Friday, June 25, 2010

2nd State Ranking Tournament at Dombivali


 Sanika showing off her well-earned trophies in a file photograph

Sanika Divekar, Sanish Ambekar in the Sub Junior Girls and Boys, and Ajaysingh Patil and Shruti Amrute in the Cadet Boys and Girls won the first titles at stake at the 2nd State Ranking Tournament at Thane (Dombivali).

For detailed results, please visit the MSTTA results page

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Sharath Shines Again


It was the mighty Sharath again at the Indian open TT tournament! When it mattered most, Sharath Kamal pulled off some big winners to beat Patrick Baum, ranked as high as 34 in the world. Sharath is currently ranked 91, so this win will bring big points.

Now his fans want more and let's hope that he pulls off another big win (albeit a very very difficult one) against the powerful World No. 13 Dimitrij Ovtcharov. The battle is expected to be a hard one with both being hard hitters. Ovtcharov with his double flank attacks and Sharath with his largely powerful forehand strokes promise a scintillating fare. Fans on Facebook are already thrilled with his current achievement. But we all know Sharath wants to go two steps further and make this his best pro tour achievement to date.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Launching First Unofficial Ratings List of Maharashtra Table Tennis Elite Players

 We are pleased to announce the first Unofficial Ratings List of Table Tennis Elite Players of Maharashtra.

Please note that this is not an official Rating or Ranking list. For the Official Rankings, please visit www.mstta.org or call MSTTA office for more details.

How to read the List:
Example: 3. Aniket Koparkar 2360
No. 3 in Strength is Aniket Koparkar at 2360 Rating (remember, it is not Ranking Points)

Notes:

The list has been prepared using a complex formula to come up with playing strength.

You will observe some potential discrepancies, for example, we truly believe Martand is much stronger than his current rating, but his activity and consistency require some improvement.

This Ratings list is subject to change without prior notice. We are in the process of gathering feedback from prominent personalities in the Table Tennis world.

Rating list is very different from Ranking lists. Ratings depict strength. Ratings Central is one famous rating list available on the internet for International players.

With a Ratings List, it is possible to compare the strength of play of any individual. So, in due course of time, we will have Women, Juniors and so on in the same list. One can compare for academic purposes, the playing strength of any player.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Player Profile: Arpit Bhopalkar

Arpit in Action Away from the Table

Name: Arpit Bhopalkar

Place: Indore, Madhya Pradesh (India)

Club: Happy Wanderers, Abhay Prashal

Coach/Trainer: Srikant Mandwikar

TT Achievements
World Railways (Moscow) Champion
World Railways Team Champions
Junior Nationals Bronze
Represented India in Asian Juniors
SAF Junior Gold Medal
Sr Nationals Quarterfinals
Ranked Jt No.1 in Cadet, No. 2 in Sub Juniors and No. 6 in Juniors
MP State Champion

Favourite Player: Jan Ove Waldner and Ryu Seung Min

Weapon of Choice: Forehand topspin

TT Ambition: To represent India (Senior team), to win medals at International level for India.

Hobby: Music, Playing Guitar, and Comedy.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Player Profile: Eric Fernandes (Mumbai, Maharashtra - India)

Eric in Top Form (Sorry Dheeraj, Your Time Will Come)
 
Eric Fernandes has been in good nick the whole of last season culminating in his being included in the Maharashtra A team with the strong line up. Incidentally, they won the silver medal.

Eric is strength personified while in action on the table.

Here is a brief profile of this very strong player, an asset on any elite team.

Name: Eric Fernandes

Club: YMCA, Andheri

Table Tennis Achievements:
2001 - Bronze Medal in Junior Nationals
2001 - Silver Medal in Junior Nationals - Team Event
2007 - Maharashtra State Champion
2009 - Silver Medal in Team Event Nationals (Men's)
           5 Times Winner in District Teams                                                                                                

Coaches: Deepak Mani

Favourite Player: Saurav Chakraborty!

Weapon of Choice: Forehand Topspin

TT Ambition: To play for India.

Hobby: Reading

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Player Profile: Sanil Shetty (Mumbai Maharashtra, India)


Sanil Shetty is making waves at the National level and is slowly but surely also shining on the international turf. Just last week, he won the first state ranking tournament at Dhule, Maharashtra.

