28th Master Nat’l TT C’ship
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: In the only final on the penultimate day of the ongoing 28th Masters National Table Tennis Championships at the Sher-e-Kashmir Indoor Stadium, Ravinder Kumar Sharma and Indu Sharma of Delhi defeated Jaswinder Singh Patheja and Mantu Murmu of West Bengal by 3-2 to take the top-podium place, here today.
With the remaining finals slated for the last day of the championship, the mixed doubles event in the 60 plus naturally attracted the crowd’s attention as much as that of the fellow players.
The Delhi pair seeded just a place ahead of the Bengal duo, who are at No. 4, did not begin on a positive note and lost the opening game badly. But it did not lose hope and recovered nicely to go 2-1 up. Nevertheless, the fighting qualities of the Bengal pair came to the fore when it launched itself to level the score, taking the fourth game.
However, in the decider, it could not sustain the pace as a determined Ravinder and Indu attacked and went from strength to strength to wrap it up to earn the Gold and the Trophy.
In the women’s 60 plus doubles category, two Maharashtrian pairs, Deepa Jain and Ujwala Marathe and Nutan Dhikale and Swati Suhas Agharkar entered the semifinals, while Indu Sharma and Sunita Mudgil from Delhi and Gayatri Adiga and Poornima Bhojaraj from Karnataka also joined them in the semifinals round.
In the women’s 65 plus doubles, with the top-seeded and the title favourites, Mangal Saraf and Ranjana S. Patki directly entering the semi-finals, three other pairs had to play their quarterfinals to get into the medals round. Maharashtra’s Mythili Sodhi and Rajeswari Mhetre defeated Gouri Dey and Sharbari Moitra of Chhattisgarh by 3-0, Geeta Rani Rahariya and Kamlesh Jain Bakliwal of Rajasthan downed Rama Kamal Mangal and Anjali Kanetkar of Maharashtra, also by 3-0, while Jyoti Kulkarni and Marina Ingrid Dsa from Maharashtra faced good resistance from Sikkim before overcoming them by 3-2.
In other events including mixed doubles 60 plus final: Ravinder Kumar Sharma/Indu Sharma (Delhi) beat Jaswinder Singh Patheja/Mantu Murmur (WB) by 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-1, 8-11 & 11-8).
In women’s doubles 60 plus quarterfinals: Deepa Jain/Ujwala Marathe (Maharashtra) trounced Padmini Desai/Bhavana Shah (Gujarat) by 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10; Nutan Dhikale/Swati Suhas Agharkar (Maharashtra) beat Bhavana Gopal/Sushila Devi Pillay (Karnataka) by 11-9, 11-8, 11-3; Indu Sharma/Sunita Mudigl (Delhi) defeated Geeta Kumthekar/Rohini Vasant Ailwar (Maharashtra) by 11-5, 11-8, 11-4; Gayathri Adiga/Poornima Bhojaraj (Karnataka) got better of Neeta Kulkarni/Nisha Kapse (Maharashtra) by 10-12, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9 and 11-6.
In women’s doubles 65 plus (Quarterfinals): Mythili Sodhi /Rajeshwari Mhetre (Maharashtra) beat Gouri Dey/ Sharbari Moitra (Chhatisgarh) by 11-5, 11-4, 11-6; Geeta Rani Rahariya/Kamlesh Jain Bakliwal (Rajasthan) trounced Rama Kamal Mangal/Anjali Kanetkar (Maharashtra) by 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Jyoti Kulkarni/Maria Ingrid DSA (Maharashtra) beat Prem Jyoti Lama/Radhika Pradhan (Sikkim) by 11-1, 2-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5.
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