CITY’S international paddler Jennifer Varghese made an early exit while Jayesh Kulkarni made it to the quarter-finals on the opening day of 1st Maharashtra State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University’s Subhedar Hall, on Friday. Jennifer, who celebrated her 18th birthday on Thursday went down to top seed Ananya Chande of The Suburbans Table Tennis Association Mumbai (TST) in the women’s pre-quarterfinals 3-1. Ananya took the first game 11-7 but Jennifer, who is seeded 17th, bounced back taking the second game 11-7. However, Ananya took the next two 11-5, 11-7 to seal the deal in her favour. In the men’s singles, Nagpur’s Jayesh Kulkarni defeated TSTTA, Mumbai’s Arnav Kshirsagar 08-11, 12-10, 11-09, 11-09 to storm into the quarter-finals. Kulkarni will play top seed Jash Modi in the last eight battle. In men’s third round match, Nagpur’s sixth seed Aadi Chitnis deefated Wardha’s Om Tiwari 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 to move into next round. Earlier, the tournament was inugruted by Dr Dhananjay Welukar, Director, Yeshvantrao Chavhan Open University. Dr Sharad Suryavanshi, former Director of Department of Sports and Physical Education

 

RTM Nagpur University, Shekhar Tongo, Vice-President, NDTTA, Adv Ashutosh Potnis, Secretary, MSTTA, Prafful Nandedkar, Excutive Member NDTTA, Deepak Kanetkar, Selection Committee Member, MSTTA, Ajay Kamble, Chairman Draw Committee, MSTTA and Rajesh Mopkar were also present. Results: Pre-quarters: Ananya Chande (TST) (Seed 1) bt Jennifer Varghese (NGP) (Seed 17) 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7. Hardee Patel (TST) (Seed 9) bt Urvi Churi (TST) 13-11, 11-6,11-8; Shruti Amrute (THN) (Seed 5) bt Anannya Basak (TST) (Seed 12) 11-8, 11-7, 13-11; Senhora Dsouza (MCD) (Seed 4) bt Reeth Tennison (TST) 8-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-0, 11-0; Kavya Bhatt (THN) (Seed 3) bt Manasi Chiplunkar (MCD) (Seed 14) 11-9, 11-6, 11-8; Ruchita Darvatkar (PUN) (Seed 22) bt Shweta Parte Nayak (MCD) (Seed 6) 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-2; Swara Karmarkar (NSH) (Seed 23) bt Pritha Vartikar (PUN) (Seed 7) 11-6, 11-2, 4-11, 11-8; Sampada Bhiwandkar (TST) (Seed 2) bt Anoushka Patil (THN) (Seed 15) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6. Men’s Singles 3rd Round: Jash Modi (TST) (Seed 1) bt Shounak Sanpurkar (PUN) 14-12, 11-9, 10-12, 12-10; Tanmay Rane (MCD) (Seed 16) bt Rajat Kadam (PUN) 11-8, 11-9, 11-8; Arnav Kshirsagar (TST) (Seed 9) bt Kaustubh Girgaonkar (PUN) (Seed 24) 9-11, 11-6, 11-13, 12-10, 13-11; Jayesh Kulkarni (NGP) (Seed 8) bt Nishad Lele (PUN) (Seed 25) 13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5; Shounak Shinde (PUN) (Seed 5) bt Pranav Gholkar (PUN) 12-14, 12-10, 11-3, 11-4; Zubin Taraporewalla (THN) (Seed 12) bt Ajinkya Shintre (NSH) (Seed 21) 11-6, 11-8, 11-3; Shubham Ambre (MCD) (Seed 20) bt Naren Indani (PUN) (Seed 13) 12-14, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8; Anish Sontakke (KOL) (Seed 4) bt Arya Mogre (BHN) 11-3, 11-1, 11-9; Neil Mulye (MCD) (Seed 3) bt Aryann Kale (PUN) 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7; Bhargav Chakradeo (PUN) (Seed 19) bt Ayush Sonawane(TST) (Seed 14) 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4; Ishan Khandekar (PUN) (Seed 11) bt Mayuresh Sawant (THN) 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.