For the first time Indian TT players have succeeded in winning maximum medals at the recently concluded World Veterans Table Tennis Championship organized by the Oman Table Tennis Association and played at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, Oman, Muscat. In all, India won 6 Gold, 6 Silver and 13 Bronze medals in this championship. Out of these six Gold medals won by Indians, Mumbai players Yogesh Desai( Men’s Singles 70+) , Ulhas Shirke & Pinakin Sampat( Men’s Doubles 70+) and Mangal Saraf ( Women’s Doubles 65+) partnering Rita Jain also from India, have bagged three Gold medals.
Indian paddler Yogesh Desai emerged as the World Champion, winning the Men’s 70+ singles title. The Mumbai-based player Desai played with plenty of grit and determination and did well to brush aside the challenge from Czech Republic’s Milan Rakovicky storming to a 3-1 (9-11, 11-9, 11-7, and 13-11) in the best-of-five-game final and claim his maiden gold medal.
Meanwhile, the Men’s 70+ doubles Indian pairing of Ulhas Shirke and Pinakin Sampat also became World Champions. The Mumbai duo of Shirke and Sampat combined perfectly to outplay the CZE pair Frantisek Just & Milan Rakovicky in the finals.
Mantu Murmu of India who won the other three Gold medals and bagged the triple crown for the first time, winning Women’s 60+ singles, Women’s Doubles partnering Jette Vieg from Denmark and Mixed Doubles partnering Vinay Chopra from India. The overall performance of Indian players who participated in a large number around 300, in this competition was very good, winning a total of 25 medals for our country.
Besides the six Gold medals won by India, Shilpa Joshi won three medals- a silver and two Bronze in 50+ Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles partnering Dr. Anagha Joshi and Mixed doubles partnering Manish Rawat. Prasunna Parekh won two silver medals, one in Women’s 45+ Singles and other in Women’s 45+ Doubles partering Meenu Basak. Suhasini Bakre bagged a Silver and Bronze in Women’s 60+ Singles and a Bronze in Women’s 60+ Doubles partnering Neeta Kulkarni. Pinakin Sampat also bagged another medal in the form of Silver in Mixed doubles 70+.Mangal Saraf also bagged another medal in the form of Bronze in the Women’s 65+ Singles.Rizwan Abu bagged a silver and a Bronze each in 40+ Singles and Doubles ( partner Srivasta Kasturi) events respectively.
This tournament had attracted about 1600+ participants from 60 countries. Germany topped the medals tally with 10 Gold, 10 Silver and 23 Bronze medals, followed by India with 6 Gold, 6 Silver and 13 Bronze medals. Denmark with 6 Gold, 9 Silver and 5 Bronze , took the third place, followed by other big countries like Japan, USA, Finland, China, Iran, Sweden 2, Ukraine 2, Switzerland 2, Estonia 2, Norway 2, Korea 2, Latvia 2, Malaysia 1, Italy 1, Czech Rep. 1, Wales 1, Luxumberg 1, Singapore 1, Romania 1 and others.
The list of Silver medlalists from India is as follows: Prasunna Parekh( Women’s 45+ Singles), Shilpa Joshi ( Women’s 50+ Singles), Suhasini Bakre ( Women’s 60+ Singles), Rizwan Abu & Srivasta Kasturi ( Men’s Doubles 40+), Meenu Basak & Prasunna Parekh ( Women’s Doubles 45+), Pinakin Sampat & Itsuko Iseki from Japan( Mixed Doubles 70+).
The list of Bronze medal winners from India is as follows: Rizwan Abu ( Men’s Singles 40+), Moon Moon Mukherjee ( Women’s Singles 45+), Shruti Joshi and Anjana Rao ( Women’s Doubles 40+), Anjana Rao and Vinay Chandra ( Mixed Doubles 40+), Ayshwarya Pai Bhat & Sadiya Vanjara ( Women’s Doubles 45+), Anagha Joshi and Shilpa Joshi ( Women’s Doubles 50+) Manish Rawat and Shilpa Joshi ( Mixed Doubles( Mixed Doubles 50+), Rajesh Mudam & Anil Rasam ( Men’s Doubles 60+), Suhasini Bakre and Neeta Kulkarni ( Women’s Doubles 60+), Rita Jain ( Women’s Singles 65+), Mangal Saraf ( Women’s Singles 65+), Arun Barhat & Indresh Purohit ( Men’s Doubles 75+).
In the Consolation Singles and doubles matches also Indian players did well. They received certificates for their performance . Their names are as follows:
Men’s 40+ Singles : U N Ramkumar ( Winner), Syes Faizan ahmed ( R-Up); Women’s 40+ Singles: Sarika Varade( Winner); Men’s 45+ Singles : Mitul Vyas ( Winner); B.Guduru Venkat Kishore ( R-Up);Women’s Singles 45+ : Anjana Rao ( Winner); Men’s Singles 50+ : Samir Bhate ( Winner) ; Women’s Singles 50+ : Shravani Dhapre ( R-up) ; Men’s Singles 55+ Laxmanrao Thakare ( R-up); Men’s Doubles 40+ : Saurav Ganguly & U.N. Ramkumar ( R-Up); Women’s Doubles 40+ : Shivpriya Naik & Krupa Shah ( R-up); Men’s Doubles 45+ Rajnish Khatavkar & Amit Modi ( R-up); Men’s Doubles 50+ : Samir Bhate & Ravindra Joshi ( Winners); Women’s Doubles 55+: Swati Agharkar & Sunita Dhating ( R-up); Men’s Doubles 60+ : N. Viveknandan C & Vardharajan Kalyanraman ( Winners); Men’s Doubles 60+ : Shitij Malhotra & Vinay Chandra -US ( R-up); Men’s Doubles 65+ : P.G.Kelkar & Percy Mehta ( Winners); Men’s Singles 70+ : Pinakin Sampat ( Winner); Women’s Singles 70+ : Kokila Patel ( Winner); Men’s Doubles 70+ Girish Sawant & Hou Rendy ( R-up) .