Defending champion Divyanshi Bhowmik, Syndrela Das, Japan’s Miku Matsushima, and rising star Tanishka Kalbhairav started their U-17 girls singles journey in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender 2026 with convincing victories in the group stage at the SAMA Indoor Stadium in Vadodara. The WTT Youth Contender’s second edition, commencing with competitions from U-11 to U-19, saw action from U-13 and U-17 boys’ and girls’ teams on the first day.
Divyanshi, who clinched both the U-15 and U-17 girls singles titles last year, began her campaign by defeating compatriot Neeza Kamat 11-4, 11-1, 11-2 in the Group 1 opener, while Syndrela triumphed over Tania Karmakar 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 in Group 3. Japan’s Matsushima made significant progress towards the knockout stage with 11-3, 11-4, 11-2 victories against Swara Karmakar and Anvi Gupte in Group 2.
In the boys’ U-17 category, top seed Ritvik Gupta secured wins in both his Group 1 matches. Gupta overcame Dhruva Malikarjunan 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 and then defeated Shreyas Mankeshwar 13-11, 11-6, 11-7. Local talent Ved Panchal also advanced to the knockout stage with three wins in Group 21, beating Aarav Singhvi, Aarav Rathi, and Nitin Veeraraghavan successively.
Aditya Das and Sahil Rawat from Group 2 and Group 3 respectively topped their groups with two wins each. In the U-13 boys category, Shaurya Goyal faced a tough battle for his 10-12, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6 victory over Suchet Dharennavar in group 1. Divija Paul, the top-ranked player in girls’ U-13, had comfortable wins in Group 1, defeating Inaaya and Pehel Gupta.
