India`s star mixed doubles table tennis duo of Diya Chitale and Manush Shah emerged champions at the WTT Contender Muscat on Friday in just their second tournament of the season. In a closely fought final against the fourth-seeded Chinese pair of Huang Yuzheng and Shi Xunyao, Chitale believes their aggressive game-style paired with fast tables helped the third-seed Indians win 3-2.
“Our opponents were very strong and it was neck and neck throughout the match, so every point mattered. But we stuck to our plan of being aggressive and attacked at every opportunity. We ended up making good use of the conditions; the faster tables helped our natural playing style too,” Santacruz-based Chitale told mid-day.
This was the Indian pair’s second WTT Contender title — they won the WTT Contender Tunis in 2025 — after a breakthrough season last year, which culminated in them becoming the first Indians to feature in the prestigious season-ending WTT Finals in December 2025.
In the current tournament, Chitale admitted they made a slow start, but found their bearings in the later stages. The 22-year-old felt the semi-final battle against the French pair of Thibault Poret and Charlotte Lutz proved to be the turning point, as they rallied from two sets down to win 3-2 and progress to the summit clash.
“Our [French] opponents were playing very aggressively and were on song that day. After we went 0-2 down, we adopted a nothing-to-lose kind of mentality. We realised there’s no point in playing passively, so we took the game to them. That comeback gave us a lot of confidence heading into the final,” explained Chitale.
The Indian pair will next be seen in action at the WTT Star Contender Chennai, which begins on February 10.
Chitale said they need to work on fine-tuning their defence. “We have been working on our defensive game since the WTT Finals. After this tournament in Muscat, we will have enough time to train on that one thing that we need to improve on for the WTT Contender Chennai, where our goal is to win in front of our home crowd,” Chitale signed off.
Two
No. of WTT Contender titles won by Chitale and Shah
