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Diya Chitale sees India’s Asian Games mixed doubles bronze as a stepping stone to the Olympics, with improving rankings now the top priority.
Diya Chitale and Manush Shah (Picture credit: Instagram @diyachitalett)
Asian Games mixed doubles bronze medallist paddler Diya Chitale has said that the continental event is like a stepping stone towards the Olympics, adding that she is going to focus on the upcoming WTT tournaments and the World Championships to ease her pathway to the Olympics.
Diya and Manush Shah beat Hong Kong’s world No. 4 pair, Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem, in the quarterfinals before going down to China’s world No. 2 duo of Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in the semifinals.
Diya said that an aggressive approach worked in the pair’s favour at the Asian Games, where they bagged India’s second mixed doubles bronze in table tennis after Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra achieved the feat in 2018.
“The Asian Games is like a stepping stone towards the Olympics. There are going to be a lot of WTT tournaments, the World Championships, which are going to lead up to the qualification for the Olympics,” Diya said while speaking to the media in Mumbai at a felicitation event.
“We are going to try to better our world ranking over the next year because there are different quotas. We are going to try to get it through the world ranking itself,” Diya added.
Diya and Manush are currently ranked seventh in the world. Five pairs qualify through the ITTF World Ranking list.
Diya, who clinched the women’s singles title at the National Ranking Table Tennis Championships in Panchkula on Tuesday, credited the support of a mental trainer for helping her perform at the Asian Games.
“At these big events, I think it is very, very important to be mentally in the right space of mind because of the amount of pressure when you are out there playing the quarterfinals, playing for a medal at the Asian Games,” Diya said.
“I can’t even describe it. I was very, very lucky that my mental trainer was there and she travelled all the way to the ship for me and met me before the quarterfinals,” Diya added.
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Ask News18Diya Chitale and Manush Shah won the mixed doubles bronze medal at the Asian Games.
Ask News18October 15, 2026, 00:43 IST
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