While favouries like Navin Salian, Prakash Kelkar, Yogesh Desai, A.M. Warunkar & Suhasini Bakre won the individual championship in their respective groups, Vishal Yadav and Sarosh Shroff emerged the new champions in Men’s 39+ and Men’s 59+ events respectively, at the MMTTC organised Maharashtra Masters 1st Ranking Table Tennis Tournament, which concluded on Sunday at the PTKS, Vile Parle.The tournament was held in memory of Late Vilas Mantri and Jagannath Mohite the two TT legends from Mumbai.
This tournament which was conducted by the Players committee of Maharashtra i.e. Maharashtra Masters Table Tennis Committee, had attracted 212 entries. Many former TT players who had played at the state and National level in the past, made their comeback through this tournament, as a tribute to the two legends, in whose memory this tournament was held.
8th seeded Vishal Yadav proved his supremacy with his consistent forehand topspin attack and strong backhand returns, in the Men’s 39+ singles. He first knocked out Suhas Rane ( the member of Mumbai Super League Winning team) in the Quarter finals of the main draw and then went on to defeat Sharad Sanglekar who had earlier beaten Ketan Palwankar, the new entrant in 39+ this year. However, Vishal’s biggest challenge was in the finals, where he faced Kedar Kasbekar renowned Coach and also new entrant into 39+ group. Kedar had earlier defeated Parikshit Jain and Divyendu Chandurkar in the main draw. With his well controlled game Vishal surprised Kedar in a five set thriller in the pulsating final , winning the decider over extra points. This was Vishal’s first title in the Men’s 39+ Masters’ Tournament. With his victory over kedar- another MSL veteran player, he has become a strong contender for next year’s MSL auction.
Another player who proved too good in Men’s 59+ Singles was sixth seeded Sarosh Shroff, who convincingly stopped the winning run of unseeded Atul Deshmukh in the finals of this event. In the semi finals Sarosh overcame 2nd seeded Rajesh Mudam, when Rajesh conceded the match after losing first two games. Atul had earilier knocked out Top seeded Anil Rasam in a five games battle in the other semi finals and before that he had beaten Sanjay Mehta in the quarter finals. However, his skills of using anti spin rubber against his opponents, didn’t work against Sarosh Shroff who beat him in three straight games.
The battle between the two brothers Kiran and Navin in the Men’s 49+ singles was won by elder brother Navin 3-0 . Kiran had earlier knocked out top seeded Samir Bhate 3-1, while Navin had scored over Chaitanya Deshpande, who had beaten 2nd seeded Rajesh Singh, before entering the other semi finals of the main draw.
Evergreen Prakash Kelkar proved that he is supreme in Men’s 65+ Singles. The current National Champion faced little resistence in his event, as he dropped just one game in the semi finals, while playing against his National Championship doubles partner A.S.Avdhani. Much was expected from MCF player Ashok Sawant in this group, as he defeated hard hitter Arun Dhotre in a five set thriller before entering finals. However, Ashok could not match with the consistency of Prakash kelkar. Earlier, in the main draw Queresh Habibullah, former TT Champ, who had made his comeback through this tournament, did qualify for the main main draw, but lost 1-3 to Arun Dhotre.
World Veterans Champion Yogesh Desai scored a 3-1 win in the finals over Ulhas Shirke to win the Men’s 69+ singles Crown. This event witnessed a good battle in the Group league matches, where many former players ike Mahesh Navani ( Ex-RBI), Aslam Redkar ( Ex- Richardson & Cruddas), Milind Moghe( MCF), Jagdish Anaready ( MSCOBank ) & Ulhas Kelshikar ( BMC) had made a comeback this year. And they played extremely well . But, the best performance came from 70 year old Milind Moghe, who first defeated Vilas Kale, (member of the present Maharashtra team for 70+ Nationals )with a narrow 3-2 in the group league matches to take first position in his group and then went on to defeat Darryl Pereira in the main draw, before losing to Ulhas Shirke 2-3 in semi finals. TT Coach Aslam Redkar who also made a comeback into competitive TT after many years, qualified for the main draw, to beat Ex-RBI player Mahesh Nawani and later stretched Ulhas Shirke to five games before losing to him in Quarter finals.
A.M. Warunkar the Bhishma Pitamah of Veteran TT palyers and former National Veterans Champion in different age categories, won the Men’s 74+ Singles, defeating seasoned Satish Shirsat in the finals. In this group, D.N. Shirodkar Ex- RBI had made a comeback after almost after 40 years. Another veteran G.A. Dhamankar also Ex- RBI played in this event at the age of 84. He celebrated his 84th birthday by participating in this tournament. Ex-RBI tes also played their 2 teams in the 59+ team events, with Mahesh Nawani partnering Milind Khopkar and G.A.Dhamankar partnering Abhay Koregaonkar.
