Junior Reagan Albuqerque put up a stunning show as he scalped seasoned top seed Eric Fernandes (in semis – 11-7, 11-13, 11-9, 13-11,11-8) and second seeded Nishant Kulkarni (in final – 11-7, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9) on way to the men’s singles title in the JVPGC-All-Mumbai 4-star ranking table tennis tournament, hosted by Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana here last night.
All the champions (from left – Tanmay Rane (Youth and Junior boys), Reagan Albuerque (Men’s), Mamta Prabhu (women’s), Hrishikesh Malhotra (Sub-junior), Havish Asrani (cadet), (Kneeling – Ananya Chande (Cadet girls).pose with Kamlesh Mehta (Chairman, MSDTTA) and Sanjiv Shah (Organising secretary).
However, there was no stopping for Dena Bank’s ex-international Mamta Prabhu, who went on to settle the pretensions of Senhora D’Souza 4-2 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 12-14, 12-10) to pocket the women’s singles crown. Mamta, having earlier beaten current India-ranked Divya Deshpande in the semis, stroked and smashed to 3-0 lead against Senhora. However, Senhora attacked with gusto in the next to make it 3-1. Thereafter But both fought hard in the fifth. Even in this game Mamta was on match points twice but Senhora saved on both occasions and then went on to win over extra points to reduce it to 3-2. Mamta, even then showed no sign of any jitters. She continued playing with absolute calmness and showing superb footwork took the next game and the title with a 11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 12-14, 12-10 win.
Junior Reagan, who packed off his coach and men’s top seed Eric Fernandes earlier in the semifinals, gave his opponent and second seed Nishant Kulkarni (who is more than twice his age at 38) a taste of sheer speed and power to beat him 11-7, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9 for his maiden triumph in the seniors category.
Sharing the day’s honours with Mamta and Reagan was another fast-rising lad Tanmay Rane, who bagged a double crown – winning both the youth and junior boys singles titles. Interestingly, in both his victories the victim was another junior Hrishikesh Malhotra. After Tanmay won the junior boys final (9-11, 21-19, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 16-14).in a thriller, Hrishikesh seemed to have lost the will to fight in the youth boys finals as Tanmay romped home in straight games (11-4, 11-3, 12-10, 12-10).
Results:
Men’s singles: (Final): Reagan Albuquerque bt(2)Nishant Kulkarni 11-7, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9.
Women’s singles: (Final): Mamta Prabhu bt Senhora D’Souza11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 12-14, 12-10.
Youth girls singles: (Final): Ashlesha Trehan bt Mansi Chiuplunkar 13-11, 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8.
Youth boys singles : (Final): Tanmay Rane bt Hrishikesh Malhotra 11-4, 11-3, 12-10, 12-10.
Jr boys singles: (Final): Tanmay Rane bt Hrishikesh Malhotra 9-11, 21-19, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 16-14.
Jr Girls Singles: (Final): Mansi Chiplunkar bt Vidhi A. Shah 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-4.
Sub-jr. boys singles( Final) : (2) Hrishikesh Malhotra bt (1) Dev Shroiff 13-11, 8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 4-11, 4-11, 11-4.
Sub-jr girls singles( Final) : (1) Mihika Rohira bt Vidhi A Shah 11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6.
Cadet boys singles( Final) : Havish Asrani bt Vivaan Mohile 11-8, 11-7, 11-3.
Cadet girls singles( Final) : (1) Ananya Chande bt Hardee Patel 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 11-7.
Midget boys singles( Final) : (1)Dev Hingorany bt Yuvraj Yadav 11-6, 11-6, 11-2.
Midget girls singles( Final) : Urvi Churvi bt Anshsita Tamhankar 11-2, 11-5, 11-7.