Mumbai seasoned paddler Ulhas Shirke clinched a grand double with Men’s 70+ singles and doubles crowns in UTT 30th National Masters Table Tennis Championship, organized by the Table Tennis Federation of India and Indian Veterans Table Tennis Committee, which recently concluded at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium, in Hyderabad, Telangana.
The former Reserve Bank of India & NABARD player Shirke played confidently and faced little opposition from Suresh Kumar of Delhi and went on to win by a comfortable 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-2) game scores in the singles final and seal his maiden men’s singles National gold medal. Suresh Kumar had earlier beaten Last year’s winner and top seed Satish Kulkarni.
Earlier, in the semi-finals, Shirke defeated compatriot and doubles partner Yogsh Desai, the defending World Master +70 singles title holder, 3-1 (6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8) and before that beaten Maharashtra’s Shivanand Kundaje the State finalist 3-2, while Suresh Kumar got the better of Maharashtra’s Balkrishna Katdare by a fighting 3-2 (12-14, 11-4, 13-11, 5-11, 11-6) margin.
Meanwhile, Shirke and Desai went on to win the men’s 70+ doubles title and completed a hat-trick of triumphs by winning for the third consecutive year. Last year,Shirke had also won Gold medal in Doubles along with Pinakin Sampat at the World Masters’ TT Champonship at Muscat.
It was a proud moment for Moonmoon Mukherjee, also from Mumbai as she captured the women’s plus 50 singles title, beating Bengal’s Rajani Gupta 3-1 in the final.
Besides the successes for Shirke and Moonmoon, the other Maharashtra players who bagged gold medals was Manish Rawat who won the men’s 50-plus category while Malaykumar Thakkar and Prasad Naik clinched the silver and bronze medals respectively as the Maharashtra trio claimed all three podium spots.
Maharashtra’s favourite Sunil Babras, a former International player retained the gold medal in the men’s 60-plus category, while Prakash Kelkar secured the silver in men’s singles 65-plus category. Suhasini Bakre also from Maharashtra missed her Gold medal this time as she lost to Rita Jain from M.P. in Women’s 65+ finals.
In the Men’s 70+ team event, Maharashtra’s Satish Kulkarni, Shivanana Kundaje, Suhas Dandekar and Balkrishan Katdare won gold ,while in the Men’s 75-plus team event, the state won the silver medal.
In women’s 65-plus team event, Maharashtra’s Rajeshwari Mhetre, Ujjwala Bhanudas Sutar and Rohini Sahasrabuddhe struck gold, while both the 40-plus and 50-plus women teams had to settle for bronze.
Results – Men’s singles – 70+ (Semi-finals): Ulhas Shirke (Mah) beat Yogsh Desai (Mah) 3-1 (6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8); Suresh Kumar (Del) beat Balkrishna Katdar (Mah) 3-2 (12-14, 11-4, 13-11, 5-11, 11-6).
Final: Ulhas Shirke beat Suresh Kumar 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-2).