Indian Master Players’ Table Tennis Association (IMPTTA), which is a registered body of TT players from all over India, was formed recently; to promote the game of Table Tennis in the best way possible. Last week, the Maharashtra unit of IMPTTA, succeeded in hosting their first State Masters’ Table Tennis Tournament at Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai. According to the Hon. Secretary Mr. Sameer Bhate, it was a rehearsal of the big National event of IMPTTA, which is coming up in January 2025. IMPTTA’s Maharashtra unit successfully conducted this State Championship at this venue , by making arrangement of 20 TT tables at this venue and providing all the participants with free breakfast and nutritious lunch on both the days of the tournament.

All the medal winners in Team and Individucal events pose with their trophies/ medals along with guests and officials.

260 participants coming from different parts of Maharashtra, took part in this tournament, which comprised of team events for Men in 39+ and 59+ age groups and team event for women in 39+ age groups. Besides team events there were individual events for men and women in 39+.49+ , 59+, 64+, 69+, 74+ age groups. And there was finest display of skills by the participants, which were also captured on youtube live. This tournament was held in honour of two women TT legends Mangal Saraf and Suhasini Bakre who have won many state, national and international medals in the Masters’ events.   

Mangal Saraf ( L) and Suhasini Bakre( R) pose in front of the banner after the successful conduct of the tournament.

Besides Mangal & Suhasini most of the top players who have won national masters’ championship and also medals at the International Masters’ TT tournaments had taken part in this tournament. Former Sports Secretary of Bank of India Mr. Jayant Pathare along with his wife Ms. Rekha Pathare a former TT player, Mr. Raman Iyer, TT Promoter and his wife Ms. Iyer were the special guests of honour during the prize distribution ceremony. On this occasion, Dr. Nitin Toshniwal from Solapur announced a donation of Rs. 1 lakh to IMPTTA for the conduct of forthcoming National TT championship of IMPTTA.

Results of all the finals are as follows:

Men’s team 39+  : Pune bt Solapur

Men’s Team 59+ : Like Minded ( Mumbai) bt Team Sarosh ( Mumbai) .

Women’s Team 39+ : Sushma Mogre/ Swati Thube bt Suhasini Bakre/ Dr.Reena Bhagat.

Men’s 39+ Singles : Onkar Jog bt Kedar kasbekar 3-0 ( Bronze medals: Deepak Kadam & Suhas Rane)

Men’s 49+ Singles: Tejas Naik bt Dr. Nitin Toshniwal ( Bronze Medals : Debu Chandurkar & Rajesh Singh)

Men’s 59+ Singles: Jogesh Motwani bt Ashok Kalambe 3-0 ( Bronze Medals:Nitish Kumar & Sarosh Shroff.

Men’s 64+ Singles: Prakash Kelkar bt Anil Rasam 3-2 ( Bronze Medals : Mahesh Shetye & Naresh Shah.

Men’s 69+ Singles : Yogesh Desai bt Ulhas Shirke 3-0 (Bronze medals:Deepak Dudhane & Percy Mehta)

Men’s 74 + Singles: Dilip Kurtadkar bt R.R. Borkar 3-0 ( Bronze medals : A.M. Warunkar & Jagdish Anaredy)

Men’s 79+ Singles : A.S. Shaikh bt Satish Shirsat (Bronze:Subodh Narvekar)

Women’s 39+ Singles : Sadiya Vanjara bt Vinita Shukla 3-2 ( Bronze medals : Snehal Bhole & Dr. Reena Bhagat)

Women’s 49+ Singles : Sushma Mogare  bt Sivapriya Naik 3-0 ( Bronze medals:Trupti Machave & Shravani Dhapre)

Women’s 59+ Singles : Swati Agharkar bt Jayashree Nair 3-1 ( Bronze Medals: Manisha Pradhan & Madhavi Sawant)

Women’s 64+ Singles : Suhasini Bakre bt Mangal Saraf 3-1 ( Bronze Medals:Deepa Jain & Ujwala Marathe)   

Nitish Kumar representing Team ‘Like Minded’ played a big role in helping his team win the finals of Men’s 59+ team event in the IMPTTA- Mharashtra Masters’ TT State Championship 2024 at the Andheri Sports Complex, today. Playing as their best player, Nitish won both his Singles matches against Sanjay Mehta and Sarosh Shroff of Team Sarosh. His match against Sarosh Shroff was anybody’s game at one stage, as he was down 5-10. Yet, recovering from this stage, Nitish snatched the championship point. Purshottan Markad won the deciding match against Sanjay Mehta to win the Men’s 59+ team event.

Earlier, in the semi finals ‘Like Minded’ had defeated the stronger side of Kalidas Club Mulund, represented by evergreen Prakash Kelkar, Yogesh Desai and Avinash Kothari. In this match Purshottam Markad won both his crucial matches against Prakash Kelkar & Yogesh Desai and Nitish Kumar making a good beginning winning against Yogesh Desai the very first match.

