Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], January 1 (ANI): India's reputation as a major table tennis destination will receive further boost as the Sama Indoor Sports Complex here is all set to host the WTT Youth Contender 2026, followed by the WTT Feeder Series 2026 from January 2-11, according to a release.

The second edition of the WTT Youth Contender (U11-U19 categories) will take place January 2-5 at Sama Indoor Sports Complex, VMSS, Sama, Vadodara, followed by the WTT Feeder Series, January 7-11.

Preceded by a joint press conference on January 1, the tournaments will feature 226 players from four countries in the Youth Contender and 108 players from ten countries in the Feeder Series.

'The TTAB is very lucky because this is the second time WTT Youth Contender is being held in Vadodara, and WTT Feeder is happening for the first time in India. I am very proud to be the host of these two events,' said Jayaben Thakkar, President of Table Tennis Association of Vadodara, as quoted from a release.

The Youth Contender will kick off with the U-13 and U-17 singles on January 2, and competition for the U-11, U-15 and U-19 categories will be held on January 4 and 5.

'I remember, in the past, questions were raised about the lack of infrastructure for the sporting ecosystem to grow. But today, I am proud to say that through TTAB, the kind of events like National Ranking Tournaments, Para National Ranking Tournaments, etc., are in Baroda. Today, it has become a hub for table tennis in India,' said Member of Parliament and Vice President of Table Tennis Association of Baroda, Hemang Joshi.

India had dominated the WTT Youth Contenders last year, with Ankur Bhattacharjee and Syndrela Das winning the U-19 boys' and U-19 girls' singles titles, while Divyanshi Bhowmick had won the U-15 and U-17 girls' singles titles.

Divyanshi will be in action in the U-17 and U-19 categories this year, while Syndrela will look to retain her U-19 girls' singles crown.

Table Tennis Federation of India Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta lauded the effort of TTAB and said, 'When you want to qualify for major international events like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, you need to have good ranking. Players have to spend a good amount of money to travel around the world to earn these points. By conducting such events in India, more Indian players get to participate at a far lower cost and exploit home advantage.'

Syndrela and Divyanshi will also be in action in the WTT Feeder Series along with the likes of World No. 75 Park Gahyeon and World No. 78 Yoo Yrein of the Korea Republic. The experienced Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, along with World No. 85 Yashaswini Ghorpade, who has been given a wild card, will be shouldering the Indian challenge in the women's singles section.

Manush Shah, who along with Diya Chitale created history by becoming the first Indian mixed doubles combination to qualify for the prestigious season-ending WTT Finals, will spearhead the Indian challenge in men's singles alongside the experienced Harmeet Desai, Snehit S and Ankur Bhattacharjee.

List of Wild Cards for WTT Feeder Series:

Men's singles (Main Draw): Pratham Madlani (India), Sanil Shetty (India), Ali Alkhadrawi (Saudi Arabia), Abdulaziz Bu Shulaybi (Saudi Arabia), Abdulrahman Al Taher (Saudi Arabia)

Women's singles (Main Draw): Yang Ha Eun (Korea Republic), Yashaswini Ghorpade (India), Debolina Das (India), Maria Rony (India); (Qualifying): Tanishka Kalbhairav (India)

Women's doubles (Main Draw): Tanishka Kalbhairav/Maria Rony, Neha Kumari/Mukta Dalvi

Men's doubles (Main Draw): Ronit Bhanja/Oishik Ghosh (India), Divyansh Srivastava/Sarth Mishra (India)

Mixed doubles (Main Draw): Akash Gupta/Garima Goyal (India), Ronit Bhanja/Sutirtha Mukherjee (India). (ANI)