Paddlers Balbir, Patanjli shine in Masters National C’ship

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 17

Local veteran paddler Balbir Singh Virdi defeated Santosh Kaushik of Madhya Pradesh 11-7 11-6 11-8 to win the 70+ years title on the concluding day of the 26th Masters National Table Tennis Championship, at the Abhay Prashal in Indore, on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, in the doubles 70+ category, the local pair of Virdi and Patanjli Kumar went down against Nazmi Khinkhabwala and Jagdish Pathak of Gujarat to claim the silver medal. They lost 6-11 14-12 7-11 11-4 6-11 in the final. 

Meanwhile, Abu Rizwan of IA&AD defeated Parag Aggarwal of Uttar Pradesh 3-1 to emerge champion in the 40+ category. In men 50+, former India international Sunil Babras of Maharashtra defeated West Bengal's Vivek Kumar Arora 3-1. The final was a well contested one with little separating the two players, except the experience and temperament of Babras. In the 40+ doubles final,  Mukul Boro and Souvik Roy of RBI defeated Manish Rawat and Rohit Chaudhari of Maharashtra 11-8 6-11 11-6 11-8, while in the mixed doubles 40+ category, Meenu Basak and Debdoot Chatterjee of West Bengal overpowered Shivkumar MK and Deepali Shital Gotadke of Karnataka 11-8 11-7 6-11 4-11 11-8. In the men 50+ doubles final, Maharashtra's 

Vivek and Prasad defeated Niin and Naveen 16-14 12-10 6-11 11-7 , while Vivek Arora and Mantu Murmu of West Bengal won the mixed doubles title by defeating Nitin and Anagha R Joshi 11-8 11-4 5-11 11-9.

RESULTS

• Men Singles 60+: Prakash Kelkar bt Percy Mehta 8-11 11-6 11-4 11-6
• Doubles 60+: Prakash Kelkar/Dinkar Selarka bt Jayant Kulkarni/Percy Mehta 11-9 11-8 8-11 11-7
• Mixed Doubles 60+: Dinkar Selarka/Mangal Saraf bt Avinash Joshi/Sihasini Bakre 6-11 12-10 11-6 11-8.
• Men Singles 65+: Suhas Kulkarni bt Subramanyam MS 11-6 8-11 7-11 11-4 11-4.
• Doubles 65+: Satish B Kulkarni/Suhas Kulkarni bt Premkumar PR/Sybramanyam MS 9-11 8-11 11-6 11-4 11-8