Payas Jain upsets G Sathiyan at WTT Star Contender Chennai

Former U-17 World No. 1 Payas Jain produced the biggest upset of the opening day at WTT Star Contender Chennai by knocking out Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the Round of 64 here on Thursday.

Top-seeded Japanese duo Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima dominated their men’s doubles clash, while Miwa Harimoto and Miyuu Kihara mirrored their success in the women’s doubles draw.

Later in the day, Indian great Sharath Kamal began his farewell event with a 3-0 win over qualifier Anirban Ghosh. Sharath also partnered Snehit Suravajjula in the men’s doubles to defeat Australia’s Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu in a five-game thriller.

The event boasts 600 ranking points for winners and a USD 275,000 prize purse, with top global paddlers in action.

Gujarat trio of Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai, and Manush Shah made strong starts in the men’s singles. Manav and Harmeet cruised through in straight games, defeating qualifiers Divyansh Srivastava and Kim Taehyun, respectively.

Wildcard Manush overcame a slow start, rallying from a game down to edge past Italian qualifier John Oyebode in a hard-fought encounter.

In a gripping all-Indian women’s singles clash, Ayhika Mukherjee edged past wildcard and her doubles partner Sutirtha Mukherjee in a five-game thriller.