Bengal, Delhi men capture 60+ and 65+ team titles

By Narendra Bhale

Hyderabad : West Bengal A defeated Delhi A 3-2 to claim the title in the men’s 60+ team event final, but in the men’s 65+ category, Delhi A beat Maharashtra A in another tough final to hoist the trophy with a similar verdict in the UTT 30th Masters National Table Tennis Championships at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium .

Vivek Kumar Arora was the architect of Bengal’s win as the reliable paddler lived up to his expectations to win his two singles, first accounting for Anuj Sharma and then Sanjay Vasisht, paving the way for their triumph.

Sanjay and Anil Kumar Goel pulled back to level the score 2-2 before Subhamoy Chatterjee won the crucial decider against Anuj Sharma–he lost narrowly in the last rubber after leading 2-1.

Sanjay, whose success depended on Delhi’s fortune, lost the reverse singles to Vivek after fully stretching the latter.

But in the 65+ category, Sanjay’s elder brother Ravi made amends to win both his singles, which proved crucial for Delhi A in the final against Maharashtra A, who had the upper hand as Jayant Kulkarni provided them the lead when he beat Vineet Chaudhry.

In the second rubber, Ravi beat Avinash Joshi and restored parity. However, Jitendra Mavani put Maharashtra 2-1 up before Ravi brought Delhi back on track with a win over Jayant. Vineet beat Avinash 3-2 in the last rubber and claimed the title.

In the see-saw battle for gold medals in the men’s 80+ singles and doubles, Karnataka and Delhi paddlers shared the spoils. In the singles final, K. Satyanarayan defeated B.N.Khazanchi 3-2 in a tough but interesting battle to claim the title. But Khazanchi and Anand Prakash combined well in the doubles to blank out the Karnataka pair of Satyanarayan and K.V. Krishnamurthy 3-0 to win the gold.

Results (all finals):

Men’s Team (60+): West Bengal A bt Delhi A 3-2 (Vivek Kumar Arora bt Anuj Sharma 11-7, 14-12, 11-6, Subhamoy Chatterjee lost to Sanjay Vashist 12-10, 5-11, 3-11, 5-11, Ram Chandra Rao lost to Anil Kumar Goel 9-11, 11-13, 7-11, Vivek bt Sanjay 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8, Subhamoy bt Anuj 11-8, 4-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9).

Men’s Team (65+): Delhi A bt Maharashtra A 3-2 (Vineet K. Chaudhry lost to Jayant Kulkarni 15-13, 12-10, 6-11, 6-11, 6-11, Ravi Vashist bt Avinash Joshi 8-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-6, Ashutosh Kumar lost to Jitendra Mavani 10-12, 4-11, 4-11, Ravi bt Jayant 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, Vineet bt Avinash 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 5-11, 11-8).

Men’s Singles (80+): K. Satyanarayan (Kar) bt B.N.Khazanchi (Del) 9-11, 12-10, 11-13, 11-7, 11-1.

Men’s Doubles (80+): B.N.Khazanchi/Anand Prakash (Del) bt K.V. Krishnamurthy/K. Satyanarayan (Kar) 11-8, 11-3, 11-4.