Manush Shahs decisive singles clinches U Mumbas spot in UTT final
4 min readJul 25, 2026 11:10 PM IST
Manush Shah, ranked 40th in singles, employed his pedigree and years on the circuit to dismantle Ankur 11-7, 11-5. (UTT Photo)Manush Shah has been flying the Indian flag high in doubles, rising to an unprecedented world number 2 along with Manav Thakkar recently. On Saturday, though, he came up clutch with his singles game to eke out the tie-winning points for U Mumba against a spirited Ankur Bhattacharjee and HVR Kolkata Thunder Blades. Manush, who had set it up by winning his mixed doubles rubber prior to that, hence powered the Mumbai-based franchise into the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season 7 final. They will defend their title against the unbeaten Dempo Goa Challengers on Sunday. Ankur, dubbed the ‘Conor McGregor of Indian TT’ by commentator Adam Bobrow for his combative style, was not an easy opponent by any means. The 19-year-old had not tasted defeat in the 2025 edition and was one of just four players retained across the six teams, this time around.But Manush, ranked 40th in singles, employed his pedigree and years on the circuit to dismantle Ankur 11-7, 11-5. “Ankur is a strong player and I think we have a good bond as well. But at the same time, we are professional athletes and he is playing very well at the moment. For me, it was very important to stick to the tactics and the coaches and the support staff helped me with it,” Manush told The Indian Express after the encounter. Juggling singles with doubles is admittedly “the most challenging part” for Manush currently. “I try to keep up with the workload management. I feel I must recover from each particular match. It is tough but I am managing all the events pretty well and hopefully in the coming Asian Games, we will do wonders.” Asked if he was prioritising one format over the other, the 25-year-old pithily responded, “my priority is exactly what next match I am going to play”. How Mumbai won Kolkata drew first blood in the tie. In a rollercoaster of an opening game, Eduardo Ionescu employed third-ball attacks to target both corners of Lilian Bardet’s court and repeatedly prevail in short rallies. He took the game 11-9. The rallies became longer and play turned more riveting in the second game, which went to a golden point. Ionescu extracted the error from the Frenchman’s forehand to subject him to only his second defeat of the season.Story continues below this ad Bardet clawed one back for U Mumba by taking the third game, another topsy-turvy one with a five-point lead built and erased, 11-8. In the second match, Ayhika Mukherjee was forced onto the backfoot from the outset by Anna Hursey. The 20-year-old Welsh player directed most of her attacking venom towards Ayhika’s backhand, depriving the Indian of time and space to twiddle her racket or smash from the forehand. But the West Bengal paddler did her supposed job in the singles rubber by taking a game off the fancied Hursey. It was in the subsequent mixed doubles clash where Ayhika, allied with Ankur, was expected to deliver the goods for Kolkata. Manush, however, had other ideas. The doubles star brandished the power of his forehand topspins to deleterious effect. Together with Hursey, he completed an 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 shellacking of the Bengali duo to propel the reigning champs to a 6-3 advantage in the tie.Story continues below this ad Manush was not done yet. He knew he had to blunt Ankur to make sure Nithyashree Mani did not have to face the daunting challenge of Zeng Jian in a potential decider. The southpaw did just that, and in style.
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