Mumbai: Diya Chitale sensed a different body language in her, Manush Shah and them as a doubles combination on Friday morning that gave her a bit of an inkling. They were playing Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem, the world No.4 pair whom they had lost to twice previously.
They did just that, grabbing the first game, leading in the second, squandering it, yet keeping calm without losing hope. The eight-ranked Indian duo upset Ting and Kem, the world No.4 multiple-time World Championships medallists, 3-1 (11-6, 13-15, 11-9, 11-5) in the quarter-final to confirm the medal. They then lost to Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, China’s mighty singles world No.1 and No.2 collectively ranked second in mixed doubles, 4-0 (8-11, 5-11, 8-11, 2-11) in the semi-final. In both their previous tight 2-3 defeats to the Hong Kong pair, the Indians had lost the first two games before clawing back.
They studied videos of those matches on Thursday, and hit the table on Friday more determined to start well and set the tone.
Indians got going only in 2018 with the men’s team, before two doubles medals followed (mixed in 2018 and women’s in 2023). Diya, 23, and Manush, 25, are in rare company. The Italian, who was in the role during the 2018 Asiad and for another term from 2024-2026, sat at home between May and August waiting for his contract renewal. The first-ever ITTF Doubles Cup will be held in 2027, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will feature a new mixed team event to go with the three doubles.
Because of what happened over the past few days in the Games, but also over the past few weeks and months leading up to it, not just. TT medals are at a premium for the country at the nearly Olympic-standard Asian Games. Diya was also at a loss for words. Well, not completely. Far from having national camps and planned preparations, the build-up was chaotic. “They struggled a lot for many things. “We worked a lot on our timing of shots. And the timing of this medal couldn’t be better. That assumes more importance given that doubles, and mixed as a category, is taking centre stage in global TT.
“It’s a little bit unbelievable at the moment,” Manush told HT. “We really wanted this,” she said. Massimo Costantini, India’s foreign TT coach, termed it a “half miracle”. “I’m not saying I’m most essential, but the circumstances, without blaming anyone, put the players under pressure,” Costantini said. “That fuelled the fire in us for the Asian Games,” said Manush.
He was asked to dash for an event in August, go back home again after the Table Tennis Federation of India’s suspension, and rejoin days before the continental challenge.
“We were shouting after each point. We knew what this match meant for us. They were also shouting after the match. For they knew what it meant. Diya and Manush delivered only the fourth table tennis medal in India’s Asian Games history at Aichi-Nagoya, a mixed doubles bronze.
“We were really aggressive today,” Diya told HT.
