Former national level Table Tennis player. Freelance Writer in Fitness & healthcare. Sports Commentator & Film Critic.
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‘Dadaji Daring XI’ Cricket team scored their third consecutive win, when they defeated ‘Kingly XI Sports club’ in the MCF Club organised Sr. Citizens Premier Cricket League tournament at the Mandpeshwar Civi Federation ground , Borivali today. “Dadaji Daring XI’ team had earlier beaten ‘RG’s The Team’ and ‘Shrikrishna XI’ successively, yesterday in this 6-6 over match, to be in the 2nd position in this seven team’s league.
‘Dadaji Daring’ team celebrate their 3rd successive win in the company of Dadaji -the owner of the team( Sitting 2nd from left) and Sanjay Shukla the Co- owner( Standing in the Centre) .
‘Thunderbolts XI’ had secured first position at the end of the first day yesterday, on the basis of their top net run rate. But, today was the day For ‘Dadaji Daring XI’ as 74 year old Ramesh Narvekar was declared Man of The match’, on the basis of his all round performance.
Mohan Krishnaswamy ( RG’s The Team) with his MoM trophy
Ramesh Narvekar ( Right) receiving MoM award.
In other interesting closely fought match today afternoon, ‘RG’s The Team’ scored a close win in a thrilling finish over ‘Shrikrishna XI’ . Set to achieve the target of 63 runs in 6 overs by ‘Shrikrishna XI’, the ‘RG’s Team’ made it possible in the final over. Thanks to Mohan Krishnaswamy who scored quick 23 runs in 7 balls ( with 3 sixes). He was well supported by superb 26 by Dr. Vivek Ringe, who has come all the way from Vadodara, to play this tournament. Dr. Vivek had scored quick 43runs for ‘RG’s The Team’ in the earlier match played in the morning.
Dr. Vivek Ringe ( RG’sThe Team) smashed 26 and 43 runs respectively in two separate matches today
Having lost their first two matches yesterday, it was great comeback by ‘RG’s The team’ today, to win both their matches. This is the Season -2 of the Senior Citizens Premier Cricket League. Thanks to the Cricket Sub-Committee of MCF Club , especially Mr. Jitendra Roy and Mr. Jigar Shah for making elaborate arrangements at the venue.
Renowned cricket personality Milind Rege passed away today, after suffering heart attack. He was 76. An all rounder, Milind played for Mumbai team from 1966 to 1978. He also captained Mumbai Cricket team. Milind played 52 first class matches and took 126 wickets at an average of 29.23 and scored 1532 runs at an average of 23.56. Milind suffered first heart attack at the age of 26, but he returned to play after taking a break for one year. He was an off spinner and a very good middle order batsman, having helped Mumbai team win some important matches at crucial stage.
Milind Rege
Milind was a close friend of legendary Sunil Gavaskar and before playing active cricket, both of them also represented their school St.Xavier’s High School, in Table tennis at the inter school meets. Later, in School’s cricket, Milind captained St. Xavier’s School. He always remained in close touch with his school and college friends till recent times. Recalling his good old school days, his friend Jayant Rane , who kept the wickets for St. Xavier’s School team said, “ Milind was a fantastic all rounder. While bowling, he used to signal to me that the next ball would be a late cutter and that really puzzled the batsman.”
St. Xavier’s School team: Milind Rege- Captain( Sitting 2nd from Left), Sunil Gavaskar( Sitting 2nd from Right), Jayant Rane -Wicket Keeper Standing Ext-Left, Sopan Banerjee ( Standing 2nd from Right).Photo Courtesy: Jayant Rane
Milind also played and captained Tata Sports Club and served as Sectretary of Tata Sports Club for two decades. He served as Selector and Administrator of MCA and also served as Chairman of Selectors of MCA. Milind was not keeping well recently. His close friend Sunil Gavaskar met him two days ago, in hospital , before he left for Champions trophy assignment as a commentator. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar also paid his tributes to late Milind Sir, calling him a true Mumbai cricketer with immense contributions to the city’s cricket.
