The beginning of the Manush Shah and Diya Chitale partnership was more out of chance. Not among the top individual players in the national team in 2023, the young Indians did not have partners to dabble with in doubles. And so they thought of teaming up and giving mixed doubles a shot.
That shot has hit the mark at the 2026 Asian Games.
Manush and Diya assured a rare medal for India in table tennis after upsetting Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem, the 2025 World Championships bronze medallists, 3-1 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals on Friday.
Deep Dive
How did Manush Shah and Diya Chitale perform in the mixed doubles event at the Asian Games?
What factors contributed to Manush and Diya's success in table tennis at the Asian Games?
What challenges do Manush and Diya face in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles event?
It's a half miracle, as India's foreign TT coach Massimo Costantini summed up in his initial reaction after the victory. This is also because it is just the fourth table tennis medal for the country at the continental multi-sport event, where the competition—especially in doubles where Asians often dominate—is of high, almost Olympic quality.
The young Indian combine, ranked 8th in the WTT mixed doubles charts, was consistently solid against the world No.4 Hong Kong pair. Even the solitary game they dropped was a tight affair in the 11-6, 13-15, 11-9, 11-5 outcome.
The Indians will take on China's second-ranked pair of Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in the semi-final later on Friday. No Indian has ever gone better than bronze in the sport at the Asian Games, and even though beating the mighty Chinese might be an uphill task, Manush, 25, and Diya, 23, have already put themselves in a select club.
{{/usCountry}}The Indians will take on China's second-ranked pair of Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in the semi-final later on Friday. No Indian has ever gone better than bronze in the sport at the Asian Games, and even though beating the mighty Chinese might be an uphill task, Manush, 25, and Diya, 23, have already put themselves in a select club.
{{/usCountry}}The men's team scripted an Asian first for TT in the 2018 edition, from where Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra also returned with bronze in mixed doubles. In Hangzhou three years ago, the women's doubles pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee went on a stunning run to win bronze. At Aichi-Nagoya, Manush and Diya have kept the doubles success streak going for Indian TT.
That was their goal—from the time they knew they could make a good pair months after starting out, and even this year on the back of their rise to the top eight mixed doubles pairs in the world.
"Winning an Asian Games medal is something we are working hard towards," Diya had told HT in April.
“We will go into this Asian Games as strong contenders," Manush had said, "and we will try to make the best use of our youth.”
Youth, and starting out together from a relatively young age, gave them the edge. As India's other top mixed doubles pairs (like Sharath-Manika and G Sathiyan-Manika) phased out, Manush and Diya developed steadily.
They began winning titles at the WTT Feeder level, which forms a springboard to the highest level on the WTT tour. And they sprang up alright, capturing the WTT Contender Tunis title the same year. More significantly, they defeated Japan's top pair of Miwa Harimoto and Sora Matsushima in the final.
That title injected belief in them that they belonged to the elite, and had the game to beat the top Asian rivals. The left-handed Manush and right-handed Diya both call themselves aggressive players, but with different and complementary game styles.
That game style took them to another Star Contender final in Brazil, a quarter-final at the top-tier Singapore Smash, and to the 2025 WTT Finals as the first Indian pair to qualify for the prestigious year-ending event. The duo grabbed another WTT title in Muscat in January this year, with their sights firmly on the Asian Games.
Without a national camp in the lead-up to the event, the Surat-based Manush spent a few days in Mumbai to train together with Diya.
They sensed they could produce something special at the Asian Games. And they did.