The State Veterans Table Tennis Championship took off today morning at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana , Mumbai, with first two rounds of Men’s team event. The tournament , which has received a very good response with more than 250 entries for individual event and 55 entries for team event , is being held under the auspices of Maharashtra Veterans’ table tennis Association and Mumbai City District Table Tennis Association. Teams from Nagpur, Solapur, Pune and Nashik have already arrived.
In the initial stage, it appears that the PJ Hindu Gymkhana ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams are favourites in the Men’s team event. The ‘A’ team of the hosts lead by evergreen Prakash Kelkar, scored a comfortable 3-0 victory over KTTFB, with the help of his team mates Abhay and Sanjay Mehta. The other team comprises of former international Suhas Kulkarni, his younger brother Jayant Kulkarni & top seed in the 65+ section Pinakin Sampat. And, they make a balanced team. However, the ‘C’ team of Hindu Gymkhana lost to Gomantak Sports Club.
In a closely contested team match today morning, BKC P ‘A’ bt Saraswat S.C. 3-2, with A.Kothari winning both his singles. The other results of matches played today morning are as follows: Captain Colony bt Gomantak 3-0, Nagpur Oranage bt Mazagaon Dock S.C. 3-0, P3 bt Chembur Gymkhana 3-0.
Suhas Kulkarni, is also playing in the Men’s 59 + section, while another international TT player from Pune, Sunil Babras in the 49+ section. The matches in the individual section will begin in the evening section, while the Women’s matches will be played on Sunday.