World No. 4 Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan and Hina Hayata, World No. 5 from Japan, will headline the men’s and women’s singles at the WTT Star Contender Chennai, set to be held at the Nehru Indoor Stadium from March 25 to 30.
Other star paddlers include Hugo Calderano (Brazil), Omar Assar (Egypt), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany), Jang Woojin (Korea) in men and Miwa Harimoto (Japan), Satsuki Odo, Shin Yubin, Adriana Diaz in women.
The Indian men in the main draw will be Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar, and in women, it will be Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee and Yashaswini Ghorpade.
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The players list for men’s, women’s and mixed doubles is expected to be released soon.
“It is a very strong and competitive field with a good mix of Asians and Europeans, barring the Chinese and the Lebrun brothers (Alexis & Felix). I am looking forward to pull off a couple of upsets. If you ask me, the favourite for the men’s crown will be either Harimoto or Calderano,” Sathiyan told Sportstar.
Table Tennis Federation of India Secretary Kamlesh Mehta said that it is great that a prestigious event is coming to India. “It is the third time in a row that India is hosting a WTT event. It will definitely help the Indian players and provide the fans an opportunity to watch world class action.”
Top players
Men: Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan, World ranked 4), Hugo Calderano (Brazil, 6), Jang Woojin (Korea, 12), Jonathan Groth (Denmark, 17), Omar Assar (Egypt, 18), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany, 20), AN Jaehyun (Korea, 22), Cho Daeseong (Korea, 24) and Alvaro Robles (Spain, 29), Yukiya Uda (Japan, 30).
Women: Hina Hayata (Japan, 5), Miwa Harimoto (Japan, 6), Satsuki Odo (Japan, 8), Shin Yubin (Korea, 19); Cheng I-Ching (Taipei, 12), Sofia Polcanova (Austria, 15), Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico, 16), Miyuu Kihara (Japan, 17), Miyu Nagasaki (Japan, 24), Joo Cheonhui (Korea, 26).
