Asian Games: Manav-Manush making their left-right combination count

Asian Games: Manav-Manush are world No. 3 and India's best shot at a table tennis podium in Aichi-Nagoya. (SAI)

Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah joined hands in 2023, on a lark.

They had been friends for a decade; partnering formally in doubles was natural. They reached the semi-finals in their first senior tournament together — WTT Contender Tunis — and nearly brought home an Asian Games medal in the second.

Three years on, Manav-Manush are world No. 3 and India’s best shot at a table tennis podium in Aichi-Nagoya.
The bespectacled Gujaratis have a lot going for them. They are the country’s top two men’s singles paddlers. They are a complementary right-hander, left-hander combination. Manush is aggressive, Manav is cast in a counter-attacking mould. But what really makes them tick is a deep, enduring bond starting 2013.

Vadodara’s Manush, a year younger than Surat’s Manav, joined him in the national under-16 team. They travelled and stayed together in Delhi for the South Asian Junior Championships. They’ve been roommates on tour ever since.
The chemistry was evident from the outset. They won an Asian Junior Championships 2018 doubles bronze medal in Myanmar. They also won a number of junior pro tour titles between 2017 and 2019. Then they involuntarily stopped.
Manav grew to the U-21 category, where there was no doubles. Then he took the seniors plunge and started teaming up on and off with Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai. COVID struck in between and Manush only entered the seniors fray in 2022.

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Manav was competitive alongside Amalraj and Harmeet too, but they were both righties. The return of leftie Manush unlocked a new dimension.

“As a junior I didn’t have the awareness (about the benefits of a right-left pair). But now I find it difficult to combine with a righty even in mixed doubles,” Manav tells The Indian Express.

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He is referring to the jostling that can happen mid-rally for two right-handers. Most doubles players have a dominant forehand.

When both are righties, they lack room to manoeuvre to the forehand for their respective shots. A right-left combination solves that problem.

Both partners can play to their strengths, which is more doable in doubles than singles because of the time allowed by alternating shots. The magic happens when a pair can mask each other’s weaknesses too. Manush says, “Till one year back we were solid but made a lot of errors. Now we are levelling up each other’s game. He is making fewer mistakes and I am taking more risks.”

Explained in TT terms, Manush hits the ball harder than Manav, which makes opponents move forward and backward a lot. “In the rest of the left-right pairs, the quality of the ball and the game is almost the same. There is hardly any difference. But in our case, one guy’s returns are lower and the others’ balls are deeper. By the time opponents understand this, we try to end the match,” Manav says.

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Spending so much time with each other sharpens their complementary instincts, which Manav believes has led to the duo’s rise. But he is quick to add that this is a common trait among Asian pairs, as many of them grow up and train together.

Gujarati twist

What distinguishes the Indians is their mode of communication during matches. Unlike most teams, Manav and Manush don’t rely on hand signs for services, receives and returns. They verbalize in Gujarati.

For a backspin, no-spin serve, one will say “dheeli (loose)” to the other. For a cut service, they’ll call out, “kaapi ne (cut it)”. To step around from forehand to backhand or vice versa, “fari ja (change your stance)” is used.

The instructions help open up the other player’s favourable shot. “I’ll often be like, ‘I think the opponent will do this. So what should I do? What is good for you?’” Manav says. These things cannot really be signalled under the table. “Sometimes, it’s important what my partner wants, not what I want to do. Because he has to play the next ball, not me.”

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Such empathetic understanding has fuelled their strong run over the past 12 months. Manav-Manush made a historic semis appearance at the 2026 Singapore Grand Smash and quarters at the Smash’s United States and Sweden legs. They also won the WTT Contender Lagos title en route to achieving a career-best world No. 2 ranking.

The Indian pair will be seeded second at the Asiad. Besides the top-billed Chinese team of Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng, they could face a strong challenge from South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon and Oh Jun-sung.

Manav recognises Jong-hoon as the best doubles player in the world; whoever partners him surges to a top-5 spot, be it in the men’s or mixed category. Him and Manush have taken the South Korean on several times and lost each time. This includes the Asian Games 2023 quarterfinal, where Jong-hoon was joined by Jang Woo-jin and ranked No. 1. The Indians, having led in the deciding fifth game, fell agonisingly short of victory and a medal.

At the coming edition, though, they would not meet Jong-hoon before the semis, by when a podium finish is assured. Manav-Manush are more wary of possible banana-peel opponents in the prior rounds. “There are many dangerous pairs. Take the North Koreans for instance. Nobody knows them. They are unseeded. At the Olympics, they came in and won a silver medal in mixed doubles (Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong),” Manav warns.

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Nevertheless, Manush is bullish about their chances in Japan. “We are gelling well and competing at a high level, where we make ourselves a strong contender for winning medals at the bigger events like Asian Games.”

Manav agrees. “Yes, there would be a little bit of pressure. But this is the dream, to have this sort of pressure and deliver. If this is not there, then there is no fun.”

Friends and partners

– Years together on the circuit: 13
– Current world ranking: No.3 (career-best No.2)
– Seeding at Asian Games: No.2
– Early success: 2018 Asian Junior Championships bronze
– Recent achievement: WTT Contender Lagos title, semifinals at 2026 Singapore Grand Smash.
– Conversations during matches: Gujarati