, India's men's singles challenge also concluded in the round of 16 with Harmeet Desai losing to Japan's Hiroto Shinozuka 1-3.
Desai won the first game 11-9 but couldn't capitalize on the initiative and went on to lose the next three games 9-11, 8-11, 1-11.
