Suraj Chandrashekhar has emerged the new Champion in the 39+ Men’s Singles at The 4th Maharashtra Masters’ Table Tennis Committee organised 4th MMTTC Masters’ TT tournament at Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul( PTKS) , Vile Parle last Sunday. This tournament was held in memory of Late Uday Parulekar and Shukracharya Raorane. Suraj, who is a Corporate TT champion and who had earlier in December 2023 won the KRC Masters’ 39+ TT Tournament, had started playing in Masters events only this season.
However, this time he was in great form and was determined to win the 39+ Singles. Suraj not only beat Suhas Rane in semis to avenge his earlier defeat, but also went on to beat Kedar kasbekar, to win the finals of Men’s 39+. With his skilful strokeplay and long consistent rallies. Suraj, who is physically fit player, also helped his Team Avengers , by winning his matches in semis against stronger looking Solapur team and later in the team finals against PTKS-A . In the 39+ Team finals, Suraj beat Suhas Rane 3-2, while his partner Kiran Salian beat Rupesh Gharat 3-0, to gain 2-0 lead. And then, Suraj patnering with Naveen Salian beat Sameer Bhate and Rupesh Gharat to lift the Team Winner’s trophy.
In the 49+ Men’s Singles, Sameer Bhate inspite of his involvement as an organiser of this tournament, paid full attention while playing his individual Singles matches and went on to win the Trophy and Gold medal defeating Kiran Salian in finals of this group. In the Men’s 59+ Singles, aggressive hard hitter Sarosh Shroff proved supreme in this group. He beat Thane’s Atul Deshmukh in the finals to lift the Winner’s trophy and Gold medal.
Evergreen Prakash Kelkar also proved his supremacy winning his 4th title in a row this season, in Men’s 64+ age group. In the finals, he defeated Mahesh Shetye former Bank of Baroda Chief Manager, who has made a comeback to competitive TT this season. Mahesh had done very well in semis, defeating seasoned Arun Dhotre 3-2; while Prakash Kelkar besides winning his Individual Singles trophy also helped his Kalidas Sports Club team to lift the title and Gold medal in Men’s 59+ team event. He along with forceful topspin player Avinash Kothari beat in the team finals the stronger and balanced team of ‘The Bawas’ represented by Percy Mehta and Sarosh Shroff. Prakash beat Sarosh and then Avinash beat Percy in a well fought 5 games battle. Both Prakash and Avinash then managed the crucial doubles to win 3-0.
In the Men’s 69+ Singles favourite Yogesh Desai the current World Masters’ Champion, emerged the winner for the fourth time this season. Yogesh beat left hander Shivanand Kundaje from Nasik in the semis. Earlier day in the team event, Shivanad had beaten Yogesh Desai; but in individual singles he could not repeat his performance. In the other semis, Deepak Dudhane beat Ulhas Shirke 3-2 in a closely fought match. However, he conceded a walk over to the World Champ in the finals. Another favourite Satish Shirsat also proved his supremacy in Men’s 74+ section, winning the finals against Gyan Chand Jain, who really played well, to reach this stage.
Women’s Singles individual matches which were played from 39+ to 64+ age groups, also witnessed good competition, with Vinita Shukla former M.P. State player who after making her comeback last year in Women’s Masters’ event, claimed her title in 39+ group beating Snehal Bhole 3-1 in the finals. In the Women’s 49+ group, favourite Moonmoon Mukherjee, who recently won a Bronze medal at the Asian Masters’ Championship at Bangkok, won a Gold medal, when she beat Trupti Machve in the finals.
Swati Agharkar from Nasik beat Madhavi Sawant to lift the Women’s Singles 59+ trophy , while Suhasini Bakre from Pune had a clean sweep to claim the Gold medal and trophy in the Women’s 64+ group. Suhasini also played an important role for her Women’s team while combining with Madhavi Sawant to win the Women’s 39+ team event. In the finals their team beat Sunanda Rao and Snehal Bhole to lift the Gold medals and trophy.
There were many new players in this tournament and they did really well. Some of the matches played at the pre quarter and quarter final level were hard fought matches among better players. Ashish Patankar, Ravi Chopra, Rajnish Khatavkar, Prafull Wagh, Pradeep Dhotre, Jitu Mavani, Dr. Nitin Toshniwal, Rajesh Singh, Saurabh Mohite, Divyendu Chandurkar, Yatish Dhakappa, Nitish Dhakappa, Ojas Choksi, Ketan Palwankar, Sanjay Mehta, Dr. Ashok Kalambe, Prashant Machve, Shailen Sohhoni, Hormaz Pithawala, A.S. Avadhani, Rakesh Nigudkar, Bharat Kotecha, Neelkanth Karkhanis, Milind Moghe, Manish Rawat (who only played team event) and few others, really played well in their respective age groups, some of them like Ashish beating better players. Though they could not win any medals, few of them did receive cash prizes for being quarter-finalists.
