India’s Rita Jain won a Silver medal at the recently concluded World Masters’ Table Tennis championship, in Gangneung, South Korea. Playing in the main draw of Women’s 65+ group, Rita had earlier ensured her medal when she entered semi finals and defeated Zhu Li from China3-2 . She, however lost to Chinese top seed Hu Fenglan 0-3 in the finals to win a Silver medal.
Rita Jain
This was a great honour for Indian Masters, as Rita was the only player from India, who had won a medal in the main draw of singles. Rita, a former Junior National champion, had played for Madhya Pradesh team in the national championship and had also won the National Masters’ TT Championship, in Hyderabad in 2024. She made a comeback into the game in the year 2017 and since then has been playing in the Masters’ event at the national and international event. She is presently based in Vadodara, Gujarat and received training from Mr. Satish Patel, her Coach.
This is not the first time she has won medals at the international TT Masters’ tournaments. In the past she had won US Masters’ event and also bagged a bronze in Singles and a Gold in doubles along with Mangal Saraf at the World Masters’ TT at Muscat in 2023. Speaking about her recent success, her doubles partner Mangal Saraf from Mumbai, was all praise for her dedication and hard work in this game.
Incidentally, our Master players have been performing well at the international level TT tournaments; but our Sports Ministry and the Table Tennis federation of India, which conducts the National Masters TT tournament for them every year by receiving their registration fees , dosen’t seem to take note of their achievements at the international level. The players participate in such tournaments on their own, spending from their pocket towards the hotel and travel expenses. Only, because they are passionate about this game. In fact, their performance is inspiration for other seniors, who believe in fitness.
In the main draw of mixed doubles 50+ age group in this World Masters’ TT, the Indian pair of Laxmanrao Thakre and Shital Shah won a Bronze medal , after they lost to Korean pair 1-3 in semi finals.
There were many other Indians, who performed well in the Consolation Singles and doubles events, winning consolation prizes in their respective age groups. Prominent among them were, Jitendra Mavani & Sheshadri Srishaila ( MD 70+ Winners ), U.N. Ramkumar ( MS40 SF), Jitendra Kapoor ( MS45 Winner) , Sudhir Kesarwani & Radhika Dorle( XD 45+Winners ), Sandeep Sadarangani ( MS60 R-up), Suthar Jagadishchandra( Ind) & S.Atkuso( Jpn) –(XD 80+ SF), Sonal Joshi & Divya Pandya ( WD 50+ SF), U.N. Ramkumar & Chaitali Udeshi ( XD 40+ R-up), Mukund Deo Agarwal & Indresh Purohit ( MD 80+ R-up), Dilip Kudtarkar & Bimal Mawanda ( MD75+ SF), Anumna Baruah & Shital Gotadke ( WD 50+ SF). Harish Chandrani (Ind) & Hangi Kumiko ( Jpn)- (XD 70+ SF).