Navin Salian who is in great form this year, caused a major upset today in the 3rd State veterans Ranking Tournament at Club Emerald, Chembur. Playing in the Men’s 50+ section Navin beat Pune District Veterans’ Champion Ajay Kothavale in well contested five games. Down 1-2 Navin rallied splendidly to recover in the 4th game, despite 4-8 down to level the set score. In the fifth game it was anybody’s match in the concluding stage; but once again Navin using his controlled attack won the decider and the match to move into third round .
Navin salian( Extreme Rght) is being offered tips by his brother Kiran and close friends during the break..
Another upset was noticed during the day in the Men’s 40+ section, when Tejas Naik upset fourth seeded Manish Rawat from Solapur 3-1 to move into third round. Mehta brothers Abhay and Sanjay managed to move into third round of Men’s 40+ section winning their respective second round matches with ease. Both of them however playing for PJ Hindu Gymkhana team in the Men’s team event along with Prakash kelkar and Ulhas Shirke, lost 1-3 in the semi finals to Century Warriors team represented by former international Sunil Babras and Vivek Alwani.
In the other semi finals of team event King Pong team represented by Rohit Choudhary and Vivek Bhargava knocked out well balanced Solapur team 3-1 , comprising of Dr.Nitin Toshniwal and Manish Rawat. Earlier in the quarter finals King Pong team had defeated Gomantak Sports Club team comprising of seasoned players Rajesh Singh and Kiran Salian, while PJ Hindu Gymkhana team defeated KRC kandivali 3-1.
Earlier in the morning Mr. Jaswantbhai Mehta Chairman of Club Emerald inaugurated this tournament and thanked the players coming from all over Maharashtra for their overwhelming response. Sunday’s matches in the individual events begin from 9 am onwards., with finals to be played at 5 pm. Club Emerald is located at Swastik Park, Chembur, near Sushrut Hospital and Off.Eastern Express Highway.