PANAJI

Hotel Manoshanti, strong contenders to win the team championship title, were in cruise control and put themselves in a strong position to qualify for the semis as they romped home to a 3-0 win against Panjim Table Tennis Club, in the Men’s Team championship event in the third Invitational Table Tennis championship organised by Miramar Sports Club, at Indoor stadium, Campal. In the Super 8 league stage of the championship featuring several outstation players and teams, Anurag Gote representing Manoshanti was given a scare by Ajit Ghantker before prevailing to a 3- 1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9) win. In the second singles, Shubhankar Ranade was in fine form against Noel Noronha who he defeated with a 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8) score line. In the doubles that followed, Shubhankar Renavikar / Anurag Gote were stretched by Panjim TT Club’s Noel Noronha / Kewal Tamhankar who took one set and all but clinched another one. However, the outstation pair representing Manoshanti who were down in the fourth set came back strongly to win 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10 and seal the tie in favour of Manoshanti. The other Super 8 match between two other top teams, BPS Sports Club and Verekers, went down to the wire with title favourites BPS prevailing to a hard fought 3-2 win. Rakshit Bargidad (Krn) lost to Akash Pal(WB)  9-11, 3-11, 5-11 in a battle between two top players from Karnataka and West Bengal. Anukram Jain representing BPS was given a stiff fight by Goa’s former State champion Diljeet Veligker who engaged him in good rallies. Anukram however prevailed to a 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 win. In the doubles match that followed, Wesley Do Rosario / Anukram Jain lost to Akash Pal / Nagesh Verekar 12-14, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3, 7-11. Down by 2-1 in the tie, BPS had to pull all socks to come back in the tie. They won both the next two singles to make it 3-2 in favour of BPS, with Rakshith Bargidad defeating Nagesh Verekar 11-7, 11-3, 11-6, followed by Wesley Do Rosario defeating Diljeet Velingkar 12-10, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6. In another league match, Verekars beat Team SH 3-1 and are poised to qualify for the semis.

Results:

Verekers beat SH 3-0

Anshuman Agarwal bt Shantesh Mhapsekar 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 12-10)

Nagesh Verekar bt Aaron Farias 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-6)

Jayz Gomes bt Anushree Naik 3-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 12-10)