Manav storms into final of WTT Feeder in Beirut
Gandhidham, Mar.21: Gujarat’s prolific paddler Manav Thakkar hit the purple patch as he stormed into his first-ever WTT Feeder final in men’s singles event at the WTT Feeder Beirut 2024 table tennis tournament being played at the Al Kawthar Secondary School in Beirut, Lebanon on Thursday.
The world no. 74 Manav needed all but 28 minutes to blank the world no. 37 AN Jaehyun of S Korea 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 12-10) in a one-sided semi-final affair. Now, a confident-looking Manav will take on world no. 103 G Sathiyan, who beat Chuang Chih-Yuan of Taiwan 3-1 in the semis, in an all-India final in Lebanon.
Earlier, Manav had to work hard for 40 minutes to post a 3-2 win over Navid Shams of Iran in the round of 16 and later he easily dispatched his countrymate S Snehit 3-1 in quarters to book his semis berth.
Men’s singles final is not the only final the 23-year-old Surti will feature in as Manav has already secured tickets to play in the final of the men’s doubles and mixed doubles’ events with his respective partners.
Manav teamed up with his state-mate and good friend Manush Shah in the men’s doubles and the Gujarat duo went past Jeet Chandra and S Snehit of India 3-1 in semis to book their final berth where they will take on the Cuban pair of Jorge Campos and Andy Pereira.
In the mixed doubles final event, the pairing of Manav and Archana Kamath will face India’s Manush and Diya Chitale.
The Manav-Archana duo had sent packing India’s top mixed doubles pairing of Manika Batra and G Sathiyan 3-0 in the quarters and had to work hard to down the Turkish pair of Sibel Altinkaya and Ibrahim Gunduz 3-2 in a tough semi-final encounter.
In the other quarters, Manush and Diya went past Cuba’s Jorge Campos and Daniela Fonseca Carrazana 3-1 and then easily beat Poymantee Baisya and Akash Pal of India 3-1 in the semis.
The current world no. 65 Harmeet Desai from Gujarat failed to live up to his billing as he lost to his close friend and compatriot G Sathiyan 1-3 in the round of 16.
World no. 190 Manush too was ousted in the round of 16 when he went down 1-3 to Chuang Chih-Yuan of Taiwan.