India's men's doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah ended the WTT Feeder Otocec 2024 tournament as runners-up. Up against the South Korean pair of Kim Minhyeok and Park Ganghyeon in the final, on Monday, April 1, the Indian duo lost 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 12-14, 8-11.
In a match that lasted 44 minutes, the Indian pair came tantalizingly close to winning the contest. After taking a 2-1 lead in the match, Thakkar and Shah had a match point at 12-11 in the fourth game. However, the Korean pair reeled off three points to win the game and force a decider.
The final game was level at 6-6 at one stage, but then, the pair of Kim and Park took three successive points. This proved decisive as the Korean pair walked away with the title.
The Indian pair have now reached the final of three successive WTT Feeder series events. They made it to the final of the WTT Feeder Beirut event earlier this month and followed it up by reaching the final in the WTT Feeder Beirut II tournament. While they had to settle for silver in the first event, they won gold in Beirut II.
India's overall performance in WTT Feeder Otocec 2024
Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah were the only Indians to feature in the finals of the WTT Feeder Otocec 2024 event. Other divisions where Indians featured in the main draw were men's and women's singles.
In the men's singles, India had three participants, which included Thakkar and Shah.
Thakkar went farthest in this division, reaching the quarterfinals where he was defeated by Finland's Benedek Olah. Shah could only make it as far as the second round. He was outdone by Iulian Chirita of Romania.
The other Indian in the fray was Harmeet Desai, who lost in the very first round, to Luka Mladenovic of Luxembourg.
The women's singles division only had one Indian in the main draw - Yashaswini Ghorpade. She reached the second round and lost to the Slovak Republic's Tatiana Kukulkova.