India’s Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar produced a spirited comeback in the men’s doubles event at the Europe Smash in Malmo, Sweden, on Wednesday, even as Manika Batra and the country’s men’s singles contenders bowed out of the tournament.
The World No. 3 combination of Manush and Manav overturned a two-game deficit to defeat Spain’s Daniel Berzosa and Juan Perez 3-2 in a gripping pre-quarterfinal. After losing the opening games 5-11 and 6-11, the Indians transformed the contest with an emphatic 11-4 third game.
They maintained the momentum to take the next two games 11-8 and 11-3, completing an impressive turnaround. Having received a first-round bye, Manush and Manav will next meet eighth-seeded Belgians Martin Allegro and Adrien Rassenfosse for a semifinal berth.
There was disappointment for Manika in women’s singles. The World No. 56 suffered a straight-games defeat against American World No. 28 Lily Zhang, losing 12-14, 7-11, 6-11 in 28 minutes.
Qualifier Diya Chitale is now the only Indian remaining in the women’s singles draw. She advanced with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-9) victory over compatriot Sreeja Akula and will face fifth-seeded Chinese Wang Yidi in the round of 32.
Diya, however, endured setbacks in the doubles competitions. She and Manush lost 1-3 (14-12, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11) to Alexis Lebrun and Satsuki Odo in the mixed doubles round of 16.
In women’s doubles, Diya and Yashaswini Ghorpade were edged 2-3 by Germans Annett Kaufmann and Sabine Winter. Syndrela Das and Slovak partner Tatiana Kukulkova also exited after a 0-3 defeat to second-seeded Chinese pair Wang Manyu and Kuai Man.
India’s campaign in men’s singles ended with defeats for Manush, Manav and G. Sathiyan. Manush pushed Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin to five games before losing 2-3, while Manav was beaten 0-3 by fourth-seeded Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto.
Sathiyan suffered a 1-3 defeat against another Japanese opponent, second seed Sora Matsushima.
With the singles challenge considerably reduced, attention will now turn to Manush and Manav as the highly ranked Indian pair attempts to extend its run in the men’s doubles competition.
