Chinese wall conquered, Divyanshi gears up for the Worlds
Fresh from her success in Tashkent and Skopje, 14-year-old Divyanshi Bhowmick will be gunning for Youth World Championships in November
New Delhi: The past three months have been quite a ride for Divyanshi Bhowmick. This July, the 14-year-old table tennis player became the first Indian in 36 years to win the U-15 girls’ singles continental title, beating China’s Zhu Qihi 4-2 (13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8) in the final of the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The title capped a stunning run for Divyanshi who beat Chinese opponents in the quarter-final and in the semi-final as well, marking a rare, if not unprecedented, occasion of an Indian paddler thoroughly dominating the Chinese.
Coming into the Asian event, Divyanshi had beaten Qihi, the finalist, once before while Yang Huize and Liu Ziling, the quarter and semi-finalists, got the better of her in their past meetings. But the 14-year-old went on a roll, beating all three to become the first Indian since S Bhuvaneswari in 1989 to claim the Asian youth title.
“Those were a special few days. Everything fell into place. For the quarter-final, I realised that Yang was not particularly strong at the centre and so I sought to take advantage. I was tense about the semi-final the most, but I guess I had prepared well,” she said.
Her Asian youth title was followed by the U-15 doubles title at the 2025 WTT Youth Star Contender in Skopje, Macedonia where she paired with Ananya Muralidharan to eke out a 3-2 win over China’s Zhao Wangqi and Liu Ziling in the final. Having slayed the proverbial Chinese dragon, the world No.3 (U-15) has set her sights on the Youth World Championships set to take place in Romania in November.
“I am quite confident about my chances at the Worlds as most of the girls who I have beaten in the recent past will be competing in Romania too. I have a fair understanding of their game and will look to capitalise,” she said.
“There’s no fear. The Chinese are obviously very good, but I am not intimidated. What makes them so good is the fact that children there start playing TT at the age of 4-4.5 years while we start much later. I started at 9, so you can imagine their preparation and mindset.”
Coached by Sachin Shetty in Mumbai and Anshuman Roy in Bengaluru, the youngster loves to analyse her opponents before every event and customises her strategies accordingly. She also has Power Pong — her robot — for company.
“The Chinese and Japanese impart a lot of spin, and since most Indians don’t have that kind of spin, we are not able to practice for it. The robot helps me adjust to a high level of spin,” Divyanshi, who has been training with the robot for less than a year, said.
Divyanshi took up TT as a pastime and her interest piqued during the Covid lockdown when her father got her the table. She idolises Manika Batra, and like the multiple Commonwealth Games medallist, uses long pimple rubber on the backhand.
“I want to break into the seniors’ side at the earliest. There’s also the Youth Olympic Games on my radar, but first I need to improve two key aspects of my game — forehand and fitness. My backhad is quite strong but I need my forehand to be more powerful and precise. Also, I need more power and endurance. I tend to get tired after back to back matches,” she noted.
A student of Class 10, she carries her books around on tours. “Frankly, I am quite scared of my board exams. I couldn’t study during the Asian Youth Championships but found some time in Macedonia,” Divyanshi, who is supported by Dani Foundation, said.
