Chennai, Feb 11 (IANS) Top Indian players looking to make it to the business end of the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 will have their tasks cut out as they were handed a rather tricky draw at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University in Chennai on Wednesday.

Last edition’s semifinalist Manav Thakkar, the experienced Sathiyan G and WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 winner Manush Shah have received a bye in the opening round of the event co-hosted by Ultimate Table Tennis, Sharath Kamal Academy. Manav and Manush could face off against each other in the Round of 16 if they both clear their second-round hurdle.

The 10th-seeded Sathiyan is also in the same quarter as Manav and Manush and could face compatriot Harmeet Desai in the pre-quarters if the latter could get past eighth-seed Eduard Ionescu of Romania in the second round.

Even Sathiyan’s passage to the Round of 16 isn’t a smooth one, with the Indian likely to face former world top-10 singles player and current world no.1 mixed doubles player Lim Jonghoon of the Korea Republic, who opens his campaign against a qualifier.

If the four Indians do keep their date in the pre-quarterfinals, India will then be assured of at least one semi-final spot in men’s singles.

The women’s singles players have got a much tougher preposition as they will be meeting seeded players in the second round itself.

National Champion Diya Chitale will open her campaign against WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 runners-up Anusha Kutumbale, with sixth seed Hitomi Sato of Japan awaiting her in Round Two.

Ayhika Mukherjee would face fourth seed Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei, and Yashaswini Ghorpade will meet second seed Miyu Nagasaki of Japan if both of them get past the qualifiers in the opening round.

WTT Youth Wildcard Divyanshi Bhowmick will start her journey against WTT Feeder Series Vadodara 2026 winner Ryu Hanna of the Korea Republic, and if she gets past her, then 12th seed Saki Shibata of Japan awaits her in the second round.

In the paired events, India’s first mixed doubles combination to reach the WTT Finals qualifiers and top seeds, Manush and Diya, will have to get past the Korean qualifiers Oh Seunghwan and Kim Seongjin in the opening round to fancy their chances of making it to the title round.

Meanwhile, Ankur Bhattacharjee, Jash Modi, Sanil Shetty and Mudit Dani in men’s singles and 13-year-old Tanishka Kalbhairav, Suhana Saini, Neha Kumari and Nithya Mani were among the Indian players to have qualified for the main draw.

Select Results (Qualifiers Round 3):

Women’s Singles

Neha Kumari bt Naisha Rewaskar-14 3-1 [5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7]

Amrutha Pushpak bt Gungun Sahu 3-2 [11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 9-11, 11-4]

Nithya Mani bt Hansini Mathan-4 3-2 [5-11, 5-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-6]

Tanishka Kalbhairav bt Kaushani Nath 3-0 [11-5, 12-10, 13-11]

Suhana Saini bt Varuni Jaiswal 3-0 [11-8, 16-14, 11-8]

Shruti Amrute bt Ananya Muralidharan-16 3-2 [16-18, 12-14, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6]

Yashini Sivasankar-9 bt Avani Tripathi-5 3-1 [11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7]

Sachi Aoki-2 (Japan) bt Selena Selvakumar-13 3-2 [7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7]

Men’s singles:

Ankur Bhattacharjee-1 (WC) bt Umesh Kumar 3-0 [11-5, 11-3, 11-4]

Jash Modi-7 bt Balamurugan Rajasekaran-11 3-0 [11-7, 14-12, 11-9]

Punit Biswas bt Swarnendu Chowdhury 3-1 [11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9]

Yashansh Malik-8 bt Sriram Sivam-10 3-0 [11-7, 11-8, 11-5]

Sanil Shetty bt Akash Gupta-8 3-0 [11-4, 11-2, 11-5]

Carlo Rossi-4 (WC) (Italy) bt Shridhar Joushi-15 3-0 [11-6, 11-6, 11-9]

Mudit Dani-2 (WC) bt Rubin Maharjan-16 (Nepal) 3-0 [11-7, 11-7, 11-9]

Preyesh Suresh-12 bt Kushal Chopda-6 3-0 [11-8, 11-4, 11-9]

–IANS

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