Mumbai, Sept. 20 -- As an underdog pair on which not many had placed their bets, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah came within one point of scripting one of Indian TT's greatest victories and surging to the podium of the Hangzhou Asian Games. They had the then world No.1 Korean pair of Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon in their grasp, grabbed a match point, until it all slipped into a heartbreaking five-game quarter-final defeat.

That so-near-yet-so-far medal feeling became the beginning of the combination's preparations for what was to come in three years.

"That's when me and Manav came together and thought we can take doubles more seriously, and make some history for India in the future," said Manush.

That shot at history is in the present,...