Magzmumbai offer heartfelt condolences to his family members and close friends.
Organising sports events and at the same time participating in it and winning medals, is a difficult task. But, at 49+ Shravani Dhapre has been managing it well. A Senior Stenographer with BEST Undertaking, Mumbai, Shravani, who is also serving as the Jt. Hon.Secretary of Indo Master Players Table Tennis Association( IMPTTA) since its formation last year, has been working tirelessly, after her office hours, to organise events one after the other, for IMPTTA.
Last year, during all the four state ranking tournaments of IMPTTA, she shouldered multiple responsibilities with her Hon.Secretary Sameer Bhate and another Jt.Hon. Secretary Sachin D’Souza. But, she has always been calling it a team work of all committee members, for the successful conduct of all these tournaments. All this was possible under the leadership of Mr. Arwind Prabhoo, President of IMPTTA. Shravani doesn’t forget to mention the names of Naveen Verghese, Rakesh Nigudkar and others from PTKS, for their technical support.
During the recently concluded IMPTTA- National Masters’ TT championship at Andheri Sports Complex, Shravani camped there at the venue and worked silently towards smooth conduct of the event, from 7 am till late night on all six days. She was instrumental in registering many of the 758 players and 650 tournament entries from 23 states of India, before the start of this big event. Her personal contact with every women 40+players in India, helped a lot.
In spite of her busy schedule in conduct of the championship, she also offered her services for Maharashtra Women’s team ( 39 & 49+ combined) and helped bag Gold medal and a trophy for the team, besides winning few more medals in individual events. She certainly deserves a special award and we are sure, her employers will also take note of her selfless services towards the promotion of sports, besides her achievements at the state, national and international level and offer her suitable reward.
Except for losing the team championship finals to West Bengal in Women’s 59+category, Maharashtra Women dominated in 39+ and 49+combined category, winning Gold and a huge trophy. Though we saw some resistance coming from Rajasthan and Telangana women in earlier rounds of team events, Maharashtra women were seen fighting in the finals among themselves in the finals. Maharashtra men also after winning the 49+ title earlier, defeating favourites West Bengal, went on to claim the Men’s 39+ and Men’s 59+ titles, after defeating their second team players.
Maharashtra 39 &49+ Women’s team with Gold medals & Trophy .L to R: Trupti Machve, Sivapriya Naik, Shravani Dhapre & Sushma Mogare.
Kiran Salian, who invited all the attention on the penultimate day, went on to bag total four Gold medals in team and other three individual events, namely Men’s 49+ Singles, Men’s 49+ doubles( with Sameer Bhate) and Mixed 49+ doubles with Bibiana Lopes. This was a splendid show by Kiran, who found this opportunity to display his talent. Though our home team players put up a good show also in the individual events, besides legends Abu Rizwan, Debashish Saha, and Mantu Murmu( all from West Bengal) there were other visitors who performed very well. Indronil Chhattopadhyay and U.N. Ramkumar ( West Bengal) won the Men’s doubles 39+ title, while Sushila Choudhary and Divya Gautam from Rajasthan lifted the Women’s doubles 49+ title.
Kiran Salian won four Gold medalsin Men’s 49+
The hard work put in by Shravani Dhapre , Jt.Hon. Secretary of IMPTTA is to be admired. Besides working hard in the organising committee from morning till night, this senior stenographer from BEST Undertaking, managed to play in this competition in 49+ events and also won few medals. Her team along with Sivapriya Naik, Trupti Machave and Sushma Mogare( LIC) won Gold medal in Women’s 49+ team event. Two other active members in the organising committee, namely Swati Agharkar and Sadiya Vanjara also bagged few medals.
Snehal Bhole- Gold medal in Women’s 39+
The performances of Moonmoon Mukherjee, who won Gold in the Women’s 49+ singles and Snehal Bhole who also won Gold in Women’s 39+ Singles for Maharashtra, also need a special mention. Sushma who works for LIC India lost narrowly 2-3 to Moonmoon Mukherjee in the finals of Women’s 49+, but bagged Gold in 40+ Women’s doubles, partnering Gayatri Mohan. Sushma was also member of Women’s 39+ 49 + combined women’s team, which won Gold.
