UTT: Manav Thakkar reflects on UP Prometheans’ disappointing debut campaign

For the higher a part of the final fortnight, Manav Thakkar has been combating two battles.

One was seen beneath the intense lights of the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, the place UP Prometheans endured a depressing debut marketing campaign in Final Desk Tennis Season 7. The opposite was hidden from view — a viral an infection that not solely dominated India’s top-ranked males’s singles paddler out of two ties but additionally derailed months of planning for what guarantees to be a very powerful part of his profession.

By the point the league stage ended, the Prometheans had completed rooted to the underside of the desk with simply 32 factors from six ties. Thakkar, in the meantime, had shed over 5 kilograms and was nonetheless trying to find full health.

But, even whereas calling the season “a complete catastrophe”, the 26-year-old refused to let the frustration cloud the larger image.

“The purpose remains to be there to exit and produce a medal on the Asian Video games,” Thakkar instructed The Hindu. “Hopefully, I will likely be prepared by then.”

The Prometheans’ issues started virtually instantly. As captain, Thakkar was anticipated to shoulder a heavy workload, that includes in singles and combined doubles. As an alternative, sickness struck after the opening tie.

“It was not an excellent season for us,” he admitted. “There have been issues past our management. I turned sick after the primary match. Being the captain, I needed to play six units together with singles and combined doubles, and all of the sudden I couldn’t play.”

The ripple impact was speedy. “We needed to strive new combined doubles mixtures. Any person needed to change me in singles and no person knew how lengthy it will take for me to get well.”

Even when he returned, he was nowhere close to full health. “I missed two ties, and once I got here again I nonetheless wasn’t 100%. Even now, I’m solely near being match.”

His evaluation of the marketing campaign was brutally trustworthy. “This season was a complete catastrophe for us.”

The setbacks didn’t cease with him. Within the crew’s remaining outing on Wednesday (July 23, 2026) towards Dempo Goa Challengers, overseas recruit Ricardo Walther additionally fell sick and needed to miss his singles match, forcing one more reshuffle.

For Thakkar, nonetheless, the tough fortnight additionally uncovered the significance of depth. “We’d like higher backups and we’d like the backups to be prepared each time the crew wants them. They really did an ideal job, however we failed as a unit. Now we have to look again, be taught and are available again stronger subsequent season.”

Outcomes could have abandoned the Prometheans, however Thakkar was filled with reward for franchise proprietor Mukesh Sharma, whose first season in UTT coincided with a string of setbacks. “I want to thank Mukesh Sharma. He was very cooperative and really useful in managing all the pieces,” Thakkar stated. “He saved asking what we wanted and what kind of assist he may present. He was open to all the pieces. I used to be stunned to see him so constructive. Even within the final match he was cheerful and energetic on the bench.”

For a first-time proprietor, Thakkar felt the expertise would solely show helpful. “I hope we stock this ahead as a result of when you may have house owners who’re supportive even when the crew isn’t doing effectively, outcomes will ultimately comply with. It was new for them too and subsequent season they’ll handle even higher.”

The sickness has compelled a major rethink in Thakkar’s speedy plans. Earlier than UTT, the roadmap had been simple — use the league to construct match health forward of a packed worldwide calendar culminating within the Asian Video games.

As an alternative, restoration has turn into the precedence. “My plans have modified,” he admitted. “The purpose was to push exhausting right here in UTT, turn into stronger and fitter earlier than the WTT Champions in Japan and Europe Smash.”

As an alternative, each match now must be approached with warning. “I can’t skip these occasions as a result of they’re necessary for rankings. However I additionally must take issues evenly. The plan is to play solely as soon as a day on the Commonwealth Championships and focus extra on restoration and rehab.”

The choice is dictated as a lot by his bodily situation as by the calendar. “I want to observe my well being. If my weight hasn’t come again and the weak spot remains to be there, then I must relaxation as an alternative of pushing by coaching.”

The Commonwealth Desk Tennis Championships, starting subsequent week in New Delhi, assume larger significance as a result of desk tennis is absent from the 2026 Commonwealth Video games.

For Thakkar, the match fills that void completely. “Now we have the identical occasions that we’ll play on the Asian Video games — crew, doubles and combined doubles,” he stated. “The extent will likely be barely decrease, but it surely’s an excellent alternative to realize confidence.”

Indian males’s desk tennis, he admitted, wants that confidence. “The final yr hasn’t been excellent. We didn’t do effectively within the Asian Championships or the World Championships. So this can be a good match to get again on monitor earlier than the Asian Video games.”

Away from crew occasions, Thakkar and Manush proceed to script Indian desk tennis historical past. The pair has climbed to World No. 2, an unprecedented feat for an Indian males’s doubles mixture. The rating, nonetheless, has additionally introduced expectation. Curiously, Thakkar says they’ve consciously chosen to not dwell on it.

“We’re having fun with it. Each match we play, we put together just for the opponents,” he stated. “If we lose, we go residence. If we win, we’re creating historical past.”

That freedom, he believes, has unlocked their finest performances. “We all know our opponents are world-class. Individually, we’re good gamers, however what makes us particular is that we’re from the identical state, we now have identified one another for therefore lengthy, and we share an ideal bond.”

That chemistry, cast over years in Gujarat’s desk tennis circuit, has turn into India’s greatest weapon. “The bond exhibits on the desk.”

For now, although, the speedy problem is significantly less complicated. Regain the misplaced weight. Regain full health. Then resume the pursuit of an Asian Video games medal that, regardless of an illness-ravaged fortnight in Goa, stays firmly close by.

Printed – July 23, 2026 09:47 pm IST