WTT Contender Muscat 2023: Diya and Manush only Indian paddlers to reach the quarterfinals, fail to progress further

The WTT Contender Muscat 2023, taking place from October 8-14, 2023 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman, is a highly anticipated table tennis tournament that offers a substantial prize money of 75,000 USD.

Diya Chitale and Manush Shah, who featured earlier at the Asian Games, were the only Indian paddlers to reach the quarterfinals. However, they went down to Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu and Lin Yun-Ju, losing 9-11, 3-11, 11-13.

Another noteworthy performance was by Sreeja Akula in the women’s singles category. In the first round, Akula faced a challenge from former world no. 10 Suh Hyo of Korea, but the young paddler showcased her abilities, convincingly beating her opponent 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5.

Akula ultimately lost in the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament, where she faced a tough opponent in Japan's Miyu Nagasaki. The final scoreline of the match was 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 in favor of the Japanese.

Other results for Indian paddlers

Apart from Sreeja, India was also represented by Archana Kamath and Yashaswini Ghorpade in the women's singles category.

Archana Kamath faced a challenging match in the first round against Germany's Nina Mittelham and lost 9-11, 6-11, 11-3, 4-11.

Yashaswini Ghorpade also faced a first-round defeat against Poland’s Natalia Bajor. The Indian put up a fight, taking the second and third sets, but ultimately fell short 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 10-12.

The women's doubles event saw Sreeja Akula in action again; the 25-year-old paired up with Diya Chitale. The duo faced a challenging match in the round of 16 against the Welsh-Australian duo of Anna Hursey and Minhyung Jee and lost 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 7-11, 6-11.

Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, who recently made history at the Asian Games in Hangzhou by winning the bronze, also faced a tough match in the round of 16. The pair from Naihati lost to Huang Yi-Hua and Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei 4-11, 9-11, 5-11.

In the mixed doubles category, India saw Archana Kamath and Harmeet Desai in addition to Diya and Manush.

Incidentally, Archana Kamath and Harmeet Desai were defeated by fellow Indians Diya Chitale and Manush Shah in the first round. The all-Indian encounter turned out to be an extremely thrilling affair, with Diya and Manush narrowly getting the better of Archana and Harmeet 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-4.

The Indian table tennis players will next be seen in action at the WTT Contender Antalya 2023.