Any veterans’ tournament played in the city has been gaining more and more importance, because of the overwhelming response received not only from local players; but outstation players too. The ongoing 5th State ranking Veterans’ Table Tennis tournament being played at Khar Gymkhana, also witnessed a good competition. Today being Saturday, the matches were played throughout the day. But, none of the players looked tired, as the schedule of their matches was properly planned by the organizers, so as to give sufficient rest to all the players.
FromLtoR. Basab Choudhary,Rajesh Suratwala,Ashok Kalamb
The team championship event, which had gathered 32 team entries from clubs in Mumbai and other places of Maharashtra, witnessed the best competition, besides the individual singles and doubles event. The biggest surprise of the day was, when Nagpur Oranges ‘A’ team surprised strong looking ‘Kalidas Sports, Mulund, 3-0 in the pre quarter finals of team event.
Hard hitter Rajesh Suratwala began well for Nagpur Oranges, when he beat former Veterans National Champion Prakash kelkar in five well contested games, thus giving his team 1-0 lead. Watching his partner doing so well, Basab Choudhary also surprised seasoned K.K.Rai, giving his team 2-0 lead. With the psychological advantage to their side, Nagpur Oranges team also bagged the doubles match to record a 3-0 win.Nagpur Oranges ‘A’ will now take on the winner of PJ Hindu Gymkhana ‘A’ and Gomantak ‘A’.
Sarosh Shroff(L) with Percy Mehta(R)
But the players of Nagpur Oranges team Basab Choudhary and Debdoot Chatterjee lost in the individual Veterans’ Doubles Quarter finals, when they lost to Percy Mehta and Sarosh Shroff 0-3. Both Percy and Sarosh make a very good doubles combination and are hot favourites in the doubles event.
Matches on Sunday begin at 9 am and the finals will be played from 4 pm onwards. This being the last tournament of TT season, players are fighting hard to better their position, before the Veterans’ nationals to be held next month.