Moonmoon Mukherjee -Gold medal in Women’s 49+
Results of all individual finals played on the final day, are below:
Known for his cool and composed game and good use of variation in services, Maharashtra’s Kiran Salian invited all the attention on the penultimate day of the IMPTTA- National Masters’ Table Tennis Championship at Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai. Kiran while representing Maharashtra A team along with Sameer Bhate, Tejas Naik and Rajesh Singh, not only assured a Gold medal for Maharashtra team, as they booked their place in finals along with their ‘B’ team.
Kiran Salian in action
In the Men’s 49+ Singles semi finals event, Kiran received a walkover from top seeded Sameer Bhate , to meet Ravi Chopra, who defeated hard hitter Bhushan Nevgi 3-2 in another closely fought battle. Kiran had earlier beaten Tejas Naik 3-1 also from Maharashtra. In Men’s doubles semi finals, Kiran Partnering Sameer Bhate scored a straight 3-0 games win over Dr. Nitin Toshniwal & Atmaram Gangarde to meet Rajesh Singh and Naveen Salian in finals. Thereafter, partnering Bibiana Lopes in Mixed doubles 49+ semi finals, Kiran scored another easy 3-0 win over Avinash Kothari and Moonmoon Mukherjee. The other semi finals was won by Naveen Salian and Trupti Machve, who beat Sameer Bhate & Shravani Dhapre. Kiran’s winning run clearly indicated that he was in line for triple crown in 49+ events.
In the 49+ Women’s team event, Maharashtra women also assured a Gold medal, as their ‘A’ team represented by Sivapriya Naik, Shravani Dhapre, Trupti Machve & Sushma Mogre will aceept the challenge from their ‘ B’ team, comprising of Sadiya Vanjara, Vinita Shukla and Priyanka Ghumre in the finals.
The women’s 49+ singles event, also ensured Maharashtra another Gold medal in individual singles, as both Moonmoon Mukherjee and Sushma Mogre secured their place in the final, with their victories over Sivapriya Naik and Shravani Dhapre respectively.
Rajasthan’s doubles pair Divya Gautam(L) and Sushila Choudhary gave an impressive performance
However, In the 49+ Women’s doubles event, Rajasthan women Sushila Chaudhary and Divya Gautam put up a good show in semi finals, securing their place in the finals, after defeating seeded pair of Shravani Dhapre and Trupti Machve. They will face the challenge from another Maharashtra pair of Vaishali Malvankar & Ujwala Chandramore in the final.
Debashish Saha ( West Bengal) toppled top seed Jogesh Motwani ( Maharashtra) 3-2 in semi finals of Men’s 59+ Singles .
The Men’s 59+ team event will be played between Maharashtra A and C teams. In the Men’s Singles 59+ semi final, West Bengal’s Debashish Saha toppled top seeded Jogesh Motawani 3-2 in a thrilling five setter match. He will meet Maharashtra’s Pradeep Gupta in the finals. The other results of 59+ individual semi final events are as follows:
Maharashtra men had mixed luck in the men’s 39+ team event and men’s 39+ individual events in the IMPTTA Masters’ National Table Tennis tournament at Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai. Maharashtra Men’s ‘B’ team comprising of Suraj Chandrashekhar, Onkar Jog, Dr. Anmol Sarode and Manish Deodhar surprised the favourites West Bengal team comprising of Top seeded Abu Rizwan, Indronil Chatopadhyay, UN Ramkumar and Debanjan Chakraborty 3-2 in a well contested final.
Maharashtra 39+ Men’s team lift the Team Winner’s trophy at the 1st IMPTTA National Masters’ TT Tournament at Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai.
