The 10 day long Dr. Ramesh Prabhoo Memorial 82nd Maharashtra State Table Tennis Championship organized by The Suburban District Table Tennis Association ( TSTTA) and played at the Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul( PTKS), Vile Parle, Mumbai concluded recently, with a grand success. The tournament was held in memory of Late Dr. Ramesh Prabhu, former Mumbai Mayor & founder of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Smarak Samiti (CSMSS) which manages PTKS and under the auspices of Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association( MSTTA) . Thanks to Mr. Rajeev Bodas, President of MSTTA who was personally present along with his wife for three days, during the course of this tournament.
Mr. Rajeev Bodas speaking during the the inaugural ceremony
It was the first big tournament of the new season conducted by the newly formed body ‘The Suburban Table Tennis Association( TSTTA)’, since they took over the administration of TT in Mumbai suburbs last year. The Corona pandemic prevented them from hosting any Table Tennis tournaments for the past 10 months. However, by hosting this big event in the form of Maharashtra State TT Championship, that too after 23 years in Mumbai ; they have proved that ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’.
Players in action during the tournament
The parent body Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association( MSTTA) , which gave them permission to host this big tournament in Mumbai very recently. But, with this short notice, they made this possible with the support of Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul( PTKS), Vile Parle, which offered the venue with all the required facilities. Thanks to Mr. Arwind Prabhoo, the popular CEO of PTKS, who is also President of TSTTA, the organisers . The biggest problem was to handle the large number of participants coming from different parts of Maharashtra. But, the TSTTA committee members planned the match schedule in such a way that every participant from different events will complete his or her matches in a day’s time. So, ten long days were allotted for this tournament.
PTKS managed by CSMSS at Vile Parle
Proper precautions were taken to avoid crowding and very systematically each player was explained about the use of ball during the match. A team of 12 Umpires under the supervision of Chief Referee Savio Lobo, Dy. Chief referee Mr. Khedkar, were also trained for this purpose and they did their job very well, achieving a grand success for this tournament. But, this would not have been possible without the hard work put in by the newly formed TSTTA committee members headed by Yogesh Desai & Sameer Bhate and the work force comprising of Co ordinator and Executive head Pritam Keskar of PTKS and the dedicated volunteers like Ashish Nigudkar, Naveen Verghese, Manish Deodhar, Swapnil, Rajesh, Uday, Anmol, Abhijeet, Rishi,Rahul, Abhishek and others provided by PTKS under the able leadership of Mr. Arwind Prabhoo, who is also the President of TSTTA. They displayed an excellent team work to make this tournament memorable. Messages are pouring in on social media, calling it One of the best organised & executed tournaments. By the way, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Smarak Samiti(CSMSS) which manages Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul, were the title sponsors of this big event.