Vaibhav Pawar Table Tennis Academy (VPTTA) ‘A’ and Jayesh Lakhani Table Tennis Academy (JLTTA) ‘B’ scored hard-fought semi-final victories to set-up a clash in the Division-II finals of The Suburban Table Tennis Association (TSTTA) organised Annual Inter-Club Table Tennis League 2022, and played at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana (JVPG) Club. The Inter-Club TT League is being sponsored by D.M. Tutorials, Precise and Sanwei.
In a last four match of fluctuating fortunes, VPTTA ‘A’ managed to get the better of Brihanmumbai Kreeda & Lalitkala Pratishthan (BKLP) ‘A’ by a fighting 3-2 margin.
In the second semi-final, Santosh Kolapte won both his singles matches which helped JLTTA ‘B’ fight back to overcome beat Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul (PTKS) ‘D’ 3-2 in a tense and exciting contest.
VPTTA got off to a positive start as Mukul Jain held his nerves to prevail over Avinash Kothari 11-7, 15-13, 9-11, 7-11, and 11-8 in the first rubber. BKLP’s seasoned campaigner Prakash Kelkar leveled the scores defeating Nitesh Kumawat 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, and 11-9 before VPTTA regained the lead when Vishal Yadav comfortably defeated Padmakumar Vellody 11-8, 11-8, and 12-10. Kelkar won his second singles tie as he rallied to overcome Jain 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10 and level the match scores at 2-all and force the decider. In the fifth rubber Kumawat managed to come good against Kothari pulling off a 11-4, 11-3, 11-13, and 12-10 win to secure VPTTA’s success.
JLTTA ‘B’ made a shaky start as Nilesh Yedge went down tamely losing in three games to Ram Kadam 9-11, 9-11, and 3-11, but Kolapte won the second tie defeating Samir Deo 11-9, 12-10, 5-11, and 11-9 to restore parity. PTKS for the second time took the lead with Chaitanya Deshpande prevailing over Dhyaan Parekh 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, and 11-9. But, JLTTA won the last two rubbers with Kolapte scoring a straight games 11-5, 11-4, and 11-5 win against Kadam and later Yedge defeated Deo in five well-contested games 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, and 11-8 to complete the victory.
Results: Division-II (semi-finals): VPTTA ‘A’ beat BKLP ‘A’ 3-2 (Mukul Jain bt Avinash Kothari 11-7, 15-13, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8; Nitesh Kumawat lost Prakash G. Kelkar 5-11, 11-9, 5-11, 9-11; Vishal Yadav bt Padmakumar Vellody 11-8, 11-8, 12-10; Mukul Jain lost Prakash G. Kelkar 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 10-12; Nitesh Kumawat bt Avinash Kothari 11-4, 11-3, 11-13, 12-10).
JLTTA ‘B’ beat PTKS ‘D’ (Nilesh Yedge lost Ram Kadam 9-11, 9-11, 3-11; Santosh Kolapte bt Samir Deo 11-9, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9; Dhyaan Parekh lost Chaitanya Deshpande 6-11, 5-11, 11-8, 9-11; Santosh Kolapte bt Ram Kadam 11-5, 11-4, 11-5; Nilesh Yedge bt Samir Deo 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8).