Indian table tennis pair of Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar lay their hands on the men’s doubles crown after decimating the seventh seeded Nigerian pair of Azeez Solanke and Olajide Omotayo 3-0 in the final at the recently concluded WTT Contender Tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.
The second-seeded all-Surti pair stormed past the 15th seeded Chinese pair Youde Kang and Jiankun Ning 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-5) in their semis encounter.
Such was the domination of the Gujarat paddlers that they didn’t drop a single game all through their campaign.
In round of 16, they waltz past 17th seeded Rilwan Akanbi and A Abdullahi of Nigeria 3-0 and defeated another Nigerian pair of Mathew Fabunmi and Abdulbasit Abdulfatai (13th seed) by similar margin in the quarterfinal match.
This will be Harmeet’s second WTT Contender men’s doubles title while it will be Manav’s maiden WTT men’s doubles title.
“This win gives us a lot of confidence before the Olympics. Doubles will play a crucial role in the team events. We will definitely like to take our form to Paris Oly,” the 30-year-old Harmeet said.
Manav Thakkar was happy with the way the pair had hit off instantly. “Me and Harmeet are playing doubles after one year but since we are from the same state, we have a great camaraderie. Winning the tournament without dropping a single game is icing on the cake,” the 24-year-old Manav said.
President, Gujarat State Table Tennis Association, Shri Pramod Chaudhary expressed delight over Harmeet and Manav’s feat. “These two Surtis are getting better and better with each passing day. I am sure they will achieve greater heights in the future,” Shri Chaudhary said.
