Manav Thakkar (Men’s Singles No. 34) and Miyu Nagasaki (Women’s Singles No. 15) will participate in WTT Champions Doha 2026, WTT announced on Monday.
Thakkar and Nagasaki will replace Jonathan Groth (Men’s No. 24) and Honoka Hashimoto (Women’s No. 11), respectively. Groth and Hashimoto both withdrew their names from the event due to injury.
This will be the second WTT Champions event of Thakkar’s career, following his appearance at WTT Champions Frankfurt 2025 in October. In the first round of that event, Thakkar won his first-ever WTT Champions match with an upset over Tomislav Pucar (Men’s No. 26) before an undisclosed illness forced him to withdraw.
Thakkar was a semifinalist at WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 and WTT Contender Buenos Aires 2025, and he participated in both China Smash 2025 and Singapore Smash 2025. His current ranking of No. 34 is the highest ranking of his career.
Nagasaki competed in WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025, alongside 15 of the sport’s top-ranked Women’s Singles players. She defeated Mima Ito (Women’s No. 9) 4-3 in the Round of 16 before losing to Sun Yingsha (Women’s No. 1) 0-4 in the quarterfinals.
Earlier that year, the 23-year-old won WTT Star Contender Ljubljana 2025 and was the losing finalist in WTT Star Contender Foz do Iguazu 2025. She was a semifinalist the last time she played in Qatar, which was WTT Star Contender Doha 2025.
Nagasaki will once again face Ito when the two face off in the Round of 32 of WTT Champions 2026 on Wednesday. Thakkar will play his first match of the event against Simon Gauzy (Men’s No. 17) on Thursday.
WTT Champions Doha 2026 will take place from Wednesday, Jan. 7, until Sunday, Jan. 11. This will be the first WTT Series event of the 2026 season.
