On Sunday, February 15, 2026, India’s mixed doubles pair of Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade ended their campaign at the WTT Star Contender Chennai as runners-up. The Indian fourth seeds lost to the Romanian pair of Eduard Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs in the mixed doubles finals by 3-0 (11-9, 11-2, 11-8). Despite the loss, Harmeet and Yashaswini scored one of the best results by an Indian duo so far at the WTT Star Contender tournament.
In the title clash, the Romanian second seeds held an uptight gameplay throughout the match over the Indians and were able to secure the victory in three straight sets. The Indians, who looked rather focused in the opening, were upset in the second after losing their focus. However, the Indians played a hard-fought game in the final set but lost it by three points.
Earlier in the all-Indian semi-finals played on Saturday, February 14, Harmeet and Yashaswini defeated wild card entrants Payas Jain and Syndrella Das in three straight sets by 11-9, 11-6, 11-9. Meanwhile, the Romanian pair made their finals qualification after defeating third third-seeded pair of Oh Junsung and Miku Nagasaki, who retired after trailing 1-2.
Meanwhile, the women’s singles finals are to be played, which will be an all-Japanese matchup between top seed Satsuki Odo and 15th seed Miu Hirano.
Elsewhere in the men’s singles, Czechia’s Lubomir Jancarik secured his spot in the finals after defeating Korea Republic’s Park Ganghyeon in a five-game round by sets of 13-15, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9. Continuing his dominating run, Jancarik will next face fifth seed Thibault Poret of France in the title decider match.
For Poret, this will be his second medal match and a chance to add another title in the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026. The Frenchman had earlier won the men’s doubles match with Flavien Coton.
India’s campaign, however, ended on a good note with Harmeet and Yashaswini as the lone contenders and medal holders of the tournament. However, the country missed its chance in the singles event after players like Nithya Mani and Sathiyan G lost their respective matches.
In the women’s pre-quarterfinals, Nithya lost to Chinese Taipei’s fourth seed Cheng I-Ching by 1-3 (in sets of 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8). Meanwhile, Sathiyan lost his quarterfinals match to Czechia’s Lubomir Jancarik in straight sets by 3-0 and in sets of 11-6, 11-8, 13-11.
