On Tuesday, February 24, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade ended their campaign at the ongoing Singapore Smash 2026. Meanwhile, the men’s duo of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar has earned their spot in the quarterfinals match. Diya and Shah set to compete in mixed doubles quarterfinals.
Diya and Ghorpade lost the Round of 16 match to the fourth-seed Japanese-Korean pair of Miyu Nagasaki and Shin Yubin by 0-3 and sets of 9-11, 4-11, 5-11. The duo had earlier achieved a hard-fought win over Australia’s Jee Minhyung and Psihogios Constantine by 3-1.
However, Diya remains in contention as she will be competing in the mixed doubles quarterfinals match alongside Manush. The Indian pair will face the third-seed duo of Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi of Brazil. Earlier, the Indian duo defeated Singapore’s pair of Koen Pang and Jian Zeng by 3-0.
On the other hand, India’s men’s doubles pair of Shah and Thakkar will play their quarterfinal match. The sixth seed pair of Shah and Thakkar defeated Brazil’s duo of Guilherme Teodoro and Leonardo Iizuka by 3-0 and in sets of 11-7, 11-5, 11-9. The Indians will be next headed against Belgium’s Martin Allegro and Adrien Rassenfosse.
India’s disappointing campaign in singles event
However, India suffered a major blow in the singles category after Manika Batra lost her match against fourth seed Zhu Yuling of Macau, China. After going down by 1-3, the Indians lost by sets of 10-12, 8-11, 11-4, 9-11.
Meanwhile, India’s No. 1 Sreeja Akula, who played her first tournament this year, faced defeat against Welsh’s Anna Hursey after losing by a score of 1-3 (8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 5-11). Akuma returned to the sport in October 2025 after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Thakkar, who was the only Indian player in the men’s singles draw, lost to China’s Huang Youzheng by sets of 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 3-11.
India also faced disappointment in the mixed doubles event. India’s Akash Pal and Australia’s Minhyung Jee lost the Round of 16. The Indo-Australian duo got defeated by China’s Youzheng and Yi. Pal and Jee struggled against the dominating Chinese opponent by 0-3.
India has been producing promising performances in the doubles category. The Singapore Smash 2026 has also witnessed some great work in the mixed and men’s doubles, specifically.