Here's a brief profile of this energetic and young star.

Name: Sanil Shetty

Club: Andheri YMCA, Matunga Gymkhana

Table Tennis Achievements:
2004 - Sub Junior National Champion
2004 - Canada (Teams) Gold Medal
2006 - SAF Juniors Gold Medal
2006 - Junior National Champion, 3 times Nationals Champion in Doubles
2008 - Youth Nationals Team Gold Medal
2009 - Youth Nationals Team Gold Medal
2009 - Winner, Men's Singles, West Zone National level tournament
2009 - Winner, Youth Singles, West Zone National level tournament
2009 - Kuwait Open U-21 Quarterfinals (Beat World No. 13)
World No. 93 highest Ranking in Under-21.

Coaches: Deepak Mani, Kamlesh Mehta

Favourite Player: Timo Boll, Jun Mizutani

Weapon of Choice: Forehand Topspin

TT Ambition: To participate in the Olympics and win a medal for India.

Hobby: Playing Video Games

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Final Day Highlights at Dhule State Ranking Table Tennis tournament


Youth Boy's Finals
Dheeraj Rai (MSD) beat Chandrashekhar Gole (MSD) 11-9,8-11,11-7,8-11,11-7,4-11,11-7

Youth Girl's Finals
Senora D'Souza (MCD) beat Shweta Parte (MCD) 5-11,11-4,11-7,11-8,11-9

Women's Finals
Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (Thane) beat Prajakta Tipale (Thane) 11-9,10-12,11-6,11-8,9-11,11-7

Men's Singles Finals
Sanil Shetty (MSD) beat Aniket Koparkar (Pune) 11-8,8-11,11-9,9-11,11-3,11-8

India wins Gold at South Asian Table Tennis

Dehradun

The Indian Junior team won the Gold at the South Asian Table Tennis games held at Dehradun. The girls followed suit by winning the other team title at stake.

G Sathiyan beat Harmeet Desai to win the Boy's singles title, while Mallika Bhandarkar beat eternal nemesis Ankita Das to bag the Girl's singles title.

Utkarsh Gupta won the Cadet boy's crown, while Anushka Datta won the girl's gold medal.

All in all, it was a clean gold and silver sweep for India. Sri Lanka won the silver and bronze medals where possible. India was allowed to field only 1 or 2 entries in the singles and doubles events. We'll see this happen in the international Men's level too, where China stares at a possibility of losing sure shot medal sweeps in the Olympic games.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Highlights of Dhule State Ranking Tournament 2010

 Pooja Sahasrabuddhe
 June 5th

Youth National Champion Pooja Sahasrabuddhe was beaten by Senora D'Souza 4-1 (11-8,11-9,11-6 and 13-11)

Rohit Chaudhari, aiming to play the Nationals for the 20th time beat 4th seed Tanmay Datta 4-1

Friday, June 4, 2010

Highlights of Dhule State Ranking Tournament 2010



Dhule Wind Turbines and Agra Road in Dhule City

Earlier News: Dhule State Table Tennis Ranking

Old stalwart Upendra Mulye beat 8th seed Zubin Taraporewala 3-0 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.

RAJ SHINDE of Pune, seeded a low 13, beat top seed Vedant Shah of MSD 7/11,11/6,11/5,11/1 3,11/6

Two major upsets were seen yesterday.

Advait Brahme of Pune beat the top seed of the Junior Boy's singles event - Brahme beat Chandrashekhar Gole (MSD) 11-5, 12-10, 7-11, and 11-7
The gritty Advait has just graduated from the Cadet ranks this year.

In another significant upset, Paresh Murekar (MSD) beat Noel Pinto (MSD) in the Youth Boy's event 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 10-12 and 11-9.

In the Sub Junior Boy's singles event 3rd round giant killer, Kalpak Bansod of Nagpur upset top seed Siddhesh Pande of Thane in straight games 11/5,11/8,11/3.
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Cadet Girls finals

Shruti Amrute (Thane) beat Simran Haria (MSD) in a close encounter in the Cadet Girls finals - 11-7, 8-11, 14-12, 10-12, and 11-5

Cadet Boys Finals

Tejas Kamble (Thane) beat Raj Shinde (Pune) in another close contest 11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 13-11, and 11-3

More live highlights to follow.