Table Tennis
WTT US Smash: Manav-Manush, Diya-Yashaswini bow out in quarterfinals
It ended India's campaign at the 2026 US Smash.
Manav Thakkar (right) and Manush Shah. (Photo credit: WTT)
India's top doubles pairs suffered a quarterfinal exit at the 2026 WTT US Smash in Los Angeles on Wednesday, bringing their campaign in the year’s second WTT Grand Smash to an end.
In the men's doubles, the fifth-seeded duo of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar fell short to Wen Ruibo and Licen Yuan of China 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11.
The Indian duo got off to a poor start, being outclassed in the first two games, with the Chinese duo holding a good lead throughout, leaving them with no chance of a comeback.
They, however, tried to stretch the match and won the third game 11-8 and had a great start to the fourth game as well, leading 7-2 from the start.
But then the Chinese stars showed their class, winning nine of the next ten points to mount a thrilling comeback and knock the Indians out.
Later in the day, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale also exited in the quarterfinals, suffering a straight games defeat.
In their first-ever WTT Grand Smash quarterfinal appearance as a pair, the duo were outdone by the formidable Japanese pair of Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto.
They managed to win just 16 points across the three games, going down 8-11, 3-11, 5-11 to their second-seeded opponents.