WTT Star Contender Chennai preview: Fans expected to turn up in large numbers for homeboy Sharath’s last bow
After two days of intense qualifying action, the main draw of the WTT Star Contender Chennai is set to commence at the Nehru Indoor Stadium on Thursday with major focus on Achanta Sharath Kamal.
The 42-year-old Sharath, a five-time Olympian and a 10-time national champion, will retire from professional table tennis in front of his home crowd. Goa played host to the same event in India in 2023 and 2024.
At 92, Sharath is not the highest-ranked Indian man at the moment. However, for a major part of the last two decades, he has been the face of the sport in the country and hence, a large crowd is expected to cheer the homeboy on as he holds the paddle for one last time.
Sharath will face a qualifier in the opening round in singles. He will also pair up with Snehit Suravajjula, 18 years his junior, in men’s doubles.
READ: WTT Contender 2025: Fully-fit Sreeja Akula confident ahead of run-up to World Championships
With a total of 28 singles entries and 20 doubles pairs across categories, including wildcards and qualifiers, the host nation dominates all five main draws and hopes to clinch multiple titles on Sunday.
The tournament does not have any entries from China, a major force in the sport, as well as most of the prominent European nations. World No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan) and World No. 5 Hugo Calderano (Brazil) lead the men’s singles field while in women’s singles, World No. 5 Hina Hayata (Japan), World No. 6 Miwa Harimoto (Japan) and World No. 8 Satsuki Odo (Japan) are the favourites for the title.
In terms of prize pool and ranking points available, the event is a huge opportunity for established Indian stars such as Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula as well as the upcoming local youngsters. The WTT Star Contender prize pool has increased from USD 250,000 to USD 275,000 (INR 2.28 crore) this season, with the additional funds enhancing payouts at the lower levels of the singles draw.
Champions in every category will gain 600 ITTF Ranking Points. Singles winners will each receive USD 10,000 while for doubles, it will be USD 3,500.