Mumbai players contributed a lot to team Maharashtra in the recently concluded 32nd National Masters’ Table Tennis championship, played at Balewadi, Pune. Mumbai’s Kiran Salian who won his maiden Men’s 50+ Singles National title, also bagged a silver, partnering Sameer Bhate in the Men’s 50+ doubles championship.
Kiran Salian ( Champion in Men’s 50+) and Sadiya Vanjara ( Champion in Women’s 45+)
Dr. Sadiya Vanjara, renowned Physiotherapist from Mumbai also bagged her maiden National Masters’ title in Women’s 45+ category. Sadiya played a perfect game against her attacking opponents by controlling their speed with perfect blocking and catching them on wrong foot with the good use of her pimpled rubbers, during the rallies. Her final match against renowned Karnataka player Anjana Rao, displayed her clever execution of services and not leaving a single opportunity to attack, when required. Sadiya played in only ndividual events and dispayed her superiority in her Women’s 45+ group.
Shilpa Joshi who won Women’s Singles 55+and Women’s Doubles 55+ ( with Dr. Anagha Joshi) also won a Gold for her team Maharashtra ( Women’s 55+).
Kiran Salian who also played only the individual events, displayed his class using his service variations and thoughtfully managing his every move during all his matches. Especially in the finals, he played a clever game, by pushing his opponent on the back foot most of the time. It was a memorable achievement for him too.
Another Maharashtra player from Kolhapur needs a special mention. She is Shilpa Joshi . Shilpa won a gold in Women’s 55+ Singles event defeating another Maharashtra player Trupti Machve in the finals and then went on to bag another gold, partnering Dr. Anagha Joshi in Women’s 55+ event. She had earlier won Gold for her team Maharashtra in the Women’s 55+ team event.
Other Maharashtra players who missed their Gold and had to be content with Silver medal were Mayuri Dixit in Women’s 40+ group, Trupti Machve ( Women’s 55+) , Mooonmoon Mukherjee( Women’s 50+) and Ravindra Joshi ( Men’s 55+). In fact, Mayuri Dixit who avenged her defeat in the team event finals , played extremely well to beat Kiranmayee Bangaru from Telengana in the semi finals; but, could not repeat the same form while playing in the finals opposite Aishwarya Narsimhan from Karnataka. Similarly, Moonmoon Mukherjee who started well against Prasunna Parekh from Gujarat , by winning the first game, later lost her battle in the finals of Women’s 50+ singles. Ravindra Joshi too lost to Harsh Chopra ( Delhi) 1-3 in a similar way.
In the doubles events, Maharashtra pairs Shruti Kanade/ Sarika Varade( W 45+), Shilpa Joshi and Dr. Anagha Joshi( W 55+), Manish Rawat/ Moonmoon Mukherjee ( Mixed Doubles 50+), Dr. Anagha Joshi/ Prasad Naik ( Mixed Doubles 55+) bagged gold medals; while Kiran Salian/ Sameer Bhate( M50+), Dr. Nitin Toshniwal / Dr. Neelkanth Potdar ( M55+) and Snehal Bhatt / Radhika Dorle( W45+) bagged silver medals.
This tournament witnessed two closely contested finals. Mohd. Farooqui Zubair (Telangana) edged past Anal Kashyap (Assam) 3-2 in the Men’s 40+ singles, while Men’s 45+ Singles final was won by R.Rajesh (Tamil Nadu) who staged a fightback against West Bengal’s Koushik De Sarkar to win 3-2.
In the team championship events, Maharashtra bagged two Gold medals ( W 45+ and Women’s 55+) and two Silver medals in Men’s 50+ and Men’s 55+ groups.
Final Results of Team Events are as follows:
Women’s teams:
WT 40+ : Telangana beat Maharashtra 3-2
WT 45+ Maharashtra beat Karnataka 3-2
W T 50+: Gujarat beat Karnataka 3-1
Wt 55+ : Maharashtra beat Gujarat 3-1.
Men’s Teams :
Mt 40+ : Tamil Nadu beat Gujarat 3-2
MT 45+ Tamil Nadu beat RBI 3-1
MT 50+ Gujarat beat Maharashtra 3-2
MT 55 + : Delhi beat Maharashtra 3-1
Final results of Individual events :
Men 40+ Singles: Final: Mohd. Farooqui Zubair (Telg) bt Anal Kashyap (Asm) 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6.
Doubles: Santosh Araswilli/Sujay Chaturvedi (IA&AD) bt Sameer Sahni/Sumit Nagpal (Del) 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5.
Men 45+ Singles: Final: R. Rajesh (TN) bt Koushik De Sarkar (WB) 6-11, 10-12,11-7, 11-7, 13-11.
Doubles: Kaushik De Sarkar/Soumik De Sarkar (WB) bt Amish Patel/Dharit Naik (Guj) 11-6, 11-5, 12-10.
Men 50+ Singles: Final: Kiran Salian (Mah) bt Manish Nepali (HP) 11-6, 11-9, 11-4.
Doubles: Mukul Boro/Jagat Singh Bisht (RBI) bt Sameer Bhate/Kiran Salian (Mah) 11-7, 11-4,11-6.
Men 55+ Singles: Final: Harsh Chopra (Del) Ravindra Joshi (Mah) 9-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-8.
Doubles: Jitendra Taori/Kishore Motwani (MP) bt Neelkanth Potdar/Nitin Toshniwal (Mah) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
Women 40+ Singles: Final: Aishwarya Narasimhan (Kar) bt Mayuri Dixit (Mah) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7.
Doubles: Sonal Asrani/Bandaru Kiranmai (Telg) bt Divya Amade/Pramila Dewangan (CG) 12-10, 11-5, 16-14.
Women 45+ Singles: Final: Sadiya Vanjara (Mah) bt Anjana Rao (Kar) 12-10, 12-10, 11-6.
Doubles: Shruti Kanade Joshi/Sarika Varade (Mah) bt Snehal Bhatt/Radhika Dorle (Mah) 3-2
Women 50+ Singles: Final: Prasunna Parekh (Guj) bt Moonmoon Mukherjee (Mah) 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9.
Doubles: Sonal Joshi/Prasunna Parekh (Guj) bt Neeta Vaishnav/Archana Rathore (MP) 11-4, 11-8, 11-5.
Women 55+ Singles: Final: Shilpa Joshi (Mah) bt Trupti Machwe (Mah) 11-4, 11-8, 11-1.
Doubles: Shilpa Joshi/Anagha Joshi (Mah) bt Sneha Padhye/Trupti Machwe (Mah) 11-3, 11-2, 11-4.
Mixed Doubles 40+: Sujay Chaturvedi/Shobhana Solanki (IA&AD) bt Pathik Mehta/Krupa Shah (Guj) 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5.
Mixed Doubles 45+: H.S. Shashank/Sowmya Shimoga (Kar) bt Bhavesh Shah/Shruti Kanade Joshi (Mah) 15-11, 11-9, 11-4.
Mixed Doubles 50+: Manish Rawat/Moonmoon Mukherjee (Mah) bt Prasunna Parekh/Mihir Vyas (Guj) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.
Mixed Doubles 55+: Anagha Joshi/Prasad Naik (Mah) bt Shagun Sutaria/Neha Patel.