Romanian Pair Beats India’s Desai and Ghorpade to Chennai Mixed Doubles Title

Eduard Ionescu and Bernadette Szöcs closed out the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 mixed doubles final with a 3-0 victory over India’s Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade, the match finishing 11-9, 11-2, 11-8 in Chennai. The Romanian second seeds took control after a tight opening game and wrapped up the title in straight games at the event’s mixed doubles decider.

The result left Desai and Ghorpade as runners-up, a landmark achievement for the home pairing. The fourth-seeded Indian duo, listed 33rd in the mixed doubles rankings as a pair, recorded what organisers described as the best finish for an Indian pairing across the four editions of the WTT Star Contender India. The final was reported on Sunday, 15 February 2026 at the Chennai venue in Tamil Nadu.

Match play followed a clear arc. The first game went to the wire at 11-9, but Ionescu and Szöcs dominated the second game 11-2 to swing momentum decisively. The Romanians closed out the final 11-8 in the third game, sealing a straight-games victory that matched the 3-0 scoreline published in the official match summary.

Chennai’s Star Contender also crowned champions across the other draws. Lubomír Jančařík won the men’s singles title for Czechia, while Japan’s Satsuki Odo took the women’s singles crown. In doubles action, France’s Thibault Poret and Flavien Coton lifted the men’s doubles trophy, and Japan’s Sakura Yokoi and Sachi Aoki won the women’s doubles title. Earlier in the event Lubomír Jančařík produced a five-game win over Korea Republic’s Park Ganghyeon, 3-2 (13-15, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9), and was set to face Thibault Poret, who had already taken the men’s doubles title with Flavien Coton and was pursuing further singles success.

The WTT Star Contender Chennai 2026 was co-hosted by Ultimate Table Tennis, the Sharath Kamal Academy and Stupa Sports AI, with support from the Sports Authority of India, the Table Tennis Federation of India and the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Tournament photography and official images for the mixed doubles final were credited to WTT. The Romanian winners’ straight-games performance in Chennai capped a week of international competition that delivered a notable home milestone for Indian mixed doubles at the Star Contender.