Surat: Manush Shah exudes an air of calm. He bides his time sitting in the stands of the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium in Surat, watching the team events of the 86th Senior National Championship. He will not be in action till the individual events later in the week, but there is already a buzz of excitement around him.
On Tuesday, after all, when the world rankings were updated, Shah moved up 19 places to a new career high world No.78.
“Everything is going good at the moment,” said Shah to HT. “This has been a good year for me so far with that good start for me in Muscat. Towards the end of last year also I had gained some rhythm. I’m glad the momentum has continued.”
Just last week, at the WTT Contender event in Oman, Shah, then ranked 97, upset world No.37 Maharu Yoshimura and No.31 Sora Matsushima to reach the quarter-final – that too after start the tournament as a qualifier.
The India No.5’s steady rise in singles comes on the back of a rapid growth in doubles, where he and state-mate Manav Thakkar are currently the world No.10 in men’s doubles. The duo reached three WTT Feeder event finals last year, winning one. They also reached two Contender and one Star Contender semi-finals.
“Manav and I have played with each other for so many years,” says the southpaw, adding that the left-right combination is an added advantage. “Manav being a compact and disciplined player, he creates good opportunities for me to finish points. He lacks the finishing while I lack the creating. So our combination works well for each other.”
The combination was on the verge of upsetting then world No.1 men’s doubles duo Jang Woojin and Lim Jong Hoon in the Asian Games quarter-final in 2023, where they lost a tight match 2-3 (8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11).
But it was a great stride forward for the player from Baroda, who once had his eye set on a different sport.
As a child, cricket and painting were his two great hobbies.
“I often used to make paintings of cricketers,” he says with a smile. “I had done a few of Virender Sehwag, then there were some of MS Dhoni, some of Virat Kohli and also a few of some South African players.”
It all changed when he was 10-years-old however. Playing with his friends on a jungle gym in school, he slipped and fell on a metal pipe that caused him significant kidney damage, hospitalising him for six months.
“I didn’t understand how grave the injury was, but the doctors had said that I should not play any outdoor sport because there was a direct risk to life,” he recalls.
“My parents were also scared because of it. But I was a hyperactive child. There was no amount of painting that would keep me occupied. So my parents put me into table tennis.”
He adjusted to the new sport rather quickly once he had recovered. Soon he became the Under-12 state champion, and by the time he won the Under-15 nationals, he and his parents and coach Shailesh Gosain had figured that he had the talent to make it as a professional.
“That was the turning point for me. A few years later I won the Under-18 and Under-21 titles to further compliment the results,” he says. “It was a hard and brave step for my parents to take. But they supported me throughout and right now I’m in a position where I can represent my country at the international level, so it worked out.”
But there is still a long journey left ahead of him.
He asserts that more than focusing on his weaknesses, he has actively worked on further improving his strengths.
“The main thing is my physical fitness. I’m good in the gym, I lift heavy,” he says. “That motivates me to do better and get fitter and fitter everyday.”
Once a cricket fan with a hankering to paint, Shah is using a table tennis paddle to script his own path.
