Starring Sutirtha Mukherjee, Harmeet Desai

Tokyo Olympian Sutirtha MukherjeeCommonwealth Games medallist Harmeet Desai and a teenager Yashaswini Ghorpade were three Indian table tennis players to advance to their own main draw WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 In Panjim on Tuesday.

Sutirtha Mukherjee, world No. 146 in women’s singles, defeated Chinese Taipei, world No. 92, Li Yu-Jhun 3-0 (11-9,11-8,11-6) in the second round, then beat world no. South Korea’s 107 Eunhye Lee won 3-1 (11-9,6-11,11-6,11-8) in the third round to join the 64. She will face compatriot Suhana Saini in the main draw on Wednesday. .

Harmeet Desai, of India’s gold medal-winning men’s team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, was the only Indian table tennis player to reach the main draw from the men’s singles qualifiers.

First, Harmeet Desai defeated Germany’s World No. 99 Fanbo Meng 3-2 (11-5,11-13,11-9.9-11.9-11) and then beat Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes, world No. 84, 3-2. (11-7,9-11,11-7,8-11,11-5).

However, Harmeet Desai, ranked 141st, will face India’s top table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, ranked 41st in the world, in the men’s singles main draw on Saturday.

Yashaswini Ghorpade, the youngest of the three qualifiers, was also the first to qualify for the women’s singles. The 18-year-old defeated two South Koreans on his way to the majors.

Yashaswini Ghorpade, currently ranked 196 in the world, beat world 103 Cheonhui Joo 3-1 (11-7,11-6,9-11,11-8) in the second round and then world 104 Nayeong Kim 3-. 2 (11-6,1-11,5-11,11-5,11-7). She too faces an uphill battle against world number 38 Miyu Nagasaki of Japan.

A total of three qualifying rounds were played in singles and two rounds in singles. The Table tennis the tournament will be held at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Goa.

A total of 200 players from 30 countries will participate in the WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 tournament.