CITY’S upcoming young paddler Saarth Shastry has made another podium finish at State-level meet in a fortnight. This time, he bettered the colour of his medal. Saarth pocketed silver medal in Under-11 singles category of Late Nihal Singh Thakur Memorial State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament that concluded at Pune on Tuesday. Saarth had won a bronze medal in the Dr Ramesh Yashwant Prabhoo Memorial 1st Maharashtra State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul, Vile Parle, Mumbai few days ago. In the Pune event, Saarth lost the final to a better-rated Nilay Pattekar going down in four games.

 

After a poor start (1-11, 6-11), Saarth won the third game 11-8 but could not maintain the momentum in the fourth and lost 7-11. In the semi-final, Saarth defeated Zihaan Beddingwala 11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 11-4. In the Under-13 singles, he reached pre-quarterfinal and lost to Dhruv Vasaikar of Thane. Saarth is a student of Bhavan’s BP Vidya Mandir Civil Lines, Nagpur and trains at Gardinar School Table Tennis Academy. He gives credit of his success to Principal Anju Bhutani, teachers, parents and coach Ujwal Wani. He was congratulated by NDTTA President Deepak Dhote and Secretary Adv Ashutosh Potnis.