Several Indian pairs progressed to the pre-quarterfinals in the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles, keeping the country’s medal hopes alive across all three categories
Published: August 1, 2026, 11:55 AM IST
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File photo of Harmeet Desai from the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (Credits: IANS)
Manush Shah and the well experienced Harmeet Desai led a strong Indian performance in the individual events at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships as most of the home players booked their places in the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s and women’s singles on Friday.
India enjoyed another successful day with 11 of its 14 players progressing from the round of 32, keeping the country’s hopes alive in both singles competitions.
Manush faced a tough challenge from Australia’s Chulong Nie in the opening game but recovered well after dropping itThe Indian found his rhythm as the match progressed and registered an 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 victory to move into the last 16.
Also Read: Commonwealth Games 2026: Tejaswin Shankar wins India’s first-ever medal in men’s Decathlon
Harmeet Desai also had to work hard for his winAfter losing the first game to Australia’s Xuqi Lin, the veteran responded with his trademark consistency to take the next four games and seal a 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 victory.
World number 38 Manav Thakkar had a much easier outing, defeating Maldives’ Akhyar Ahmed Khalid in straight gamesSanil Shetty, Jas Modi, Payas Jain and Akash Pal also advanced comfortably after winning their respective matches.
The all-Indian contests produced some exciting battlesHJehob defeated Mudit Dani in straight games, while Ankur Bhattacharjee came back from a game down to beat Divyansh SrivastavaSnehit also recovered after losing the opening game to overcome Raegan Albuquerque in six games.
Ronit Bhanja was pushed all the way by Singapore’s Ellsworth Le before holding his nerve to win the deciding game 15-13 and book his place in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the women’s singles, India’s biggest challenge came for Commonwealth Games medallist Sreeja AkulaShe was stretched to seven games by Australia’s Jiamuwa Wu before coming through with a 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 10-12, 11-2 victory.
Swastika Ghosh, Anusha Kutumbale, Syndrela Das, Taneesha Kotecha, Nithya Shree Mani, Sayali Wani, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Yashaswini Ghorpade also won their matches to enter the pre-quarterfinals.
India, however, suffered a few exitsEngland’s Tin-Tin Ho came back from a game down to defeat Kavya Bhatt, while Malaysia’s Ai Xin Tee beat Suhana SainiAustralia’s Constantina Psihogios edged Yashini Sivasankar 19-17 in the deciding game after a thrilling seven-game contest, and Malaysia’s Alice Li Sian Chang defeated Sayanika Maji in straight games.
India also continued its strong run in the doubles competitionsSeveral Indian pairs progressed to the pre-quarterfinals in the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles, keeping the country’s medal hopes alive across all three categories.
