Table Tennis World Championships 2025: Manush-Diya pair wins, Harmeet-Yashaswini duo out in 1st round
India's mixed doubles campaign at the Table Tennis World Championships in Doha, Qatar, began on a bittersweet note on Sunday.
While the ninth-seeded pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale started with a win in straight games, the 14th-seeded duo of Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade failed to capitalise on a 2-0 lead and also wasted three match points to exit the competition in the opening round.
Manush and Diya, who won their maiden WTT Contender title in Tunis last this month, had no trouble in beating the Algerian pair of Mehdi Bouloussa and Malissa Nasri 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-6) in 16 minutes. They will next face either the Korean pair of Oh Junsung and Kim Nayeong or the Kiwi duo of Dean Shu and Jocelyn Lam.
READ | Table Tennis World Championships 2025: Ayhika-Sutirtha, Yashaswini-Diya give India winning start; Sreeja knocked out in first round
Facing the unseeded French pair of Thibault Poret and Leana Hochart, Harmeet and Yashaswini bagged the first two games 11-8 and 11-6. The Indians had a 9-6 lead in the third game but Poret and Hochart managed to fight back, winning six of the next seven points.
The French duo won the fourth game 11-8 to take the match to a decider.
Harmeet and Yashaswini were in control, leading 6-2, and had three match points at 10-7 before allowing their opponents to make another comeback.
Later in the day, Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar, Ankur Bhattacharjee, G. Sathiyan and Yashaswini will begin their campaign in singles.
Sathiyan will also be in action in men's doubles with Harmeet.
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