In the Men’s 39+ team event finals, Onkar’s team from Pune, represented by Onkar Jog, Deepak Kadam and Satish Wakradkar shocked favourites Solapur team. Solapur’s best player Manish Rawat won both his singles; but his efforts went in vain, as both Deepak and Wakradkar won their matches against Dr. Nitin Toshniwal, besides winning the crucial doubles.

Elaborate arrangements were made by IMPTTA at this new venue, with 14 tables made available for participants, besides offering free breakfast and mini lunch to all the participants. Presence of many top Master players from all over Maharashtra offered a good competition in today’s team event.

Tomorrow’s individual singles matches will begin at 10 am with finals to be played at 6.30 pm.   

Kho Kho legend Anant Mahadev Bhatade is no more. He passed away on Friday . Bhatade had worked very hard towards promotion of Kho Kho for almost eight decades. Bhatade had won awards for Maharashtra in the National Kho Kho competitions at Badoda and Hyderabad.

After his retirement, he served as coach of Maharashtra boys , Girls Men’s and Women’s teams and his training helped his teams to win awards at the national level. As a Coach, he even helped Mumbai’s SNDT College teams to win Inter Collegiate competitions. Later , he worked as official of Kho Kho federation besides shouldering responsibilities.

His contribution to the game of Kho Kho was enormous  and therefore with his passing away, there is a big loss for the Kho Kho federation.

The IMPTTA- Maharashtra Masters’ Table Tennis Championship is all set to begin on 14^th December 2024 at the Andheri Sports Complex, Off.Veera Desai Road, Andheri. This two day tournament will have team events for Men’s 39+ and Men’s 59+ age groups, besides Women’s team event.  The other individual events will in 39+, 49+, 59+, 64+,69+, 74+ age groups for men and women separately.

Highlight of this tournament is that it will be held in honour of two renowned TT legends Mangal Saraf and Suhasini Bakre ( Maiden name Surekha Pusalkar) who have won many medals at the state, national and international level competitions, besides being National Masters’ Champions.

According to Mr. Sameer Bhate, Hon. Secretary of IMPTTA, the tournament has received very good response with participation from players from different parts of the state. “This is a rehearsal tournament before our big National level Masters’ TT event, which is coming up at the same venue in January 2025. For the past two years, we have conducted many state level ranking tournaments successfully and for the All India tournament we have already crossed 600 registrations from players all over India, which also include big names. Our target for our next All India Masters ‘TT tournament in 1000. The Indian Master Players’ Table Tennis Association ( IMPTTA) is committed to offer the best to all Master TT Players from all over India.” he said. 

The lovers of table tennis witnessed a new venue in the form of a big shopping mall. Last weekend Growel’s 1O1 Mall, Kandivali, hosted ‘Growels’s Paddle Battle – The Epic Table Tennis’ at their atrium. The event was conducted for Junior Titans Cup which was open to both boys and girls in Under-15 category and the Elite Cup event, which was open to all the players of any age.

Players from 10 years to 70+ age group took part in this prize money event at Growel’s 1O1 mall, which was held under the auspices of The Suburban Table Tennis Association and in collaboration with SPORTIFI Promotion LLP.  

Renowned young TT player Pranjal Shinde was the event manager of this unique successful TT tournament and she did her job very well. It was her idea to host a TT tournament in this shopping mall for better promotion of this game. Good support was extended to her by the marketing team of Growel’s 1O1 mall that too at a short notice. Besides managing this event, she also displayed her skills in this sport, by participating and performing well.   

Raghav Mahajan from Gokuldham, School, Goregaon, won the Under -15 Junior Titans Cup, beating Pranay Jain in the finals. Raghav won the hearts of not only other participants but also large spectators, who visited the mall on week end and watched his game . His game was well balanced to tackle speed and spin from all his opponents. Agastya Shetty and Aditya Honnesh won Bronze medals in theis category.

For the Elite Cup, the competition was tougher, with many upcoming and versatile players posing a big challenge to each other. Seniormost among them was Ulhas Shirke, who usually plays in the Masters’ event, eversince he made his comeback to TT few years ago. He invited the attention of those who were present at the venue, displaying his great fighting spirit. On Sunday, from 9.30 am to 9.30 pm, he played seven matches of best of five games to reach finals. After qualifying for the main draw, he encountered all younger players, who were quicker and faster. Yet, he managed to win all his matches with his superb ball control and strong backhand finish.   

Ulhas Shirke’s winning run was stopped by IITian Sharang Bhagdikar who beat him 3-2 . Sharang could not cope up with the forceful backhand of Ulhas in first two games and was 0-2 down. However, in the 3^rd game he recovered to play his forceful topspin with more accuracy, to take the next three games and lift the Elite cup. Ulhas was more than happy to receive his runner- up Elite trophy Silver medal, and appreciation from all those, who were present at the venue.

Earlier, in the semi finals, Ulhas had to face the challenge from 13 year old Tanay Bakshi, an upcoming attacking young player. But, he fought this hard battle very well, to win 3-2. The other semi finalist in this group , who lost to Sharang was Aditya Honnesh. Among others, who couldn’t get the medals but gave their best in this competition were Yatarth Vora, Urmila Bapat, Ayushi Shirgaonkar, Pranay Jain, Yatarth kadel, Tanay Bakshi, Dr. Sadiya Vanjara and Pranjal Shinde.   

