Manush Shah and Diya Chitale Win Asian Games 2026 Bronze

Manush Shah and Diya Chitale secured a bronze medal in the table tennis mixed doubles at the Asian Games 2026, delivering India’s first medal in the sport at the ongoing Games. The Indian pair’s run ended in the semifinals on Friday with a 0-4 defeat to Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha at Sky Hall Toyota.

Shah and Chitale lost 8-11, 5-11, 8-11, 2-11 in under 30 minutes, but their place in the semifinals ensured a podium finish. The medal is India’s second in mixed doubles table tennis at the Asian Games, following the bronze won by Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra in Jakarta eight years earlier.

Quarterfinal win assured India’s first table tennis medal

The bronze followed an important quarterfinal victory earlier in the day, when Shah and Chitale beat Hong Kong’s world No. 4 pairing of Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting. The Indian duo prevailed 3-1, winning 11-6, 13-15, 11-9, 11-5 to guarantee India a table tennis medal.

After taking the opening game 11-6, Shah and Chitale were edged 13-15 in the second. They responded by claiming the next two games, 11-9 and 11-5, to reach the last four and assure the medal. That result made their mixed doubles campaign the standout Indian performance of the day.

In the semifinal, however, Wang and Sun claimed each of the four games. Shah and Chitale were competitive in the first and third games before the match concluded with a 2-11 fourth game. Their bronze nevertheless marked a significant result for India’s table tennis contingent at the Games.

Shah also continued his men’s singles campaign, advancing with a 4-0 win over Iran’s Benyamin Faraji. In the women’s singles, Yashaswini Ghorpade booked her place in the round of 16 after defeating Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1. Ghorpade won the first three games 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, dropped the fourth 8-11, and sealed the match with an 11-4 fifth game.

Mixed results for India across singles and doubles

Elsewhere, Manav Thakkar exited the men’s singles round of 32 after losing 2-4 to North Korea’s U Tae Ryong. Thakkar won the first game 11-4 and later the fifth 11-4, but U took the other four games 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 and 11-3.

Sreeja Akula also exited in the round of 32, going down 1-4 to Pyon Song Gyong. Akula won the third game 13-11 after losing the opening two, but Pyon completed the win with 11-7 and 11-7 games.

India’s men’s doubles teams were also eliminated. Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan, who had earlier beaten Indonesia’s Muhammad Negara and Affan Pratama 3-2, lost 0-3 to Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami in the round of 16. Shah and Thakkar fell 1-3 to Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hiroto Shinnozuka in the round of 32.

In women’s doubles, Sreeja and Syndrela Das lost 0-3 to Kuai Man and Wang Manyu in the pre-quarterfinals, while Yashaswini and Chitale were beaten 0-3 by Fan Shuhan and Chen Yi at the same stage. Yashaswini’s mixed doubles partnership with Harmeet also ended in the pre-quarterfinals after a 0-3 loss to Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.

For Shah and Chitale, though, the mixed doubles bronze stands as India’s first table tennis medal of the Asian Games 2026 and a notable addition to the country’s record in the event.