The Mumbai District teams claimed a fantastic grand double crowns, winning the Men’s and Women’s Team Championship finals in the LIC and Indian Oil sponsored 54th Maharashtra State and Inter-District Carrom Championship 2018-2019, organized by the Suryavanshi Kshatriya Dnyati Samaj, under the auspices of the Maharashtra Carrom Association and the Mumbai District Carrom Association and played at the Suryavanshi Kshatriiya Sabhgruha Hall, Veer Savarkar Marg, Dadar (West).
Photo caption: The players of the victorious Mumbai District Men and Women teams are all smiles after emerging champions in the Team Championships of the 54th Maharashtra State and Inter-District Carrom Championship 2018-2019.
In the women’s final, the Mumbai players dominated against their rivals Ratnagiri District and scored a comfortable 3-0 win to emerge champions. The Mumbai men also proved too strong for their final opponents Pune District and registered an identical 3-0 win to run away with the top honours.
Mumbai’s consistent player, Kajal Kumari, provide them with the perfect start defeating Ratnagiri’s Maitreyee Gogate 25-2, 21-7 in the first match. Later, Aisha Mohd. Sajid gave Mumbai an unassailable 2-0 lead when she easily prevailed over Anushka Kadam 23-10, 24-8 in the second tie before the Mumbai doubles pairing of Shilpa Palniitkar and Anupama Kedar managed to overcome a stiff challenge from Apoorva Nachankar and Manali Lingayat before pulling off a 25-7, 0-22, 18-4 win in the third match to complete a clean sweep for the Mumbai side.
In the men’s final, Mohammed Ghufran won the opening singles tie beating Anil Mundhe 24-19, 20-11 to give Mumbai a 1-0 lead before Riyaz Akbarali won the second singles match against Rahim Khan 25-10, 25-5 to put Mumbai in a strong winning position 2-0. Later, Mumbai doubles team off Pankaj Pawar and Yogesh Dhongadee worked hard to overcome Abhijit Tripankar and Ganesh Taware 6-25, 25-0, 25-4 to complete a satisfying and successful triumph.
Results – Women’s Team Championship (final): Mumbai District beat Ratnagiri District 3-0 (Kajal Kumari bt Maitreyee Gogate 25-2, 21-7; Aisha Mohd. Sajid bt Anushka Kadam 23-10, 24-8; Shilpa Palniitkar/Anupama Kedar bt Apoorva Nachankar/Manali Lingayat 25-7, 0-22, 18-4).
Men’s Team Championship (final): Mumbai District beat Pune District 3-0 (Mohammed Ghufran bt Anil Mundhe 24-19, 20-11; Riyaz Akbarali bt Rahim Khan 25-10, 25-5; Pankaj Pawar and Yogesh Dhongadee bt Abhijit Tripankar/Ganesh Taware 6-25, 25-0, 25-4).