The Suburban Table Tennis Association, Mumbai (TSTTA) will be organizing Dr. Ramesh Prabhoo Memorial 82nd State Table Tennis Championship in Mumbai. The marquee event will be held between 19 to 28th January at the ISO certified sports complex, Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul (PTKS), Vile Parle East, Mumbai.
Mr. Rajeev Bodas President TTFI speaking at the Inaugural Ceremony
Along with 325 players coming from all districts of the state, several national players like Madhurika Patkar, Sanil Shetty, Ravi Kotian and Deeya Chitale will be seen in action to prove their mettle.
The state championship is being organized in Mumbai after 23 long years. Several luminaries are expected to visit the venue during the course of this 10 day event.
Incidentally, this is first operational year for the association TSTTA which was formed in 2019.TSTTA received official affiliation from Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association (MSTTA) to develop the game of table tennis, and to conduct district and state ranking tournaments in the revenue district of Mumbai Suburban District (MSD).
“TSTTA is committed to be a fair, transparent, democratic and law abiding progressive modern age TT association that would work for the betterment of TT in the MSD region under guidance of our President Shri Arvind Ramesh Prabhoo (President PTKS, Vile Parle East )” says Vice President Shri. Dhananjay Sathe.
TSTTA aims to provide fair and inclusive environment to all entities of the ecosystem . “I am delighted and grateful to MSTTA and all who supported our cause to make this happen” says Mr. Yogesh Desai, Chairman of TSTTA. Mr. Desai himself is a 5 times national champion and currently ranked 7th in the world in the veterans category. He is no minnows to sports administration as he had formed a district association in Baroda at the tender age of 19.
“We will strive hard to provide a fair yet competitive platform for all players. We will also aim at developing new pool of talent irrespective of demographic profile, and given the rise in population, we will work towards increasing penetration of the game across the Mumbai Suburban District. We will engage with all entities of the ecosystem to ensure participation of their ideas. The game is already big, we hope to make the arena bigger” says Mr. Sameer Bhate, Secreatry, TSTTA.
TSTTA has successfully organised not only several veterans tournaments but also, a significant tournament like MSSA, an inter school event in which over 1000 kids participated. The events were held at Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul (PTKS), Vile Parle East.
“Several clubs have come forward to associate with us. We are planning to organise maximum number of 3 and 4 star tournaments, in addition to state ranking tournament. The calendar is under process as we will get more clarity form MSTTA” concludes Mr. Desai.