In a city known for the gold rush of 1848, Singapore’s youth paddlers struck gold when the pair of Ellsworth Le and Chloe Lai emerged victorious in the the U19 Mixed Doubles at the WTT Youth Contender San Francisco II 2024 Presented by the Bates Family.

Pairing only for the second time, the Singapore duo defeated the home favourites of Darryl Tsao and Irene Yeoh, coming back from a set down to win 3-1 (11-13, 11-7, 11-3, 12-10), and clinch their first ever title on the WTT series.

Chloe said, “I feel really happy and proud as this is our 2nd time playing doubles together and we managed to be champions after our narrow loss in the finals at the start of the year.”

That loss came at the WTT Youth Contender Antalya in January, when they finished as runners-up to Yoan Velichkov and Tsvetelina Georgiev of Bulgaria in the same event.

Also in the U19 Mixed Doubles, Jaryl Wong clinched a joint-3rd place finish with partner Sanaya Buddhadasa of Australia. The pair had lost to Le and Lai in the semifinals, with the eventual champions winning 3-0 in straight sets, 13-11, 13-11, 14-12.

Sonia Zainudeen also delivered a joint-3rd place finish for Singapore in the U15 Mixed Doubles event. She and Peruvian partner, Santiago Uribe lost to Vishal Sivakumar and Abigail Yu of USA, 0-3 (9-11, 10-12, 9-11) in the semifinals, following two straight wins in the Round of 16 and Quarterfinal.