More than 200 participants from different parts of Maharashtra had participated in this tournament, which was a grand success for MMTTC. The organisers had made very good arrangements for the players, by providing them free breakfast, drinking water, tea/biscuits and healthy lunch on both the days. The tournament was inaugurated by Mr. Dhotre, Dy. Secretary, Finance, Govt of Maharashtra, by lighting the lamp, as this tournament was held in the memory of Late Uday Parulekar and Late Shukracharya Raorane. Well wishers and family members had donated sizable amount for the conduct of this tournament. Uday Parulekar’s two daughters Pooja & Rasika, his brother Abhay and Shukracharya’ mother Smt. Vasudha Udaybhanu Raorane, Sister- Dipashree Udaybhanu Raorane, Sister- Shravani Dhapre, were present during the prize distribution function. Sadiya Vanjara gifted T Shirts to all Gold medal winners, while Percy Mehta and Ulhas Shirke donated their Prize Money amount to MMTTC. National 60+ Champ Anil Rasam could not play in this tournament, as he suffered an injury; but he was helping along with other MMTTC Committee members Sanjay Mehta, Tejas Naik, Percy Mehta, Sandeep Deshmukh, Nitish D, Rajesh Mudam and others for the smooth conduct of the tournament along with Shravani Dhapre, Sadiya Vanjara, Kiran Salian and Suhas Agharkar. The support team from PTKS comprising of Rakesh Nigudkar, Naveen Verghese and others also did a very good job. Last but not the least , the hard work put in by Jt.Referees, young Umpires and Video shooting team, also to be appreciated
Speaking about the grand success of this tournament, Mr. Sameer Bhate the Tournament organising secretary said, “ I am thankful to MMTTC committee members for their hard work, the participants for their unity and support and Mr. Arwind Prabhoo for making this venue available free of cost for this tournament.”
All Results in detail:
Men’s 39+ Singles: Winner: Suraj Chandrashekhar R-up Kedar Kasbekar.
Bronze Medals : Suhas Rane & Vishal Yadav.
Men’s 49+ Singles: Winner: Sameer Bhate , R-up : Kiran Salian
Bronze Medals : Tejas Naik & Naveen Salian
Men’s 59+ Singles: Winner: Sarosh Shroff ; R-up : Atul Deshmukh
Bronze Medals : Rajesh Mudam & Avinash Kothari
Men’s 64+ Singles : Winner : Prakash Kelkar; R-up : Mahesh Shetye
Bronze Medals : Percy Mehta & Arun Dhotre
Men’s 69+ Singles : Winner: Yogesh Desai ; R-up : Deepak Dudhane
Bronze Medals : Shivanand Kundaje & Ulhas Shirke
Men’s 74+ Singles : Winner: Satish Shirsat ; R-up : Gyan Chand Singh
Bronze Medals : Subodh Narvekar & Purvez Davar
Men’s 39+& 49+ Team Event : Winners : Team Avenger ( Kiran salian, Naveen Salian & Suraj Chandrashekhar)
R-Up : PTKS – A ( Sameer Bhate, Suhas Rane & Rupesh Gharat)
Bronze Medals : T-Lac ( Dr. Amol Sarode, Divyendu Chadurkar, Abhijit Patil& Satish Patil. & Solapur- A: ( Manish Rawat, Dr. Nitin Toshniwal, Atmaram Gangarde , Prasad Naik & Dr.Ligarde)
Men’s Team 59+ Event : Winners : Kalidas Sports Club ‘A’ ( P.G.Kelkar, Avinash Kothari, Dr. Ashok Kalambe, Percy Patel)
R-up: THE BAWAS ( Percy Mehta & Sarosh Shroff)
Bronze Medals : Like Minded (Purshottam Markad, Nitish Dhakappa, Prashant Machve) & KRC- Kaka ( Girish Acharya, Anil Rasam, Rajesh Mudam, Pramod Desai & Yogesh Desai).
Women’s 39+ Singles: Winner : Vinita Shukla ; R-up: Snehal Bhole
Bronze Medals : Reena Bhagat & Pushpa Upadhyay
Women’s 49+ Singles : Winner: Moonmoon Mukherjee; R-up : Trupti Machwe.
Bronze Medals: Bibiana Lopez & Shravani Dhapre
Women’s 59+ Singles: Winner: Swati Agharkar; R-up: Madhavi Sawant
Women’s 64+ Singles: Winner: Suhasini Bakre ; R-up: Shubha Ghate
Bronze Medals: Sunanda Rao & Ujwala Marathe.
Women’s Team 39+ : Winners: Suhasini Bakre & Madhavi Sawant
R-up: Sunanda Rao & Snehal Bhole
Bronze Medals : Shubha Ghate / Vinita Shukla & Nisha Kapse / Reena Bhagat.