WTT Youth Contender: Indian paddlers dominate with 27 medals

Indian girls grabbed all podium spots in U-19 and U-15 categories to help the country’s paddlers win a rich haul of 27 medals, including six gold in the WTT Youth Contender in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Besides six golds, the Indians bagged seven silver and 14 bronze medals.

While the competition did not feature key players from traditional table tennis powerhouses, the Indians produced strong performances to return with a rich haul of medals, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) said in a release.

In the U-19 girls category, India’s Suhana Saini, Taneesha Kotcha, Sayali Wani and Pritha Vartika completed a clean sweep.

In the U-19 boys event, Ankur Bhattacharjee won a silver while PB Abhinand and Josh Modi bagged the bronze medals. Kazakhstan’s Alan Kurumangaliyet grabbed the gold.

Priyanuj Bhattacharyya clinched the silver medal following a narrow loss to Chinese Taipei’s Liu Shih-Ming while Abhinand added another bronze in the U-17 boys’ category.

M Hansini defeated Syndrela Das to win the U-17 girls’ final, while Divyanshi Bowmick and Jennifer Verghese clinched the bronze medals respectively.

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The U-15 boys’ category was dominated by players from Chinese Taipei but India’s Sarthak Arya made his presence felt with a bronze.

In the girls’ U-15 category, Kavya Bhatt, Hansini, Syndrela, and Divyanshi completed another medal sweep.

Modi and Taneesha clinched the gold medal in the U-19 mixed event, defeating compatriots Muthu Rajasekaran and Jennifer Verghese.

The bronze went to two India’s Sarth Mishra-Sayali Wani and Suhana Saini-Divyansh Srivastava pairs.

Arya and Kavya bagged the mixed doubles gold in the U-15 category, while the pair of Sahil Rawat and Divyanshi won the bronze.