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The second day of the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 witnessed action in the qualifier rounds, with the main draw set to begin on Thursday (March 27).
It was a day of mixed fortunes for Indian players with the qualifiers in singles and doubles for both the men's and women's events played out at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
Indian table tennis ace Sharath Kamal has announced that the WTT Star Contender Chennai will be his last tournament ahead of retirement.
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Paddlers from Hong Kong gave the Indians a hard time in Round 3 of the men's singles qualifiers on Wednesday.
Kwan Man Ho of Hong Kong got the better of India's Shridhar Joushi 11-4, 12-10, 11-6. Hong Kong's Yiu Kwan To defeated Sarth Mishra of India 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8. Ho Kwan Kit beat Senior Nationals bronze medalist Agniv Gohain of Assam 11-9, 11-6, 11-8.
Italian veteran Niagol Stoyanov beat Priyanuj Bhattacharya of Assam 11-6, 11-2, 11-6. Divyansh Srivastava of India defeated compatriot Mudit Dani 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6.
Anirban Ghosh of India did well to beat Italy's Carlo Rossi 14-12, 11-7, 12-10 and will take on Sharath Kamal on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Round 3 of the women's singles qualifiers featured some intense clashes between Indian players.
Kavya Bhatt of Thane edged Manushree Patil 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 12-14, 11-7. Avani Tripathi too needed five games to get past Neha Kumari, with the scoreline reading 11-7, 11-5, 4-11, 6-11, 11-4 in favor of the former junior national champion (U-15) from Uttar Pradesh.
Mumbai teenager Divyanshi Bhowmick beat 31-year-old Nikhat Banu 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4.
In the men's doubles qualifiers, the Italian pair of Carlo Rossi and John Oyebode lost to India's Ankur Bhattacharjee and Payas Jain 10-12, 2-11, 16-14, 6-11.
The Aussie-French duo of Hwan Bae of Flavien Coton defeated the Indian pair of Akash Gupta and Shivjit Lamba 11-6, 11-4, 11-4.
All eyes on Sharath Kamal, with WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 main draw kicking off on Thursday
Achanta Sharath Kamal will be taking the court one last time in the city of his birth during the ongoing WTT Star Contender Chennai.
The Indian table tennis legend has been drawn to take on Kolkata's Anirban Ghosh in the Round of 64.
Indian Olympian Harmeet Desai will face Kim Taehyun of Malta in the opening round.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has been pitted against countryman Payas Jain while Manav Thakkar will face qualifier Divyansh Srivastava. Manush Shah will open his WTT Star Contender Chennai campaign against John Oyebode of Italy.
In the women's singles event, Swastika Ghosh will be up against Li Yu-Jhun while doubles partners Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee have been drawn to go head-to-head in the first round.
Krittwika Roy will face Avani Tripathi while Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra will advance directly to the second round having received first-round byes.
