Air India’s seasoned stalwart Ram Kadam was one of the few, who had to struggle to make knock out stage in the Khar Gymkhana- All India World Hardbat qualifiers, hosted by Sports Reconnenct at Khar Gymkhana here today.
Ram kadam
Ram, who was in group 5, was stretched by Karan Kasturi before he triumphed at 11-3, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5. However, later, he made short work of Neville Madan to top the group. In another close encounter, Havish Asrani was taken the distance by Girish Acharya before Havish topped his group 15 with a 3-11, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5 win.
The unique feature of this event is that the players have to play with the hard bat provided by the organisers. This bat is not like a conventional bat for its surface is having a plain coating. One of the top state players, Omkar Torgalkar, said that in this type of competition any of the top players can be beaten by lesser lights. It also tests one’s patience and ability to adjust with such non-conventional bats.
The players were divided into 32 groups and the winner of each group qualified for the second knockout stage. Both the singles finalists of the event will be included among the 64 players from various other countries. The World championship is scheduled to be held at Alexandra Palace, London, in January/February next year.