On Thursday, January 22, 2026, India’s top-ranked pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale won the mixed doubles semi-finals match of the ongoing 2026 WTT Contender Muscat. The duo stunned the French pair of Thibault Poret and Charlotte Lutz by a 3-2 lead.
In the hard-fought battle of 45 minutes, the Indian pair defeated them by sets of 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8. India has their sole chance on the mixed doubles pair of Shah and Diya to bring in a victory in the event. Shah and Chitale had a disappointing start to their semifinal match after going down in the first two sets at 0-2. But they struck back and went on to win the next three sets to finish the match at 3-2 and secure their spot in the finals.
India’s campaign, however, came to an end in the singles and doubles events. The pairs, however, showcased a brilliant run in the competition. Earlier in the quarterfinals, the women’s doubles pair of Yashashwini Ghorpade and Ayhika Mukherjee defeated the Chinese Taipei duo of Tsai Yun-En and Huang Yu-Jie by a score of 3-1. Advancing to the semi-final, the duo lost the semi-finals match to the Chinese pair of Qin Yuxuan and Zong Geman by 1-3.
Adding his second victory of the tournament, Manush paired with Manav Thakkar to win the men’s doubles event after defeating the pair of Noshad Alamiyan and Navid Shams by 3-1. In another women’s doubles match, India’s Taneesha Kotecha and Swastika Ghosh lost their quarterfinal match by a 0-3 defeat. Another major defeat came from the mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Ghorpade, who lost their quarterfinals by 2-3.
Elsewhere in the women’s and men’s singles events, India lost its qualification in the pre-quarterfinals. Veteran women’s singles player Manika Batra lost her match in the Round of 16 after suffering a 2-3 defeat over top-seeded Shi Xunyao of China. Meanwhile, Manush lost his singles campaign after getting a clean sweep at 0-3 by fifth seed Darko Jorgic. Earlier in the qualifying round, Manush got a dominating victory over Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Guan-Hong on Wednesday, January 21.
The WTT Contender Muscat 2026 is one of the major highlights of the season, being held at the Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex, Muscat, Oman, from January 19 to 24. Only one finalist from India remains in contention at the event that includes the mixed doubles pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale.
