Chennai, Mar 26 (PTI) Asian Games medallist Ayhika Mukherjee and Ankur Bhattacharjee sealed their place in the main draw of the WTT Star Contender Chennai overcoming Anirban Ghosh and Swastika Ghosh in a thrilling five-game battle in the mixed doubles qualifying round here on Wednesday.

Ayhika and Ankur fought back with the former's sharp defense and the latter's blistering forehand winners, sealing victory in a tense decider.

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Ankur later teamed up with Payas Jain in the men's doubles qualifying, stunning top seeds John Oyebode and Carlo Rossi of Italy 3-1 in the day's biggest upset.

The event boasts 600 ranking points for winners and a USD 275,000 prize purse, with top global paddlers in action.

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Elsewhere, South Korea's Shin Yubin, a two-time Olympic medallist, and Ryu Hanna stormed into the main draw after a dominant victory in their women's doubles clash against India's Diya Brahmachary and Anjali Rohilla, while the Chinese Taipei duo of Huang Yi-Hua and Huang Yi-Jie proved too strong for Nashik pair of Taneesha Kotecha and Sayali Wani.

Tamil Nadu's Abhinandh Pradhivadhi and Preyesh Suresh, cruised past USA's Tanish Pendse and Armaan Dalamal in straight games.

In mixed doubles, top-seeded wildcard pair Akash Pal and Poymantee Baisya also advanced comfortably with a commanding 3-0 win over Sarth Mishra and Sayali Wani.

In the women's singles draw, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Poymantee Baisya, both wildcards, battled through tough four-game encounters to advance.

The main draw matches begin from Thursday. The tournament serves as a swansong for Indian great Sharath Kamal.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)