Vadodara, Jan 8 (NationPress) The 13-year-old Tanishka Kalbhairav seized her opportunity with a wild card, finishing at the top of Group 5 with a flawless record to secure a spot in the women’s singles main draw. Meanwhile, Parth Magar, Jash Modi, and Shankhadip Das surprised higher-ranked players to reach the men’s singles main draw in the WTT Feeder Series 2026, presented by the Sports Authority of Gujarat, at the SAMA Indoor Sports Complex in Vadodara on Thursday.

This inaugural edition of the WTT Feeder Series is being organized by the Table Tennis Association of Baroda and is managed by UTT.

During the women’s qualifying round, Tanishka achieved victories in two group matches on Wednesday and faced Evana Thapa from Nepal in her final match on Thursday. The paddler from Belagavi displayed excellent form, defeating Evana with scores of 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 to claim the top position in her group.

Other players advancing to the main draw include Selena Selvakumar, Anusha Kutumbale, Sampada Bhiwandkar, Ananya Muralidharan, and Pritha Vartikar.

In the men’s qualifying knockout match, Parth Magar managed to defeat Mehan Senthil with scores of 12-10, 15-13, 13-15, 11-8. Jash dominated Sriram Sivam with scores of 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, while Shankhadip triumphed over Kumar Harshit with a scoreline of 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8.

In the women’s doubles qualifying, Kavya Bhaskar and Pranati Paramesh edged past Senhora Dsouza and Naisha Rewaskar with scores of 11-13, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 to qualify. The other three pairs advanced directly as they received byes in the qualifying round.

In mixed doubles qualifying, top seeds Raegan Albuquerque and Suhana Saini faced a tough match against Sriram Sivan and Ananya Muralidharan, ultimately winning 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10. Meanwhile, second seeds Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Nithya Mani eliminated Dhairya Parmar and Anusha Kutumbale with an emphatic 11-0, 11-0, 11-0.

Earlier, Sarthak Arya and Hardee Patel pulled off a surprise by defeating third seeds Snehit Suravajjula and Sayali Wani with scores of 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10 to move on to the second round of mixed doubles qualifying. Additionally, Anusha Kutumbale caused an upset against the seasoned Nithya Mani in Group 2 of women’s singles qualifying, keeping her hopes alive for a knockout spot in the WTT Feeder Series 2026 on Wednesday.

In the women’s singles group stage, Anusha maintained her composure in the deciding match after Nithya staged a comeback from two games down, eventually winning with scores of 11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 8-11, 13-11 in Group 2. Nithya had previously defeated Sammridhi Banik with scores of 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 in her other group match, and Anusha must win her second match on Thursday to advance to the knockout stage.