WTT Contender Tunis 2023: Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee lift women's doubles title for India

Indian paddlers Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee on Sunday won the WTT Contender Tunis 2023 women's doubles championship at the Sports Hall of Rades in Tunisia.

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Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee won the match 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11) over Japan's Miyuu Kihara and Miwa Harimoto. Earlier in the day in Tunis, Harimoto won the women's singles championship. With this win, both became the first Indian table tennis players to win the WTT Contender Championship this year.

Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee defeated top seeds and silver medalists of the Global Championships Shin Yubin and Jeon Ji-hee of Republic of Korea in the semi-finals to enter the title match. Earlier the Indian pair defeated Amy Wang and Rachel Sung of America and 2022 World Championships bronze medalist Chinese Taipei's Chen Szu-Yu and Huang Yi-Hua of Chinese Taipei in the first round.

The Korean team of Shin Yubin and Lim Jonghoon defeated India's Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles competition on Saturday.
India's men's doubles team of Manav Vikash Thakkar and Manush Utpalbhai Shah reached the last four before losing to Korea's Cho Daeseong and Cho Seungmin.

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Meanwhile, men's singles champion Sharath Kamal and fellow countryman Sathiyan Gnanasekaran made early exits in the singles competition. While Harmeet Desai lost in the pre-quarterfinals. Manika Batra could not progress beyond the first round in the women's singles category. The only female table tennis player from India to reach the second round was Tokyo Olympian Ayhika Mukherjee.

WTT Contender Tunis 2023: Results

Men's singles

Sharath Kamal - Out in first round

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran - Out in the first round  

Harmeet Desai - Out in the second round 

Sanil Shetty - Out in the qualifiers 

Manush Shah - Out in the qualifiers 

Women's singles

Manika Batra - Out in the first round

Diya Parag Chitale - Out in the first round

Sreeja Akula - Out in the first round

Ayhika Mukherjee - Out in the second round

Reeth Tennison - Out in the qualifiers

Sutirtha Mukherjee - Out in the qualifiers

Men's doubles

Harmeet Desai/Sharath Kamal - Out in the first round

Manav Vikash Thakkar/Manush Shah - Out in the semi-finals

Women's doubles

Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ayhika Mukherjee - Winners

Diya Parag Chitale/Sreeja Akula - Out in the first round

Mixed doubles

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran/Manika Batra - Out in the semi-finals

Manush Utpalbhai Shah/Sreeja Akula - Out in the qualifiers