In spite of his busy schedule as Hon. Secretary of Maharashtra Veterans Table tennis Committee , Suhas Dandekar from Mumbai has emerged the new State Veterans Table Tennis Champion in Men’s 65+ group in the recently concluded Maharashtra State Veterans TT Championship at Sangli. Suhas, who earlier beat 2nd seeded Balkrishna katdhare from Pune 3-0 in the semi finals, went on to score a hard fought 3-2 win over current National 65+ champion Yogesh Desai also from Mumbai. Suhas who has become eligible to play in Men’s 65+ group this season, played his first State Championship in this group and won the same on debut. Incidentally, he had also won the State Championship in 60+ group on debut.
Suhas Dandekar with his regular practice partner Dr. Anagha Joshi pose with their Gold medals.
Ever smiling Jayant Kulkarni also from Mumbai also emerged state veterans champion when he won the Gold medal in the Men’s 60+ event after defeating Percy Mehta also from Mumbai in three straight games. Percy had recently won Gold medal in men’s 40+ section in Mumbai games. Jayant’s wife Neeta Kulkarni who also played in this championship in Women’s 50+ group , had to satisfy herself with Silver medal , as she lost in the finals to top seed Dr. Anagha Joshi also from Mumbai in three straight games. Dr. Anagha is a regular practice partner of Men’s 65 + champ Suhas Dandekar and therefore both of them from Mumbai were more than happy to pose together with their medals.
Jayant Kulkarni winner of Gold medal in men’s 60+
Top seeded Pankaj Rahane from Nashik continued to prove his supremacy in the Men’s 40+ finals, when he scored a 3-0 win over second seeded Manish Rawat from Solapur, while more consistent Sushma Mogre from Thane beat second seeded Sarika Varade from Pune in a five set thriller. Earlier in the semi finals Sushma had knocked out top seed Shravani Dhapre from Mumbai in three straight games.
Pankaj Rahane 40+ winner receiving his prize
Suhasini Bakre the top seed in women’s 60+ group had a tough time beating Ranjana Patki also from Pune. Ranjana who knocked out second seed Rajeshwari Mehetre in three straight games , posed a big challenge to Suhasini when down 1-2 , she won the fourth game 11-3 to level the set score 2-2. But, lost the decider 8-11.
In the Men’s 50+ group Mumbai’s Prasad Naik who was seen seriously in the mood of playing TT instead of clicking pictures with his zoom lens camera, displayed wonderful performance on his way to finals. Prasad who beat Ram Rokade in Pre Quarters, knocked out sixth seeded Purshottam Markad also from Mumbai in three straight games and then caused a major upset in semi finals defeating second seeded Navin Salian in four games. He however could not do much in front of Dr.Nitin Toshniwal who used all his skills to stop his winning run. In the higher age group of men’s 70+ Satish Shirsat from Nashik won his Gold with ease. The absence of many top players like former international Suhas Kulkarni, present national champion in Men’s 60+ Prakash kelkar , national 60+ runner up Dinkar Selarka , National 60+ Women’s champ Mangal Saraf and few others was felt in this state championship.
Winners Solapur team all smiles with their trophy
The team championship finals between Solapur represented by Dr.Toshniwal, Manish Rawat and Yogesh Desai and Guru Table Tennis Centre, Mumbai represented by Navin Salian, Rajesh Singh and Gurcharan Singh was a well contested event which saw some closely contested matches stretching the outcome to deciding nail biting match played between Rajesh Singh and Yogesh Desai , which the latter won to help Solapur lift the team championship Winner’s trophy.But, before that Solapur lost their two matches , when Manish rawat lost to Navin Salian 0-3 and Toshniwal and Yogesh losing to Guru and Rajesh.
Prasad Naik who made a comeback with a fine performance in men 50+
This being the last tournament of 2018-19 season, immediately after this event the MVTTC announced the teams of Maharashtra in different men’s and women’s for the forthcoming National Veterans’ TT Championship to be held in Indore. According to their press release there will be record number of 213 participants from Maharashtra for this national event, out of which 83 are new entrants registered this year. Thanks to Hon. Secretary Mr. Suhas Dandekar and MVTTC team of voluntary workers Rajendra Bhoboo, Sameer Bhatye , Bharat, kamlakar Vichare,Shekhar Varadkar and Ms. Pathak from Pune office for their selfless services.
Individual Final Results in detail:
Men’s 40+ :Pankaj Rahane(NSK) Bt Manish Rawat(SOL) 12/10,14/12,12/10
Women’s 40+: Sushma Mogare(THN) Bt Sarika Varade(PNA) 11/8,11/9,6/11,8/11,11/8
Men’s 50+ : Nitin Toshniwal(SOL) Bt Prasad Naik(MCD) 11/6,11/4,11/6
Women’s 50+ : Anagha Joshi(MSD) Bt Neeta Kulkarni(MSD) 12/10,11/6,11/8
Men’s 60+ : Jayant Kulkarni(MCD) Bt Percy Mehta(MCD) 12/10,11/7,16/14
Women’s 60+ : Suhasani Bakre(PNA) Bt Ranjana Patki(PNA) 11/7,9/11,12/10,3/11,11/8
Men’s 65+ : Suhas Dandekar(MSD) Bt Yogesh Desai(MSD) 11/3,11/5,8/11,6/11,11/7
Men’s 70+ : Satish Shirisath(NSK) Bt Abhayanand Teerth(THN) 11/5,11/7,11/3