Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah spearhead India’s Asian Games table tennis bid

Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah will lead India’s table tennis squad in Nagoya as the team begins its Asian Games campaign on Sunday (September 20, 2026). The side has set a target of winning at least one medal at the continental event.

The Indian women’s team is placed in Group F and will open against Indonesia before facing Singapore later on the same day, while India claimed an unexpected bronze at the last edition through the women’s doubles pairing of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee.

The men’s doubles combination of Manush and Manav is currently ranked third in the world, and the pair have been identified as India’s best shot at a podium finish; the mixed doubles duo of Manush and Diya Chitale has also been described as being in good form.

Seventeen-year-old Syndrela Das, ranked 99th in the ITTF women’s singles, has been called up to the senior side after strong domestic performances, a development the report says adds a youthful component to the squad alongside experienced players.

The 10-member team, comprising five male and five female players, includes G. Sathiyan, Sreeja Akula, Y. D. Ghorpade, Sutirtha, Payas Jain and Harmeet Desai among others. Sathiyan is noted as the most experienced player in the group and holds a bronze from the 2018 Asian Games men’s team event as well as multiple Commonwealth Games medals.

The table tennis squad arrived in Nagoya on September 16 and have been working to acclimatise to the competition tables and balls used at the Asian Games. "This is my third Asian Games, and the preparations have been really good. The whole team has been playing very well in the past one month. Yes, we are going a little early to get used to the weather over there. Our event starts from 20, so hopefully we try to do our best and try to take the medal home," Manav said.

Manush addressed expectations on the pair, saying: "Yeah, I mean expectations are high from me and Manav. We are one of the best in the world right now. We will try to play our best, of course. The main focus will be to take it step by step, match by match. "And we do want to have a bigger expectation, at least from ourselves, because of course we want to match the level that we have been playing since the past one year," he said.

The Indian men’s team will face Indonesia in its first Group F match and play Iran in its second match on Sunday (September 20).