Major Upsets at WTT Youth Contenders 2026 in Vadodara

Exciting Matches at the WTT Youth Contenders

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], January 2: In a thrilling day of competition at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contenders 2026 held at the SAMA Indoor Stadium, Vatsal Duklan and Hansini Mathan stunned the top seeds in their respective U-17 categories, advancing to the quarter-finals.

Duklan delivered a remarkable performance, defeating the top seed Ritvik Gupta with scores of 4-11, 11-5, 11-7, and 18-16 in a gripping boys' singles pre-quarterfinal match. Meanwhile, Hansini made a comeback from a 1-2 deficit to eliminate defending champion Divyanshi Bhowmick, winning 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4 in the girls' singles round of 16, according to a WTT press release.

In another surprising turn, second seed Aditya Das was ousted in the second round by Sohum Mukherjee, who later triumphed over Rushikesh Jagtap with scores of 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7 in the Round of 16.

Local player Ved Panchal reached the pre-quarterfinals but was eliminated after a loss to Sahil Rawat, with scores of 11-3, 11-4, 11-3.

The second edition of the WTT Youth Contender in India commenced today, featuring U-13 and U-17 boys' and girls' singles competitions, with upcoming events for U-11, U-15, and U-19 categories to follow.

In contrast, the other favorites in the girls' U-17 section advanced smoothly, with second seed Miku Matsushima from Japan and India's Syndrela Das both securing spots in the quarter-finals. Miku defeated Sukrati Sharma of India 11-7, 11-2, 11-6, while Syndrela overcame Indira Sen with scores of 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6.

Also making it to the last eight were promising players Naisha Rewaskar and Tanishka Kalbhairav. Naisha triumphed over Arohi Roy with scores of 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, while Tanishka rallied from a game down to defeat Ankolika Chakraborty 5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10. They will now compete against each other for a chance to reach the semi-finals.