Sathiyan bags historic WTT Feeder title

Beirut: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has become the first-ever Indian paddler to lift a men’s Singles trophy at a WTT Feeder Series event, beating compatriot Manav Vikash Thakkar 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4) in the summit clash of the WTT Feeder here in the Lebanese Capital.

Seeded at No.11 for the event, Gnanasekaran enjoyed a rewarding path to the final, taking down No.5 seed Harmeet Desai (15-13, 6-11, 11-8, 13-11) and top seed Chuang Chih-Yuan (11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-9) enroute to title triumph.

It was the first time two Indian players contested for men's singles final in the WTT Feeder event.

The result marked Gnanasekaran's first men’s singles success at a WTT event, and his first singles title at an international ranking event since ITTF Czech International Open 2021, according to WTT stats.

Manav beat former World Championships bronze medallist An Jaehyun of Korea in straight games 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 12-10) to make the final.

Manav had a busy day in Beirut as he was involved in all three finals - men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles - but ended up falling one step short in all three matches.

Diya Chitale and Manush Shah defeated Manav and Archana Kamath 3-1 (11-6, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6) to be crowned champions in the mixed doubles.

Despite coming up against higher-ranked compatriots in the final, Shah and Chitale looked convincing and dominated proceedings.

The doubles moment of the week undoubtedly belong to Andy Pereira and Jorge Campos, who are the first pair from Cuba to strike WTT title success after beating the Indian duo Manav and Manush Utpalbhai Shah to the men’s doubles crown with a 3-1 win (5-11, 11-7, 13-11, 14-12).

Two women's pairs -- Poymantee Baisya/Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula/Diya Chitale -- made it to the semifinal but failed to make it to the title match.