SAMA Indoor Sports Complex: India's Syndrela Das and Rupam Sardar registered comfortable victories to clinch the U-17 girls' and U-17 boys' singles titles in the WTT Youth Contender 2026 at the SAMA Indoor Sports Complex in Vadodara on Saturday, while Divija Paul and Dev Pranav Bhat were crowned the U-13 girls' and boys' champions, respectively.
Syndrela, who had won the U-19 girls singles title last year, ended the dream run of Hansini Mathan 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8 in the U-17 girls' singles final while Rupam Sardar defeated Soham Mukherjee 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3 in the boys' U-17 final.
This is the second year that the WTT Youth Contender is being held in Vadodara and will have competitions from U-11 to U-19 categories, featuring a total of 226 players.
In the U-13 category, Divija Paul fought back from a 1-2 deficit to beat Harshitha Nurani 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 in the girls' single final while Dev Pranav Bhatt took home the boys' singles title with a 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4 win over Ashvajith Muthukumaran.
Syndrela, who had upset second-seeded Miku Matsushima of Japan in the semifinals, began strong and dominated the opening game. But Hansini, who had upset top seed Divyanshi Bhowmick in the pre-quarterfinals, then managed to find her rhythm and took the second game.
However, it was Syndrela’s experience that made the difference as she pocketed the next two games despite a close fight to clinch the title.
She will also have a chance to grab the U-19 mixed doubles crown on Sunday as she and her partner, Sarthak Arya, set up a summit clash against top seeds Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Ananya Muralidharan, who lived up to their top billing to set up a U-19 mixed doubles summit clash against Sarthak Arya and Syndrela Das.
In the semifinals, Abhinandh and Ananya defeated Ritvik Gupta and Ahona Ray 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-8, while Sarthak and Syndrela ended the inspired run of Sahil Rawat and Hardee Patel 11-6, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5.
Earlier, Vivaan Dave and Naisha Rewaskar kept their nerves in a topsy-turvy decider that went into extra points to upset top seeds Aditya Das and Ankolika Chakraborty in the U-15 mixed doubles semi-final.
Vivaan and Naisha defeated the top seeds 13-11, 5-11, 11-7, 5-11, 23-21 and set up a summit clash against compatriots Reyansh Jalan and Tanishka Kalbhairav, who beat Sanjay Jagdish and Myraa Sangelkar 11-3, 15-13, 11-7 in the other semifinal.
Vivaan and Naisha had displayed their fighting spirit in the opening game itself when they came back from 5-8 down, saved a game point before winning the opening game.
Vivaan and Naisha defeated the top seeds 13-11, 5-11, 11-7, 5-11, 23-21 and set up a summit clash against compatriots Reyansh Jalan and Tanishka Kalbhairav, who beat Sanjay Jagdish and Myraa Sangelkar 11-3, 15-13, 11-7 in the other semifinal.
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Vivaan and Naisha not only saved those three match points but also kept their nerves to draw level every time their opponents reached a match point before winning four straight points to wrap up the match.