Excelsior Sports Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 25: The paddlers from the Indian Accounts and Audit Department (IA&AD) decimated West Bengal 3-0 in the Men’s 40+ final of the 28th Masters National Table Tennis Championships at the Sher-e-Kashmir Indoor Stadium here today.
Following their footsteps, their 50+ squad put up a grand show to win gold against Maharashtra A in a tough final in which the IA&AD men won 3-2.
The IA&AD team and other winners received the glittering trophies and medals from Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the LG of J&K.
Speaking during the prize distribution ceremony of the championship, Advisor Bhatnagar said that Jammu and Kashmir has tremendous scope for organising sports events of National Level and the government is committed to hold sports events of National and International level across J&K.
He highlighted that the present government under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has given top priority to the sports and infrastructure of international standards is being developed here to nurture the sports talent of youth here.
On the occasion, the Advisor also interacted with players and encouraged them to play with utmost enthusiasm and determination.
Their team, comprising Kasturi Srivastava, Abu Rizwan and Joginder Singh, disposed of West Bengal’s Sumit Das, Indronil and Abu Raihan, in that order, with 3-0 verdicts to stamp their authority in the category. After winning the first game at 18-16, Kasturi hit the groove well to put their team 1-0 up. After that, it was a mere formality as Abu beat Indronil and Joginder completed the task against Abu.
In the 50+ final, Jaswant Gangta played the heroic role to win the third rubber which in the end proved critical. Santosh Khirwadkar, Basap Chaudhary won a tie each for the winners, while Manish Rawat waged a lone battle for Maharashtra with Prasad Naik and Atmaram Gangrade losing their ties.
In the men’s 60+ and &0 team finals, Maharashtra A teams lifted the trophies, beating Delhi 3-2 and 3-1, respectively. The Delhi squad, comprising Ravish Vashist, Vinay Chopra, and Anil Goel lost to the Maharashtra combination of Sarosh Shroff, Anil Rasam and Atul Deshmukh. Like on many occasions, the crucial third rubber went the way of Maharashtra as Atul Deshmukh beat Anil Goel, while the others from both sides won a tie each.
In the men’s team final of 75+ and 80+, Madhya Pradesh made it a one-sided affair against Gujarat to pick the gold with a 3-0 verdict. Earlier, Gujarat accounted for Tamil Nadu 3-2 in a tough semifinal, while MP blanked out Karnataka B.
In the only men’s singles final in the 80+ category, Gopalan Swaminathan of Karnataka defeated West Bengal’s Kamalesh Gangopadhyay 3-1 to win the gold. The Bengal paddler, who managed to take a game of his rival, fell short of expectations as the Karnataka veteran had a 2-0 cushion before subduing Gangopadhyay.
In the women’s 60+ singles, West Bengal’s Mantu Murmu had it easy against Delhi’s Indu Sharma, the top seed in the tournament. Murmu never lost control of the match and earned her points with fewer errors. On the other hand, Indu Sharma was giving away a lot of points. Despite her resistance in the third extended game, the West Bengal woman emerged triumphant.
Maharashtra and Gujarat shared the two titles on offer today. Yesterday, Maharashtra’s C team claimed the Women’s 65+ team title after beating their A team 3-0. Gujarat’s 40+ team defeated West Bengal 3-1 after Prasunna Parekh, Shital Shah and Chaitali Udesi made it look easy, despite having to play 17 games for the favourable verdict.
Parekh put Gujarat in the lead beating Meenu Basak 3-0 but Sital Shah struggled against Chandrani Dey to deny the latter any advantage, winning the rubber 3-2. Chaitali lost to Mousami Bannerjee 2-3 but Parekh defeated Chandrani in the reverse singles to deservedly win the title.
The Maharashtra women’s team of 50+ struggled before overcoming Gujarat 3-2 in the best final so far. The winners had to play 16 games in all to claim the gold in the see-saw battle that went down to the decider. Sonal Joshi, the star performer for Gujarat, won both her singles but ended up on the losing side.
Despite Sushma Mogare and Shilpa Joshi being their leading players, the onus was on their third player, Shravani Dhapre, who played her role to perfection, to beat S. Hardikar. That was the clincher for Maharashtra as both Sushma and Shilpa managed one win each.
In the women’s 65+ singles final, it was Mangal Saraf of Maharashtra who took home the gold, the second in the tournament so far. In the bargain, Mangal pushed her long-standing friend and teammate, Ranjana S. Patki to the corner and had to remain contended with the silver medal.
Though Ranjana did well to start with a win in the first game, she failed to keep the momentum going her way. Mangal, a consistent veteran, was at her best when down by a game to recover and win the next three games with utmost ease.
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