Ranzi Sports

Chennai, March 25, 2025

The WTT Star Contender 2025 Table Tennis tournament commenced today (25th) at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai with the qualifying rounds. The tournament, which runs until the 30th, is jointly organized by Stupa Sports Analytics and Ultimate Table Tennis, with Indian Oil as the main sponsor.

Tamil Nadu’s Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Udhayanidhi Stalin, inaugurated the tournament this morning (March 25th) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, unveiling the WTT Star Contender 2025 trophy. He was joined by Dr. Atulya Misra, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department; Mr. J. Meghana Reddy, IAS, Member Secretary, Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority; Mr. Deepak Malik, Co-founder and CEO, Stupa Sports Analytics; Mr. Ikhansh Gupta, CEO, Ultimate Table Tennis; and Sarath Kamal, a Padma Shri and Khel Ratna awardee and Indian table tennis star. The tournament offers 600 ranking points and a total prize money of ₹2.35 crore. Top players from around the world are participating.

Afternoon qualifying matches saw Abhinand, Tamil Nadu’s top-ranked male player, receive a bye in his first match. He then defeated fellow countryman Pankaj Kumar 3-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-7) in a 13-minute match.

Prayesh, Tamil Nadu’s second-ranked male player, beat fellow countryman Mohammed Ali 3-1 in his first match but lost to Carlo Rossi of Italy 0-3 in his second.

In the women’s singles qualifying round, Amrutha Pushpak, ranked 14th in Tamil Nadu, defeated Ananya Muralidharan 3-1. She will next play Sindrella Das.

Other matches saw Meghna Senthil and Karthikeyan Solaiyan lose closely fought five-set matches. Meghna Senthil lost to Arnav Karnavir 2-3 (3-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-2, 16-18), narrowly losing the final set 16-18. Karthikeyan Solaiyan lost to Deepesh Bagwan of Indonesia 2-3 (11-5, 11-13, 13-11, 8-11, 9-11).

Jay Lakshman, Sriram Sivam, and Thanuja Nagarajan also lost their first qualifying matches. Abhinav Vijay lost to wildcard entry Rudra Ghosh. In the women’s section, Yashini Sivasankar lost a closely contested match to Radha Priya Goyal.

Live streaming of the WTT Star Contender matches is available on Sony LIV. Matches on Courts 1, 2, and 3 can also be viewed on the WTT YouTube channel.