Vadodara, Jan 3 (NationPress) Vivaan Dave and Naisha Rewaskar showcased remarkable resilience in a nail-biting finale that extended into extra points, defeating the top-seeded duo of Aditya Das and Ankolika Chakraborty to secure their place in the U-15 mixed doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender held at the SAMA Indoor Sports Complex on Saturday.

The pair edged past the top seeds with thrilling scores of 13-11, 5-11, 11-7, 5-11, 23-21. They will face fellow competitors Reyansh Jalan and Tanishka Kalbhairav, who triumphed over Sanjay Jagdish and Myraa Sangelkar in their semifinal with scores of 11-3, 15-13, 11-7.

This year marks the second edition of the WTT Youth Contender in Vadodara, featuring competitors ranging from U-11 to U-19 categories, totaling 226 players.

In other matches, the top-seeded pairing of Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Ananya Muralidharan advanced to the U-19 mixed doubles final after defeating Ritvik Gupta and Ahona Roy with scores of 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-8. They will compete against Sarthak Arya and Syndrela Das, who stopped Sahil Rawat and Hardee Patel's impressive run with a victory of 11-6, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5.

The most thrilling match unfolded at the end of the morning session, as Vivaan and Naisha demonstrated their fighting spirit by recovering from a 5-8 deficit, saving a game point, and ultimately winning the opening game.

The teams exchanged victories over the next three games, leading to a dramatic final game. Aditya and Ankolika initially surged ahead with a 4-0 lead and held three match points at 10-7.

However, Vivaan and Naisha not only saved those critical match points but also maintained their composure to equalize each time their opponents threatened victory, ultimately clinching four consecutive points to win the match.