For Maharashtra team Omkar and Suraj won one singles match each and the crucial doubles match was won by Suraj and Dr. Anmol. In the individual Men’s doubles 39+ semi-finals, Onkar Jog and Hormaz Pithawala from Maharashtra upset the top seeded pair of Abu Rizwan & Debanjan Chakraborty of West Bengal. Omkar and Hormaz however went down fighting in the finals to another West bengal pair of Indronil Chatopadhyay and UN Ramkumar.
West Bengal and Maharashtra teams pose together after their Team finals. From L to R : Debanjan Chakraborty, U.N. Ramkumar, Indranil Chattopadhyay, Abu Rizwan, Dr. Anmol Sarode, Manish Deodhar, Onkar Jog & Suraj Chandrashekhar.
West Bengal’s star player and National Champion Abu Rizwan ( West Bengal) lifted Men’s singles 39+ crown, when he beat Indronil Chakraborty also from West Bengal. Earlier in the semi finals, Abu had a tough time, defeating Rupesh Gharat of Maharashtra and won that hard battle 3-2.
The 39+ Women’s doubles trophy was won by Maharashtra women Gayatri Mohan and Sushma Mogre, who beat Subhashini M and Sonal Ashrani from Telangana 3-0.
She says that she does not play to win. But, ‘Win’ has been on her side, most of the time. Reigning National Champion in National Masters’ TT Championship, Mantu Murmu has also won titles at the international level. In the World Masters’ TT championship held in Muscat in January 2023, she won Triple Crown in this prestigious tournament, while playing in trhe 59+ event.
Mantu was here in Mumbai at the Andheri Sports Complex, for the IMPTTA- National Masters’ Table Tennis championship. Magzmumbai spoke to her about her progress in this game over the years and her expectations from this game. Surprisingly, Mantu started playing the game of table tennis as a beginner, 20 years ago. She was them 40+. With little practice, she entered at the competitive level Masters’ tournament , which was held in Mahabaleshwar, in Maharashtra’s Satara district. She could not do much there, but certainly made good friends.
Today. Mantu is the most popular woman TT Master player in India, Even after becoming a national champion and winning triple crown at the World Masters’ TT championship, she holds her feet on the ground. “ When I first started playing this game, I did not expect anything from this game, as I never played to win. There were no big expectations; but, during the match, once it is called ‘Play love all’, my eyes are set on the contact of the ball with my opponent’s bat.” Her concentration power helped her a lot and winning a match became easier. And, this is what is required in the game of table tennis, as there is hardly any time to think for your next move.
Mantu believes in keeping good relations with all. Her list of friends is very big and they are from different parts of this country. And many of them are either younger to her or elder to her. While we were talking, her close friends walked in and posed for a photograph with her. This means a lot to Mantu, as she believes in maintaining good relationship with all.
When asked, whether she feels disappointed, when there is not much appreciation, for this game; she reacted, “Like I earlier said, I don’t play to win. I just enjoy this game getting totally involved with my concentration power. So, if I win, there are no expectations from anyone. I feel happy for myself.”
Mantu inspires all those 40+ ladies, who wish to start with some sports activity, when their children grow up, to be on their own. And, her close friend Pratima Dey is doing exactly that. Pratima was inspired by her mentor Mantu and today she plays TT with her daughter. There will be more like Pratima, who would want to begin their second innings with TT after 40, as Mantu has set a good example. By the way, she is a good Coach too; and trains players of all age in West Bengal.
Manmohan Singh Rawat from Rajasthan scored a narrow 3-2 win over Mr. Mohammed Abbas Mohiddin from Telangana, in the Men’s 59+ Singles match of the IMPTTA – Masters’ National Table Tennis tournament at Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai. After the match, both the players received appreciation from the sporting crowd present at the stadium in large number. In the same age group, R.C. Shah from Maharashtra who has been actively involved in organisation of this tournament, also entered the main draw of 32.
Dr. Nitin Toshniwal
In two other well challenged matches Amit Khopkar beat Tanay Prabhu 3-2 and Nilesh Gohil beat Abhay Shirkande also 3-2 in the Men’s 39+ Singles. Top seeded Abu Rizwan ( 39+) from West Bengal won his Singles and Team event match comfortably, to move into the next rounds.
