Indian paddlers Suhana Saini and Yashaswini win gold at WTT Youth Star Contender

Young Indian paddlers Suhana Saini and Yashaswini Ghorpade stormed into the record books with a gold medal-winning performance at the WTT Youth Star Contender tournament in Doha on Sunday.

The duo beat Elena Zaharia and Luciana Mitrofan of Romania 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 in the summit clash.

No other Indian, individually or as a pair, has ever achieved this feat in a Star Contender championship before.

Read: Ayhika Mukherjee elated with first WTT medal

Suhana Saini and Yashaswini, of Haryana and Karnataka respectively, showed nerves of steel to eke out a tight first game against the top-seeded Romanian pair.

The Indian duo then looked unstoppable and did a fantastic job of wrapping up the match in style.

The second-seeded Indians accounted for the Taipei and French combination of Huang Yu-Jin and Charlotte Lutz 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7 in the quarter-finals. They followed it up with a win over the Italian duo of Sophie Earley and Nicole Arlia 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5 in the semi-finals.

However, the second Indian pair of Nithyashree Mani and Taneesha Kotecha succumbed to a 12-10, 11-13, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11 defeat against the top seeds in the quarterfinals.

Suhana Saini's goal: A place in the Indian team

Rising star Saini, meanwhile, is keen to break into the Indian team as soon as possible, even before the prestigious Commonwealth Games.

Prior to winning the gold medal at the WTT Star Contender, Suhana won the bronze medal in the WTT Youth Star Contender (U-19) in Tunis last year.

Her exploits and consistency on the table also meant that she was moved to the Development Group in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

The Rohtak-born table tennis player trains with former India international R Rajesh in Chennai.