India recently lost their campaign against Japan by a score of 4-8 in the second pool-stage match of the ITTF Mixed Team World Championship 2025 held in Chengdu. However, notable performances came from India’s Manika Batra and Manav Thakkar, who defeated top-10 opponents in their respective matches.
Manika defeated world No. 8 Mima Ito by a score of 2–1 in sets of 9-11, 11-8, and 11-8. Meanwhile, Manav also went ahead of his male opponent, Sora Matsushima, defeating him by sets of 11-9, 11-4, and 6-11. Their victory gave India 4 crucial set points.
At this time, India was at 4, and Japan had a score of 5. The first team to win 8 set points will win the tie.
Earlier at the start, Japan got the lead after India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade and Akash Pal lost their mixed doubles opening match to Miwa Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami by 0–3. India was clean-swept in three straight losses.
Recovering India’s loss, Manika’s victory against Mima got India their first win to level the score at 1–1. The victory was her first-ever win. India got its second win from Manav, who performed in a composed manner in the men’s singles event. His victory against Sora put India in the lead by 2-1.
But Japan then strikes back at India in the women’s doubles event. The duo of Hina Hayata and Mima defeated Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade by 3–0. The remaining battle saw Japan finish off with a victory by 8-4. Earlier in the opening pool match, India lost to Croatia.
The 16th-seeded Croatia defeated the eighth-seeded India. The battle ended on a dramatic note with a display of world-class game of table tennis.
In the Mixed Doubles, India’s pair of Diya Chitale and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran were set to play against Croatia’s duo of Ivor Ban and Hana Arapovic. It was a ruthless and accurate display of performance from Ban, who destroyed the Indian opponents with backhand flicks. Chitale and Gnanasekaran tried their best to outweigh Ban’s strategy, but the Croatian player remained dominant and stunned the Indians as she performed a ‘behind-the-back winner’ shot, leaving the crowd and her opponents in shock.
Croatia’s pair of Ban and Arapovic won the opening two games by 11–2. Meanwhile, the Indian duo managed to get one score, but Ban’s performance outplayed them, and the contest became a one-sided affair in favor of Croatia.