Sameer Bhate
Another star player Dr. Nitin Toshniwal from Maharashtra also won both his group league matches against Bharat Kotecha and Rajeev Pachnekar to enter the main draw in the Men’s 49+ Singles. Though he won easily against Rajeev, he dropped a game against Bharat in a well contested match. Sameer Bhate inspite of his busy schedule as an organising secretary, won both his group matches to enter the main draw.
The Women’s 59+ semi finals saw the domination of West Bengal women Mantu Murmu and Karabi Maity , who beat Sandhya Patni( Rajasthan) and Madhavi Sawant ( Maharashtra) respectively, with 3-0 wins.
He has three National Masters’ titles in Men’s 39+ group, to his credit. Soft spoken and cool n calm Abu Rizwan is here in Mumbai to participate in IMPTTA – National Masters’ Table Tennis tournament, which is in progress at the Andheri Sports Complex. Magzmumbai spoke to this passionate TT player, about his favourite game and his expectations for the development of this game in India.
Reigning National Masters’ TT Champ Abu Rizwan( R) from West Bengal welcomed by Moonmoon Mukherjee from Maharashtra at the Andheri Sports Complex.
“ I represented CAG at the TT Nationals and Inter Institutional TT tournaments at the All India level and had an opportunity to play with the best players in the country. Now, I am continuing in the 39+ Masters’ event, because I love this game, which takes us to places for all India and International TT tournaments.”
Abu was frank enough to admit that he came all the way to Mumbai to play in this tournament, because he wanted to experience this competition, which is hosted by an All India Master Players’ body for all Master players from different states of India. It’s an opportunity to meet our friends from different parts of the country who have a common interest and that is playing this game passionately. “ I thank Mr. Sameer Bhate for making it possible.”
When asked about the future of Masters’ Table Tennis in India, he said, “ There is growing demand for this game, especially in the Masters’ events, as people after crossing 40+ need some activity to keep themselves fit, by relieving their work stress. In the case of all those 60+ players, it is a way of keeping them engaged in a competitive activity, besides keeping them healthy.”
Last year Abu won Gold medal at the Commonwealth Masters TT Championship in Hyderabad. He had also won a medal in the World Masters’ TT Championship at Muscat in January 2023, along with 18 others from India. It was a big achievement by the Master players from our country and all these medal winners expected some sort of appreciation from the Table Tennis Federation of India and the Government of India, Ministry of Sports. But, that did not happen. Even Abu feels disappointed . “ We don’t expect big awards, but atleast they should have appreciated the efforts of all these senior players, who represented our country. At the same time, we expect big corporate houses coming forward to encourage these senior players, so that more and more people get attracted to this activity which is good for overall fitness after 40,” he concluded.
Reigning National Masters’ Champion and former World Masters’ Champion, Mantu Murmu played captain’s innings for her West Bengal team against favourites Maharashtra team in the finals of Women’s 59+ team event at the IMPTTA-National Masters’ Table Tennis championship at the Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai.
West Bengal Women’s team captain Mantu Murmu( Centre) along with her team members Karavi Maity & Seema Kaayal receiving the Trophy and Gold medals from Mr. Sameer Bhate , Hon. Secretay IMPTTA.
Winning their first match with Mantu scoring 3-0 win over Ujwala Marathe and taking 1-0 lead, West Bengal lost their second match when Karavi Maity lost to Suhasini Bakre. With set scores levelled at 1-1, the doubles match proved to be very crucial. At this stage, Mantu partnering Karavi managed to win this match 3-2 against Suhasini & Ujwala.
In the fourth reverse singles match Suhasini fought back well against Mantu and even took the first two games. But, known for her patience, Mantu went on to take the next two games to level the set score at 2-2. It was anybody’s match in the fifth game. However, Mantu proved her supremacy by winning this decider on 11-9 to win the match and team title.
