Sam Walker came within two points of becoming only the second English man to win a WTT singles title before India's Manav Thakkar fought back to win the WTT Feeder Chennai final 3-2.
Walker, ranked third in England, took the first two games 11-6, 11-8 and led 9-6 in the third against the home favourite and top seed, who is the world No 49. Thakkar won five points in a row to take that game 11-9, levelled with an 11-3 game and won the decider 11-8.
"I was 2-0, 9-6 up and could have won that match," Walker said afterwards. He credited his opponent's nerve, saying: "I think he was brave at 9-6 down," and admitted that "maybe I got a little bit stiff".
"I don't think I did a lot wrong," he said. "I'm happy with the tournament overall and proud of coming second."
A 30-hour journey
The run was all the more remarkable for how it began. Walker's flight from London to Qatar was delayed, he missed his connection and spent an unplanned night in the Gulf state, then reached Chennai by way of Sri Lanka, a trip of about 30 hours.
His luggage did not arrive with him. His bat and shoes were in his hand luggage, but he had to buy plain kit in local shops and played the early rounds in it. "My bag arrived just before the quarter-finals," he said.
The route to the final
On the table, Walker beat three Indian seeds. He beat the second seed, Ankur Bhattacharjee, 3-0 in the last 16, then lost the first two games 16-14, 11-5 to the sixth seed, Payas Jain, in the quarter-final before winning the last three 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.
In the semi-final he beat the seventh seed, Snehit Suravajjula, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9 to reach his first WTT singles final.
Victory would have matched Liam Pitchford, who won WTT Feeder Manchester in 2025 and remains the only senior English player to have won a WTT singles title.
Ranking jump
Reaching the final earned Walker 90 world ranking points, which lifts him 42 places to No 117, one place behind his England teammate Connor Green.
Walker said he had played few international tournaments in recent years "for my own reasons" but intends to compete more often this season. He described Chennai and his next stop, in Portugal this week, as "the start of that process of playing more tournaments regularly".
