WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025: Indian teenagers shine on opening day

Young Indian table tennis players Divyanshi Bhowmick and Abhinandh Pradhivadhi put on impressive performances on the opening day of WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.

The 14-year-old Divyanshi Bhowmick, an ITTF World Youth Championship silver medallist, eased past Srijanee Dey with a 3-1 (11-5, 4-11, 11-4, 11-5) scoreline in the women’s second round of qualifiers.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Abhinandh, Tamil Nadu’s top-ranked paddler across U17, U19 and senior men’s categories in 2024, lived up to his reputation with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-7) victory over Pankaj Kumar in the men’s second round qualifiers.

Both Divyanshi and Abhinandh, who had received byes in the opening round of the qualifiers, will look to make the main draw with wins in the third round on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu’s top-ranked table tennis players across U17, U19 and senior men’s categories in 2024, Abhinandh lived up to his reputation with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-7) victory over Pankaj Kumar.

The state’s top-ranked senior women’s player, Amrutha Pushpak, fell short against second-seed Syndrela Das, losing in straight games 7-11, 5-11, 9-11.

Manushree Patil upset ninth-seed Nithya Mani 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-2) in the women’s second round while Maria Rony stormed past fourth-seeded Hardee Patel 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-8).

On the men’s side, Carlo Rossi of Italy proved too strong for Preyesh Suresh, securing a 3-0 victory while Mudit Dani advanced with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Naman Mehra.

Third seed John Oyebode of Italy defeated Arnav Karnavar in straight games to secure his place in the third round.

Earlier in the first round, Mehan Senthil and Karthikeyan Solaiyan came agonisingly close in five-game battles, with Mehan losing 16-18 in a deciding game against Arnav Karnaveer. Jiyah Lakshman, Sriram Sivam and Thanuja Nagarajan bowed out while Abhinay Vijay fell to wildcard Rudra Ghosh in men’s singles.

In the second round, wildcard Yashini Sivashankar pushed sixth seed Radhapriya Goel to a decider before narrowly missing out on an upset.

WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 Day 1 qualifier results

Men’s singles (qualifying round 2)

Mudit Dani (IND) [9] bt Naman Mehra (IND) 3-1: 11-9, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8

Divyansh Srivastava (IND) [6] [WC] bt Shivjit Lamba (IND) 3-2: 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9

Payas Jain (IND) [5] bt Deepash Bhagwani (INA) 3-1: 11-2, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9

Carlo Rossi (ITA) [7] bt Preyesh Suresh (IND) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 16-14

Abhinandh Pradhivashi (IND) [13] bt Pankaj Kumar (IND) 3-0: 11-3, 11-1, 11-7

John Oyebode (ITA) [3] bt Arnav Karnavar (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-2

Women’s singles (qualifying round 2)

Click here to read article