Record number of Indians in the fray at WTT Star Contender

Thirteen Indian paddlers secure direct entries for WTT Star Contender with highest-ever representation in singles and doubles.

Thirteen Indian paddlers have gained direct main draw entries for the WTT Star Contender to be held at the Nehru Indoor stadium here from March 25 to 30.

This is the highest number of Indian competitors in the event’s three editions.

The men’s and women’s singles main draw will witness a 48-player field, while the doubles main draw (men’s, women’s, and mixed) will follow a 16-pair format.

The tournament will have a prize pool of $275,000 and 600 points on offer for the champions, according to a press release on Wednesday.

The women’s singles main draw will witness India’s best-ever representation across all editions of the WTT Star Contender, with Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, and Yashaswini Ghorpade in the fray.

Meanwhile, in another first, four from the country have qualified directly for the men’s singles main draw in an Indian Star Contender. Sharath Kamal, Mannav Thakkar, G. Sathiyan, and Harmeet Desai being the challengers.

The singles main draw will feature 25 direct entries based on ITTF rankings, along with four host wildcards, two WTT nominations, one WTT youth nomination, eight top-20 players and eight qualifiers.