Maharashtra State & Inter District Table Tennis Championship: Mumbai Suburban District and Thane players bag 9 gold

Mumbai Suburban District and Thane paddlers affixed their stamp of authority in the Maharashtra State & Inter District Table Tennis Championship 2019, annexing nine gold medals at the Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune.

Thane’s Siddhesh Pande led the medal hunt winning the Men’s Singles after picking up a comprehensive victory over Hrishikesh Malhotra of MSD in straight games. Seeded third in the tournament, Siddhesh was at his menacing best as he easily overcame Hrishikesh 4-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-5, 11-9) to clinch the gold.

Diya Chitale (MSD), one of the brightest young talents in the country punched above her weight to bag the gold in the Women’s Singles after registering a 4-1 (11-7,11-5,9-11,12-10,11-9) victory over the top-seeded and her fellow district-mate Srushti Haleangadi.

Diya was equally impressive in the Junior Girls’ event as well and picked up the gold with a sublime 4-0 (11-8, 17-15, 11-8, 11-8) victory over third-seeded Pritha Vartikar of Pune.

In the Junior Boys’ category it was fourth-seeded Deepit Patil of Thane who came back from behind to beat Shounak Shinde of Air India 4-1 (10-12,11-3,11-7,11-4,11-7) in the finals to earn the gold, while in a clash of top seeds, Rajveer Shah(2) of MSD beat Aadil Anand (1) of MSD  4-1 (11-5,11-6,14-16,11-8,11-1) to win the Sub-Junior Boys’ title.

MSD’s duo of Chinmaya Somaiya and Annanya Basak stole the show in the Youth Boys’ and Girls’ contest cornering the gold after picking up hard-fought victories against their respective opponents. Chinmaya (1) was stretched to the limits by the second-seeded Shubham Ambre of MCD but he held on to his nerves to eke out a narrow 4-3 (11-9,5-11,9-11,7-11,11-4,11-6,11-6) win, while Ananya (1) also had to stave off a strong challenge from Srushti Haleangadi to win 4-2 (10-12,12-10,11-8,12-10,9-11,11-6).

Meanwhile, in the Cadet Boys’ category, Hriday Deshpande (2) of Thane got the better of Pranav Gholkar (4) of Pune 4-1 (11-6,9-11,11-4,11-3,11-5) to corner the gold while top-seeded Riana Bhoota of Thane walloped Naisha Rewaskar (2) of Pune 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-8) to win the Midget Girls’ title.