PANJIM: Hosts Goa spearheaded by India number 2 ranked Shantesh Mapsekar put up a scintillating performance to emerge creditable Bronze medal winners as the Maharashtra ‘A’ teams picked three out of four titles in the 11Sports 79th Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships, at the SP Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Taleigao, on Saturday.
The championships organised by Goa Table Tennis Association in collaboration with the Sports Authority of Goa, witnessed exciting finals matches where the Maharashtra teams achieved an unprecedented feat, thanks mainly to three playersDev Shroff, Diya Chitale and Pritha Vartikar who shouldered the major burden of a dream-come-true performance.
In the quarter-finals, the Goa team came back strongly from a 2–1 match deficit to turn the tide for the hosts.
Shantesh ably supported by Aarav Aiyar held their nerves to win their respective reverse singles to propel Goa into the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, the Goa Team went down fighting 1 – 3 to the eventual winners Tamil Nadu which had in its ranks India number one ranked Suresh Raj Preyesh. Aaron Colaco and Advait Mudra were the other two members of the bronze medal winning Goa team which had Diljeet Velingker and Raja Dayal donning the coaching duties.
The ‘A’ teams of Maharashtra beat PSPB Academy 3-2 in Sub-Junior Boys, West Bengal 3-2 in Sub-Junior Girls and blanked out West Bengal in Cadet Girls final. Tamil Nadu retained the Cadet Boys crown after beating West Bengal 3-0.
Parag Chitale from 11 Sports, Vero Nunes, president, Goa TT Association, N Ganeshan, International competition manager and other Table Tennis Federation of India and GTTA officials graced the closing function. Individual events in the National championships will continue over the next 3 days and will conclude on December 19.