Films, Television and Web series actor Amit Riyaan whose new film ‘The Rabbit House’ will be released on 20^th Dec.) was the chief guest and he gave away the prizes to the winners. Amit was all praise for the selection of this venue and was highly impressed with the competitive spirit displayed by the participants. TSTTA Secretary Mr. Sameer Bhate thanked the marketing team of Growel’s 1O1Mall for making their space available for the promotion of this game in the form of this tournament.

Growel’s Paddle Battle- The Epic Table Tennis!

Growel’s 101 Mall Kandivali will be hosting the Biggest Table Tennis event in their mall on the 7^th and 8^th December 2024. Suitably titled ‘Growels’s Paddle Battle – The Epic Table Tennis’, this event which carries big Prize Money, is open in following categories : 

1. The *Junior Titans Cup* is open to both male & female players who belong to Under-15 age Category. 

2. *The Elite Cup* is open to all players, of any age group or gender! 

This tournament will be held under the auspices of The Suburban Table Tennis Association, Mumbai with SPORTIFI Promotion LLP as Event partners. Only a Limited 64 slots are available in both Categories. So, register soon before slots run out!

For more details, visit the link below or contact event coordinator Pranjal ( 7738305779) .

Visit the link below to register: 

https://sportifipromotion.com/tournaments/2024/20241207

In the 43rd Junior National Kho-Kho Championship for boys and girls, Maharashtra’s teams clinched the championship for the 10th consecutive time, securing a double gold crown.

Maharashtra Boys and Girls teams

The matches, held at the Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar Sports Stadium in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, concluded with celebrations from players and spectators alike. This victory marks the 19th consecutive title for the boys’ team and the 10th consecutive title for the girls’ team. Overall, Maharashtra’s boys have now won 35 titles, and the girls have claimed 26 national championships.

Jitendra Vesave

In the finals played on Friday, Maharashtra defeated Odisha in both categories. In the girls’ category, an all-round performance by Ashwini Shinde (3.30, 2.30 minutes defense, and 2 points) helped Maharashtra secure a 24-20 win, maintaining a lead of 4 points and 5.10 minutes kipping spare. By halftime, Maharashtra led 14-10. Players like Tanvi Bhosale (2.10 minutes defense), Sneha Lamkane (1.30 minutes defense), and Pranali Kale (1.10 minutes defense and 4 points) supported Ashwini. Despite Odisha’s defenders putting up a strong effort in the second innings, Maharashtra’s Suhani Dhotre (1.20 minutes defense, 6 points) and Prajakta Birajdar (2 minutes defense) ensured victory. Sanika Chafe eliminated four players in each inning with her sharp attacks. Odisha’s Archana Pradhan (2 minutes & 4 points) and Lisa Rani (1 minute & 6 points) performed well but fell short.

Suhani Dhotre

In the boys’ final, Maharashtra defeated Odisha 33-29, maintaining a 1.30-minute lead. The halftime score of 18-14 gave Maharashtra an edge. All-round contributions from Jitendra Vasave (2.30, 1.20 minutes defense, and 4 points) and Krishna Bansode (1.40, 1.40 minutes defense, and 4 points) were crucial. Parth Devkate and Prem Dalvi, with six points each, played pivotal roles. Odisha’s Bapi Murmu (2, 1.20 minutes defense, and 2 points) and Sunil Patra (1.30, 1 minutes defense, and 6 points) fought valiantly but couldn’t prevent Maharashtra’s victory.

Coaches Yuvraj Jadhav (boys’ team) and Shrikant Gaikwad (girls’ team) attributed the success to teamwork, strategic planning, and the strong support provided by the Maharashtra Kho-Kho Association.

Awards and Recognition:

• Veer Abhimanyu Award: Jitendra Vasave (Dharashiv)
• Janaki Award: Suhani Dhotre (Dharashiv)
• Best Attacker: Prem Dalvi (Sangli, Maharashtra), Lisa Rani (Odisha)
• Best Defender: Bapi Murmu (Odisha), Tanvi Bhosale (Dharashiv, Maharashtra)

Maharashtra Achieves Dream Points:

This year, the championship introduced “dream points.” Teams earn these when a batch of three players defends for four minutes, with additional points awarded for every subsequent minute until out the whole batch. Maharashtra’s boys earned 1 dream point, while the girls earned 4. Odisha’s boys earned 1 point.

Comments from Officials:

• Chandrajit Jadhav, Secretary, Maharashtra Kho-Kho Association: Odisha has invested significantly in sports infrastructure and established high-performance centers to support athletes. Despite the lack of similar facilities in Maharashtra, the teams’ innovative strategies and teamwork led to victory.
• Ajit Pawar, Patron, Maharashtra Kho-Kho Association: Maharashtra’s players and coaches showcased exceptional talent and determination, making the state proud. Congratulations to all the players and supporters.