It was mixed luck for Gurcharan Singh in the Veteran’s 40+ Singles of the Matunga Gymkhana- Selection Sports 4 Star All Mumbai Table Tennis Tournament on Friday evening. This tournament is played under the auspices of MCDTTA. In the Pre Quarter finals of this event, Gurcharan Singh narrowly defeated Naveen Salian 3-2 but in the very next round of Quarter finals he lost to Suhas Rane 3-0 to allow his consistent opponent to move further in semi finals. Suhas Rane will now meet in first semi finals, Top seeded Nishant Kulkarni, who defeated Amit Modi 3-0 in other Quarter final match.
The third quarter final match played between Ravi Chopra and Kiran Salian produced many good rallies and at one stage it was anybody’s match. But, the more consistent Ravi Chopra overcame the resistence from Kiran Salian in the fourth game winning the match 3-1. The fourth quarter final match expected a lot from Ketan Palvankar son of former State and national level player Govind Palwankar. But, Kedar Kasbekar took complete control of this encounter from start till finish to win 3-0. Kedar will now take on Ravi Chopra in 2nd semi finals.
Earlier in the Group league matches of Veterans’ Singles, Ojas Choksi who is known for his quick finish, had beaten Kapil Kumar and later in Pre Quarter finals played very well to extend Ketan Palvankar to five well fought games and losing the decider at 9-11. It was his bad luck that he lost with a narrow margin. Ojas later played in the Men’s Singles group league late in the evening and had to fight hard once again against his friend Pankaj Harlaka in a five games battle, losing the decider over extra points. He however managed to win the other matches to qualify for the main draw.
Junior Vibhun Sadhale who easily moved into quarter finals of Boys Under-17 group, winning first three rounds, also managed to qualify from his Group 5 in Men’s Singles. After losing to Anupam Rajak 2-3, Vibhun played his crucial match against a solid defensive player Saumya Gala who stretched him to four games. In the fourth game Vibhun managed to save three match points to win the game and match to qualify for the main draw of Men’s Singles.
Dr. Bharat Kotecha who beat Santosh Jain 3-0 in his crucial Men’s Singles group league match, qualified from his group late on Friday evening. Kotecha had lost to another contender from their group Soham Sawant 2-3 earlier.
Team DECATHLON distributed free 750 ml water bottles ( BTWIN) worth Rs199/- to every participant in this tournament. And this was a fine gesture by way of sponsorship.