Divyanshi, Payas cause upsets

On a day when top-ranked paddlers including Tomokazu Harimoto, Hugo Calderano and Hina Hayata among others were given a bye, two young Indian players and an Indian legend in his swansong, hogged the limelight in the WTT Star Contender Chennai at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Thursday. Fourteen-year-old Divyanshi Bhowmick defeated World No.64 Giorgia Piccolin of Italy 13-15, 11-9, 9-11, 1-11, 11-6 in the women’s singles first round while 21-year-old Payas Jain outlclssed his 32-year-old compatriot G. Sathiyan 11-8, 2-11, 11-8, 11-3 in the men’s singles first round. The results : Men’s singles: Harmeet Desai bt Kim Taehyun 12-10, 11-5 11-5; Manav Thakkar bt Divyansh Srivastava 11-4, 11-7, 11-7; Manush Shah bt John Oyebode 11-13, 12-10, 13-11, 11-6; Payas Jain bt G. Sathiyan 11-8, 2-11, 11-8, 11-3; Sharath Kamal bt Anirban Ghosh 11-7, 11-9, 12-10. Women’s singles: Divyanshi Bhowmick bt Giorgia Piccolin 13-15, 11-9, 9-11, 11-1, 11-6; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10; Kavya Bhatt bt Wong Hoi Tung 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6; Zhu Chengzhu bt Yoo Yerin 11-6, 11-8, 11-6; Kavya Bhatt bt Wong Hoi Tung 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6; Yuan Wan bt Poymantee Baisya 11-3, 11-6, 15-13; Deborah Vivarelli bt Anjali Rohilla 11-6, 11-8, 11-5; Jieni Shao bt Barbora Balazova 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9.