Abhinandh eliminates fourth seed Kwon Hyuk at WTT Feeder Chennai
P. B. Abhinandh beat fourth-seeded South Korea’s Kwon Hyuk in the men’s singles first round of the WTT Feeder Chennai at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University near Chennai on Friday, October 30, 2026, producing an aggressive attacking display.
Abhinandh arrived at the event following a strong showing in Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 7, where he was adjudged the ‘Player of the League’, but had struggled for results in recent weeks, losing the final of the WTT Youth Contender in Vientiane in August and finishing runner-up in two National ranking (youth U-19 boys’) tournaments in Kanpur and Panchkula.
In Chennai, Abhinandh defeated Kwon Hyuk (South Korea) in straight games, recorded in the results as P. B. Abhinandh bt Kwon Hyuk (South Korea) 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 in the men’s singles first round. The report described Kwon Hyuk as “regarded as one of the most promising young paddlers on the international circuit.”
Reflecting on his mindset before the match, Abhinandh said: “I was really upset after losing three finals. Before my singles first-round match earlier in the day, Divyanshi Bhowmick and I had lost in the first round of the mixed doubles against my sister Ananya and Mehan Senthil. I walked out of the hall and kept thinking for a long time. I decided finally not to ‘overthink’ and try and be in the moment in singles. I am happy that I did that.”
While Kwon was the lone seeded player to lose in the men’s section, the women’s draw produced several upsets: Ananya Muralidharan bt Sayali Wani 12-10, 11-3, 11-6; Swara Karmarkar bt Cocona Muramatsu (Jpn) 11-8, 10-12, 13-15, 11-9, 11-7; and Prisha Goel bt Swastika Ghosh 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10.
Other men's singles results listed from the first round included Manav Thakkar bt Lee Jungmok (South Korea) 11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9; Harmeet Desai bt Punit Biswas 11-8, 11-6, 11-9; Akash Pal bt MA Yeongmin (Korea) 11-8, 11-8, 11-7; SFR Snehit bt Divyansh Srivastava 11-6, 11-4, 11-6; Payas Jain bt Lee Hyeonko (South Korea) 11-7, 11-7, 11-3; G. Sathiyan bt Priyanuj Bhattacharya 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7; and Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Sahil Rawat 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9.
Additional women’s singles results recorded were Yang Ha Eun (South Korea) bt Kavya Baskar 11-6, 11-3, 11-7; Divyanshi Bhowmick bt Shriya Anand 3-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7; Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Anusha Kutumbale 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8; Nithyashree Mani bt Naisha Rewaskar 7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-7; and Yoo Yerin (South Korea) bt Kim Seoyun (Korea) 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9.
The win removed the tournament’s fourth seed from the men’s draw in the first round of the WTT Feeder Chennai.
