WTT Youth Contender: Divyanshi, Syndrela begin U-17 campaign with wins

Defending champion Divyanshi Bhowmik, Syndrela Das, Japan’s Miku Matsushima and rising star Tanishka Kalbhairav kicked off their U-17 girls singles campaign in the WTT Youth Contender with comfortable wins in the group stage here on Friday. Divyanshi, who had won both the U-15 and U-17 girls singles titles last year, opened her campaign by blanking compatriot Neeza Kamat 11-4, 11-1, 11-2 in the Group 1 opener while Syndrela defeated Tania Karmakar 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 in Group 3.

Japan’s Matsushima took big strides towards the knockout stage with 11-3, 11-4, 11-2 win over Swara Karmakar and then defeated Anvi Gupte 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 in Group 2.

In the boy’s U-17 category, top seed Ritvik Gupta won both his Group 1 matches. Gupta defeated Dhruva Malikarjunan 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 and then got the better of Shreyas Mankeshwar 13-11, 11-6, 11-7. Local paddler Ved Panchal defeated Aarav Singhvi 11-9, 11-7, 11-7, then overcame a stiff challenge from Aarav Rathi with a 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6 before beating Nitin Veeraraghavan 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 to top his group.

Aditya Das and Sahil Rawat from Group 2 and Group 3 also topped their respective groups with two victories. In the U-13 boys category, Shaurya Goyal was made to work hard for his 10-12, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6 win over Suchet Dharennavar in group 1.

Divija Paul, the top ranked player in girls U-13 didn’t break much sweat in Group 1 as she registered easy wins. First she defeated Inaaya 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 and then got the better of Pehel Gupta 11-9, 11-7, 11-2.