Bhiwandkar shocks Premkumar

MUMBAI, August 8: Gandeep Bhiwandkar of Railways pulled off a major upset in the Khar Gymkhana-GTC All India Table Tennis Tournament when...

MUMBAI, August 8: Gandeep Bhiwandkar of Railways pulled off a major upset in the Khar Gymkhana-GTC All India Table Tennis Tournament when he got the better of eight seed J Premkumar of Tamil Nadu in the first round of the men’s singles main draw that commenced today.

Bhiwandkar, whose forte is his service, won 21-14, 21-14, 17-21, 21-18 to advance to the second round where he will play teammate Kishalaya Basak, who beat qualifier Harish Sirsat (Maharashtra), 19-21, 21-17, 21-12, 21-19.

Fourth seed Arup Basak (Petroleum Sports Control Board) breezed through to round two with a 21-7, 21-11, 21-11 win over Kalpesh Thakkar (Gujarat). Despite a back strain the former National champion wrapped up the game in a mere 19 minutes. He now meets Rajesh Shelar of Railways, a 21-12, 21-13, 21-16 victor over qualifier KK Rai (Maharashtra).

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In the women’s section, Mallika Parekh surged ahead into the second round with a 21-13 22-20 21-14 verdict over Debosmita Das of Railways.

As many as ten players from Maharashtraqualified for the 64-player main draw. They were: Ashok Puri, Sharad Grover, Sanjay Nemlekar, JS Mohite, KK Rai, Mahendra Mohite, PG Kelkar, Kedar Kasbekar, Harish Shirsat and Swapnil Namjoshi. Dean Chill, Prasanjit Sarkar (both Railways), Zarabjeet Singh, Amit Sen (both Uttar Pradesh), Mahesh Vardharaj (Gujarat) and KS Chakravarti (Tamil Nadu) were the other qualifiers.

Making it to the women’s singles main draw were Leena Medekar (Railways), G Madumiree (Assam), G Sudlimand (Tamil Nadu) and Pallavi Hari (UBI).

Results

Men’s singles (1st round): Rajdeep Sarkar (PSCB) bt Zubin Panthaki (Rlys) 21-18 23-21 21-15; Amrish Chatterjee (Rlys) bt JS Mohite (Mah) 21-9 21-17 21-17; Shivaji Dutta (Rlys) bt PG Kulkarni (Mah) 21-16 21-16 21-16; Kishalaya Basak (Rlys) bt Harish Shirsat (Mah) 19-21 21-17 21-12 21-19; Gandeep Bhiwandkar (Rlys) bt J Premkumar (TN) 21-14 21-14 17-21 21-18; Ganesh Kundu (Rlys) bt Sanjay Nemlekar (Mah) 21-19 21-14 19-21 22-20; Rohit Choudhary (Rlys) bt Abhay Gupta (Raj) 21-1321-5 21-14; Vaneet Chopra (PNB) Swapnil Namjoshi (Mah) 17-21 21-18 5-21 21-14 21-16; Souvik Dey (Rlys) bt KS Chakravarti (TN) 21-14 22-20 21-12; Rahul Prakash (Rlys) bt Mahendra Chiplunkar (Mah) 21-14 22-20 17-21 21-23 23-21; Rajesh Shelar (Rlys) bt KK Rai (Mah) 21-12 21-13 21-16; Arup Basak (PSCB) bt Kalpesh Thakkar (Guj) 21-7 21-11 21-11; S Sriram (PSCB) bt Zebarjeet Singh (UP) 21-6 21-15 21-11; Nachiket Chawate (Rlys) bt MS Mohite (Mah) 21-13 21-6 23-21; R Rajesh (TN) w/o Harsh Chopra (Pun); S Ramaswamy (PSCB) bt Sharad Grover (Mah) 21-6 21-7 21-15; Subhajeet Saha Jr (MP) bt George Joseph (Rlys) 20-22 21-16 21-17 21-11; Prasanjit Sarkar (Rlys) w/o Malay Thakar (Guj); Bhushan Thakur (Rlys) bt Mukul Boro (Asm) 25-23 21-13 21-8; Subhajeet Saha (Bng) bt Mahesh Vardharaja (Guj) 21-6 21-15 21-12; Nishant Kulkarni (Rlys) bt Soumyadeep Roy (PSCB) 21-19 21-11 11-21 17-21 21-18; Kelkar Kasbekar (Mah) w/o Amit Mukherjee (Rlys); Debrata Saha (Rlys) bt Rajul Sheth (Guj) 21-19 21-11 21-15; Nupur Santra (Rlys) bt AshokPuri (Mah) 21-9 21-5 21-8; N Ravi Chandran (TN) bt Anupam Kanwar (Asm) 21-17 21-19 21-19; Sovik Basu Roy (Rlys) bt Amit Sen (UP) 21-17 21-14 21-11

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Women’s singles (1st round): NR Indu (BSB) bt Janhvi Deshpande (Mah) 21-15 21-10 21-14; Mallika Parekh (Mah) bt Debosmita Das (Rlys) 21-13 22-20 21-14.

SELECTION OF PROBABLES FOR ASIAN TT

The Khar Gymkhana tournament has grown in importance with the event forming a basis for the selection of the Asian Championships in Osaka, Japan this September.

Moolchand Chowhan, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) chief witnessing the Rs 1,20,000 prize-money tournament informed that eleven players each from the men’s and women’s sections will be picked as probables for the training camp to be held in Patiala.

Top paddlers of the country are competing in the tourney with the exception of Arjan Dutta (down with jaundice) and Sunil Babras, who has perplexedly been denied permission to participate by employers Dena Bank.

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In the women’s section,Olympian Ambika Radhika has opted out due to personal reasons.