WTT Youth Contender Rio de Janeiro 2023: India grabs 5 medals

India had a day to remember at the 2023 WTT Youth Contender, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, as they bagged five gold medals on Saturday in various categories.

India grabbed their first gold medal of the day in the U13 Girls' event. India's Riana Bhootha defeated Brazil's Maiara 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-9) to clinch the first gold in a singles event for the country.

Jennifer Varghese and Abhinand brought India glory in the Under-15 mixed doubles event. The Indian pair had a tough contest against the Brazilian pair of Lucas Romanski and Julia Hatakeyama. The match, which lasted for 46 minutes, witnessed the Indian duo win by 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-13, 11-9). This was the second gold medal of the day for the country.

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Ankur Bhattacharya and Suhana Saini win two gold medals

Suhana Saini (PC: Twitter/SAI Media)

Ankur Bhattacharya and Suhana Saini were the stars of the day as they grabbed two medals each for the country. Ankur Bhattacharya and Suhana Saini won a gold medal in their respective singles categories before teaming up to grab the gold medal in the mixed doubles category.

At first, Suhana Saini grabbed a gold in the U17 Girls' Singles. The young star defeated Anna Hursey in a tight match. She lost the first two sets of the final but came back strong to win the next three.

The Indian youngster lost the 1st set in a close encounter. She lost two consecutive points, in the end, to lose it by 10-12. The second set was a nail-biter. Hursey bounced back well in the game to win by 11-8. Saini did well to win the next three and finish off the game. She ended with a scoreline of 10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5.

In the U17 Boys event, Ankur Bhattacharya got past Brazil's Davi Koji Fujjii 3-0. He won by 11-9, 11-9, 11-4.

The duo then joined hands to win a gold medal in the U19 mixed doubles. In the all-India affair, the duo defeated Payas Jain and Yashaswini Ghorpade by 3-2 (12-10, 8-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9).