In the Women’s section, Suhasini Bakre won the Women’s 59+ Singles defeating Sunanda Rao 3-0. There were many newcomers in this tournament, some of them playing at the corporate level and others making their entry either on debut or making a comeback after several years. Sheela Naidu, sister of Late Vilas Mantri made a comeback after 40 years, while Sheela Panvalkar( Now Suvarna Deshpande) made her comeback after 50 years. She had last played Inter Schools and Inter Collegiate TT. In the other age groups of women, Sadiya Vanjara, Shravani Dhapre, Madhavi Sawant and Preeti Pardesi won their respective events in finals.
Shravani Dhapre and Swati Agharkar who took the lead to organise Women’s team event, managed it well, with Team Suhasini Bakre & Dr. Reena Bhagat winning this team event with Team Swati Thube & Madhavi Sawant being Runners up. Team Bibiana Lopez,Tejaswini and Sheela Naidu and Team Sadiya Vanjara & Pradnya were the semi finalists . They all won cash prizes and Trophies/ medals and certificates.
PTKS -A represented by Samir Bhate, Rajesh Shah, Suhas Rane & Rupesh Gharat won the 39+ Men’s team championship beating Siddhanchal ‘A’ represented by Vishal Yadav, Bhushan Nevgi and Vaibhav Raje. In this event, LAC Academy represented by Pankaj Rahane, Divyendu Chandurkar, Amol, Satish and Abhijit and Team NASA represented by Navin Salian, Kiran salian, Tejas Naik received cash prizes for losing semi finalists.
‘Like Minded ‘ team represented by Purshottam Markad, Prashant Machve and Nitish Kumar Dhakappa won the Men’s 59+ team championship defeating Team Sarosh represented by Sarosh Shroff, Atul Deshmukh, Jogesh Motwani & Sanjay Mehta. In this event, Team Kalidas’A’ represented by P.G.Kelkar & Avinash Kothari and Team KRC ( Kaka) represented by Anil Rasam, Raju Mudam, Pramod Desai Girish Acharya received cash prizes for losing semi finalists.
The tournament was very well conducted and the credit for the same goes to excellent team work of newly formed Maharashtra Masters Table Tennis Committee to achieve this grand success. Mr. S. Ramaswamy, former International TT player and selector of Indian Men’s and Women’s TT teams, who was the chief guest applauded the efforts of this Players’ committee for best organisation. Guest of Honour V.k. Bhagnani, Ex RBI G.M. and former RBI TT player and International TT Umpire, narrated the best performances of legeds Vilas Mantri and Jagannath Mohite, in whose memory this tournament was conducted. Earlier during the day, Former International Badminton player Leroy D’sa and his wife Maria D’sa also paid a courtesy visit at the tournament venue.
The organisers announced Dilip Sampat Lefetime Achievemnt Awards ( Posthumouly) to Late Vilas Mantri and Jagannath Mohite and they were received by Ms. Sudha Mantri( Wife of late Vilas Mantri) and Mahendra Mohite ( Brother of Late Jagannath Mohite). Kedar kasbekar showed a fine gesture by donating his cash prize to Mahendra Mohite in the form of Gurudakshina. It may be recalled that Kedar was coached by Mohite brothers while he was in juniors.
MMTTC also felicitated all those medal winners at the World Veterans TT Championship, who had taken part in this tournament. Some veterans like A.M. Warunkar, Gafoor Shah were also felicitated for their long time contribution to this game.
Mr. Samir Bhate Hon. Scretary of MMTTC , announced the dates of next MMTTC Masters Ranking tournament as 19th and 20th August 2023 . Venue to be declared soon.
Results of all finals :
Women’s Singles : 39+ Sadiya Vanjara beat Swati Thube 3-1
49+ : Shravani Dhapre beat Bibiana Lopez 3-1
59+ : Madhavi Sawant beat Swati Agharkar 3-2
64+ Suhasini Bakre beat Sunanda Rao 3-0
69+: Preeti Pardesi beat Sheela Panvalkar 3-0
Men’s Singles : 39+ Vishal Yadav beat Kedar kasbekar 3-1
49+ : Navin Salian beat Kiran Salian 3-0
59+ Sarosh Shroff beat Atul Deshmukh 3-0
64+ : P.G.Kelkar beat Ashok Sawant 3-0
69+ : Yogesh Desai beat Ulhas Shirke 3-1
74+ : A. Warunkar beat Satish Shirsat 3-0
Results :
Men’s Team Championship 39 &49+ : ( Finals)
PTKS ‘A’ beat Siddhanchal A
LAC Academy & Team NASA ( Semi finalists)
Men’s team Championship 59+ : ( Finals)
‘Like Minded’ beat Team Sarosh
Kalidas ‘A’ & KRC( Kaka) ( Semi Finalists)