Gujarat Men settle for bronze in Hyderabad

Gujarat Men’s paddler team settled for a bronze after going down to Delhi at the ongoing UTT 81st National Table Tennis Championships at the Saroonagar Indoor Stadium Hyderabad on Wednesday late evening. Having entered the semis with a mighty win over Haryana in the quarters, a few hours later, Gujarat looked clueless as they suffered 0-3 loss.

After Sudhanshu Grover had given the lead, beating Ishaan Hingorani 11-8, 11-4, 11-5, it was expected of Gujarat to bounce back through Manush Shah. But Parth Virmani played intensely to beat the southpaw 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8 with the rubber tied at 2-2. The match saw some long rallies with both players having good control except in the decider when Manush lost to the brilliance of Parth.

In the third rubber, 42-year-old Jignesh Jaiswal could not reproduce the form he displayed against Haryana as the junior national champion, Payas Jain, accounted for him in four sets to seal the fate of Gujarat.

Gujarat management was also guilty of miscalculations. Jignesh Jaiswal has never lost against Sudhanshu Grover. But the team management decided to play him in the third rubber against Payas Jain. Without going into the detail of the loss, Gujarat coach Chintan Oza said, “I am happy for bronze medal, but we could have done much better.”

Congratulating Men’s team, President Gujarat State Table Tennis Association Vipul Mittra said, “The team has been winning medals for last few years. Such results motivate junior players to perform better and achieve similar feat.”

Results:

Delhi bt Gujarat 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Ishaan Hingorani 11-8, 11-4, 11-5, Parth Virmani bt Mansh Shah 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, Payas Jain bt Jignesh Jaiswal 14-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5)