WTT/WTT Youth Contender events

[gunsnroses]

WTT Youth Contender Algiers 2024

U15 Mixed doubles
Riana Bhoota/Sarthak Arya - winners
Rupam Sardar/Avisha Karmakar - runners up

[gunsnroses]

WTT Youth Contender Algiers 2024

U15 boys' singles:
Sarthak Arya - winner
Soham Mukherjee - runner up

U15 girls' singles:
Syndrela Das - winner

U17 girls' singles:
Divyanshi Bhowmick - winner

U17 boys' singles:
Abhinandh Pradhinadhi - winner

U19 boys' singles:
Jash Modi - runner up

[gunsnroses]

Ankur Bhattacharjee, Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Jash Modi are our top juniors in boys' events. Good to see them winning WTT Youth contender events recently.

Yashaswini Ghorpade (a top 10 player in girls' singles and no. 1 in girls' doubles) will now be seen playing in the women's events. She'll be turning 20 this year.

[gunsnroses]

WTT Singapore Smash

Qualifying action starts tomorrow with the following players in men's and women's qualifying draws
Men's qualifying : Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Sharath Kamal
Women's qualifying : Sutirtha Mukherjee, Archana Kamath, Yashaswini Ghorpade and Reeth Tennison

[gunsnroses]

WTT Singapore Smash

Men's singles:
Harmeet lost in QR1
Manav through to QR2
Sathiyan, Sharath yet to play

Women's singles:
Archana, Yashaswini & Reeth lost in QR1
Sutirtha into QR2

[gunsnroses]

WTT Singapore Smash

Men's singles:
Sathiyan out in QR1
Manav bows out in QR3
Sharth Kamal through to the main draw!!

Women's singles:
Sutirtha through to the main draw!!

R1 matches:
Manika Batra vs Wang Yidi
Sreeja Akula vs Wang Manyu
Sutirtha Mukherjee vs Xiaoxin Yang
Sharath Kamal vs Nicolas Burgos

[gunsnroses]

WTT Singapore Smash

In the doubles, we have Manav/Manush, Sutirtha/Ayhika and Sathiyan/Manika in the main draw

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WTT Singapore Smash

Sreeja Akula goes down fighting in the R1 against WR#3 Wang Manyu 6-11 11-9 5-11 11-8 8-11

Remember that Sreeja took out WR#2 Wang Yidi a few days back at ITTF World Championships in Busan

Sutirtha Mukherjee also goes down in R1 in a tough match against WR#13 Xiaoxin Yang from Monaco 4-11 11-7 9-11 11-9 10-12

[gunsnroses]

"It was an exciting match and my first encounter with Akula. I had to make adjustments throughout. She uses pimple and is a strong opponent with good forehand attacks. My teammate played against her at the World Team Championships in Busan and was well prepared for difficulties coming in to the match." Wang Manyu

[gunsnroses]

"Indian players, be it Akula or the likes of Manika and others, the female team as a whole has improved, singles or doubles, they are a force to reckon with. They appear more confident playing against Chinese players. Once the score is tight, the match can be very challenging." Wang Manyu

[prasen9]

... She uses pimple ...

Interesting. Pimple gives more spin? In rank amateur world, I did not like the pimple racquets. They were cheap and I liked the smoother racquets. But, of course, this is the professionals where I presume there are superb racquets with and without pimples. Wonder what the science is about when to use what for what.

From the comment, it seems most people don't use pimple?

[Atithee]

I had a racket with smooth on one side and pimple on the other. I used to use pimple on forehand—backhand was a liability, as it stayed in tennis forever. I could tell if a tennis player had played a lot of TT before picking up tennis by the way they hit the ball.

[gunsnroses]

I have played against players with pimple rubber. It's difficult to adjust to their game. If they play flat, then the ball comes with a bit of slice and vice versa. As Atithee said, you have one side pimple and the other side is normal. Our players have developed amazing skills where they switch between pimple and normal rubber during a point.

[gunsnroses]

Haha yeah you can guess that a person knows tennis by the way they hit a tt ball.

[gunsnroses]

WTT Singapore Smash

Sharath Kamal and the Mukherjee sisters move on to the next round!

Men's singles:
[R1] Sharath Kamal (IND,88) d. Nicolas Burgos (CHL,51) 11-5 11-4 11-6
He will face WR#13 Darko Jorgic next

Women's singles:
[R1] Manika Batra (IND,36) l. Wang Yidi (CHN,4) 4-11 7-11 2-11

Men's doubles:
[R1] Manav Thakkar/Manush Shah l. Shunsuke Togami/Hiroto Shinozuka (JPN) 7-11 4-11 8-11

Women's doubles:
[R1] Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ayhika Mukherjee d. Miu Hirano/Miwa Harimoto (JPN) 11-8 5-11 3-11 11-6 11-9

Mixed doubles:
[R1] Manika Batra/Sathiyan Gnanasekaran l. Vitor Ishiy/Bruna Takahashi (BRA) 8-11 11-9 11-7 9-11 8-11