Manav Thakkar fights back to win his maiden international singles title in Chennai

Manav Thakkar won his maiden international men's singles title at the WTT Feeder Chennai, coming from two games down to beat England's Samuel Walker in the final. The top seed trailed 6-11, 8-11 before winning the next three games 11-9, 11-3, 11-8 to complete the comeback in 39 minutes. Thakkar also won the mixed doubles title with Taneesha Kotecha, beating compatriots Mehan Senthil and Ananya Muralidharan 3-2 in the final. Walker, ranked 159th in the world, had dropped just two games on his way to the final and led 9-6 in the third game, two points from the title, before Thakkar won five points in a row to take it 11-9. Thakkar, the world number 49, won 47 points to Walker's 42 across the 39 minutes.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai added the men's doubles crown, beating Payas Jain and Priyanuj Bhattacharyya 3-1 in an all-Indian final. India won three of the five titles on offer, with Sutirtha Mukherjee finishing runner-up in the women's singles after losing to South Korea's Yoo Yerin. Thakkar had also come from two games down in his semi-final, beating Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-2. Walker, who was playing his first WTT singles final, beat Snehit Suravajjula 11-4, 11-8, 11-9 in the other semi-final.

Victory would have made Walker only the second Englishman to win a WTT singles title, after Liam Pitchford at the Feeder event in Manchester in 2025. Instead, his runner-up finish earned him 90 world ranking points, lifting him 42 places to world number 117. The event was played at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University in Chennai from 28 October to 1 November.