Indian table tennis players Manush Shah and Diya Chitale secured a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event at the Asian Games 2026 after their semifinal campaign ended with a 0-4 defeat to defending champions Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Friday.
The Indian duo had entered the semifinals with confidence after producing a strong 3-1 victory over four-time world medallists and World No. 4 Wong Chun and Doo Ho in the quarterfinals. However, they faced a tougher challenge against the Chinese pair and were unable to reproduce their quarterfinal performance.
Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin Dominate Semifinal
Manush and Diya faced Olympic champions and two-time Asian Games winners Sun and Wang, widely known as the ‘Sha-Tou’ pair.
The Indians competed closely in the opening game but eventually went down 8-11. The Chinese combination then increased the pressure in the second game, winning it 11-5 and taking a 2-0 lead.
Manush and Diya fell 0-5 behind in the third game but managed to fight their way back into contention. They pushed the Chinese duo before eventually losing the game 8-11. The Indian pair struggled to respond in the next game and went down 2-11, bringing the semifinal to an end at 0-4.
Second Indian Mixed Doubles Pair to Win Asiad Medal
The bronze medal makes Manush Shah and Diya Chitale only the second Indian mixed doubles pair to win a medal at the Asian Games, following Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra.
India’s other table tennis combinations also faced difficult outings in their respective events. Men’s doubles players Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran were beaten 0-3 by Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami in the third round.
In women’s doubles, Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale lost 0-3 to China’s Shuhan Fan and Yi Chen in their third-round match.
India’s Other Table Tennis Results
Sreeja Akula and Syndrela Das were also eliminated in the women’s doubles third round after losing 0-3 to China’s Man Kuai and Manyu Wang.
In men’s singles, Manav Thakkar suffered a 2-4 defeat against North Korea’s Ryong Tae in the second round.
Manush Shah had earlier featured in the men’s doubles alongside Manav Thakkar, with the Indian pair losing their second-round contest 1-3 to Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hiroto Shinozuka.
Yashaswini Ghorpade, meanwhile, advanced from the women’s singles second round after defeating Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1.