Vadodara, Jan 2 : Defending champion Divyanshi Bhowmik, Syndrela Das, Japanâ??s Miku Matsushima, and rising star Tanishka Kalbhairav kicked off their U-17 girls singles campaign in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender 2026 with comfortable wins in the group stage at the SAMA Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

The second edition of WTT Youth Contender, which kicked off on Friday, features competitions from U-11 to U-19, with the U-13 and U-17 boys' and girls' teams in action on the opening day.

Divyanshi, who had won both the U-15 and U-17 girls singles titles last year, opened her campaign by blanking compatriot Neeza Kamat 11-4, 11-1, 11-2 in the Group 1 opener, while Syndrela defeated Tania Karmakar 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 in Group 3.

Japanâ??s Matsushima took big strides towards the knockout stage with 11-3, 11-4, 11-2 wins over Swara Karmakar and then defeated Anvi Gupte 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 in Group 2.

In the boys' U-17 category, top seed Ritvik Gupta won both his Group 1 matches. Gupta defeated Dhruva Malikarjunan 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 and then got the better of Shreyas Mankeshwar 13-11, 11-6, 11-7.

Local boy Ved Panchal also advanced to the knockout stage with three wins from three matches in Group 21. He first defeated Aarav Singhvi 11-9, 11-7, 11-7, then overcame a stiff challenge from Aarav Rathi with a 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6 before beating Nitin Veeraraghavan 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 to top the group.

Aditya Das and Sahil Rawat from Group 2 and Group 3 also topped their respective groups with two victories.

In the U-13 boys category, Shaurya Goyal was made to work hard for his 10-12, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6 win over Suchet Dharennavar in group 1.

Divija Paul, the top-ranked player in girls' U-13, didnâ??t break much sweat in Group 1 as she registered easy wins. First, she defeated Inaaya 11-8, 11-3, 11-5, and then got the better of Pehel Gupta 11-9, 11-7, 11-2.

/IANS