KOLKATA: If one has to learn how to take defeats on the chin, they can take a leaf out of Manush Shah, the paddler who won a bronze medal in the Asian Games. He won that bronze medal along with Diya Chitale in the mixed doubles event in Nagoya.
While the duo – ranked No 8 as of September 28 – continued India’s medal run in the quadrennial bash, both of them did not fare well in other events. The duo was the only silver lining for India in an otherwise poor campaign. Facing World No 4 pair of Chun Ting Wong and Doo Hoi Kem in the quarterfinals, they went on to win the next two games after the match was tied at 1-1. Manush believed that the medal carries more weight, considering what his partner had to go through. Just two days before the Asian Games, Chitale’s long-time personal coach Peter Engel passed away due to multiple ailments.
“I understand it was very difficult for her. That was something which gave her the push from the mental perspective towards winning this important match and that is the reason she dedicated the medal to the coach. It was superb mental strength from her side that she could still perform at her peak,” he said.
When the pair learnt that their semifinal opponents would be World No 1 pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, they were excited. While the first meeting between them did not go well in the WTT finals last year, they had planned strategies for the second time. However, it did not go according to their plan. “We had strategized but we need to understand, both are individually world No. 1. It became really hard for us to target one particular player, because normally when you play doubles you try to target a weaker player, but in this case, if both of them are so strong, then it becomes hard for us as a pair to target one individual,” he said.
Manush also played in the team, men’s doubles (with Manav Thakkar) and the singles event. Diya, meanwhile, was part of the Indian women’s team that lost to North Korea. Her doubles campaign with Yashaswini Ghorpade also ended early. “It's very vital to have a decent draw and this time around, especially in the men's doubles and the team event, we had a really difficult draw. In the men’s doubles, we were facing hosts and the favourites and the Asian Champions in the team event, just the night before the doubles’ match so they were high on confidence. We couldn’t adapt well to the conditions. We were taken a little aback by the draw,” he revealed.
Manush also opened up on how he struggled to recover between events. "The body and mind are something that gets fatigued out quite fast when you play such a big tournament, so my key focus during the whole tournament was to recover mentally and physically. I made it a point to sleep around 8:30-9PM every single night to make sure that I get at least 10 hours of good rest before the day. It was also hard to adapt because the ship was away about 75 minutes from the venue, so it was not possible to come back. There were times where we were staying for 10-12 hours in the hall, so it's hard for the body to recover.”
Now, Manush, along with Diya, are participating in the China Smash, a USD 2,05,000 prize money tournament, which began on October 1. Their first game in the round of 32 of the mixed team event was a bye. They will play the Iranian pair of Youssef Abdelaziz and Mariam Alhobady in the pre quarterfinals this week. “We'll be looking to capitalize as much as possible so that we end the year in a strong way, considering the Smash performances. Me and Diya have not done so well in the Smash events this year, but we would be looking to at least play the quarterfinals and hoping to make an upset to play the semifinals,” he signed off.
