Gujarat’s veteran paddlers bring back massive haul of medals from 31st Nationals Masters meet
Gandhidham, Feb.24: State’s veteran paddlers came up with a stupendous show as they returned with as many as 26 medals from various categories played at the UTT 31st National Masters Table Tennis Championships 2024 conducted by Veteran’s Table Tennis Committee in Indore, MP from Feb 17 to 23.
Ahmedabad’s senior paddler Prasunna Parekh achieved great success from this meet as she bagged four gold medals including her women’s singles 50+ event where she beat her state-mate Sonal Joshi in the final.
Shital Shah also grabbed individual gold after she got past Bengal’s Meenu Basak in the women’s singles 40+ summit clash. Shital and her partner Shraddha Maheshwary found success after winning the women’s 40+ doubles gold.
Indresh Purohit’s win over BN Khazanchi of Delhi in the men’s singles 80+ final encounter secured Gujarat’s third individual gold.
Apart from these three individual golds, the state paddlers won many medals in individual, men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles and team events.
Gujarat’s 50+ men’s team (Mihir Vyas, Pranav Joshipura, Hiral Mehta, Biren Soni and Malay Thakkar) and women’s team (Prasunna, Sonal Joshi, Neha Patel, Divya Pandya and Kinnari Patel) team totally dominated the event with both teams finishing atop of the podium with the men’s team winning their long-awaited gold in style after their win over IA & AD-A. The women’s team got past a fiery Maharashtra A in the final.
Adding to this, men’s team 60+, comprising Sanjay Tayal, Parag Shah, Mahesh Raval, Rajesh Trivedi and Laxman Thakre, got past Bengal A to grab yet another team gold for the state.
ALL RESULTS
Women’s 40+: Shital Shah (gold); Women’s 50+: Prasunna Parekh (gold), Sonal Joshi (silver), Neha Patel & Divya Pandya (bronze); Women’s 60+: Avnish Kaur (bronze);
Women’s Doubles 40+: Shital and Shraddha Maheshwary (gold); Women’s doubles 50+: Neha and Prasunna (gold); Women’s doubles 60+: Anjula Barupal and Padmini Desai (bronze);
Men’s 40+: Pathik Mehta (bronze); Men’s 60+: Parag Shah (bronze); Men’s 75+: Nazmi Khinkhabwala (bronze); Men’s 80+: Indresh Purohit (gold);
Men’s Doubles 75+: Dhirubhai Rajput and SPJ Shripad Joshi (bronze) and Jayendra Kapadiya and Nazmi (bronze); Men’s doubles 80+: Indresh and Suryakant Patel (bronze) ;
Mixed doubles 40+: Shital and Viral Patel (silver); Mixed doubles 50+: Prasunna and Mihir Vyas (gold); Mixed doubles 65+: Bhavana Shah and Ranjit Nagadia (bronze);
Women’s Team 40+: Bronze (Chaitali Udesh, Shraddha, Shital, Dhwanika Bhatt, Pallavi Bariya); Women’s team 50+: Gold (Prasunna, Sonal, Neha, Divya, Kinnari Patel); Women’s Team 60+: Bronze (Avinash, Subhangi Hardikar, Padmini, Anjula, Madhu Parikh); Women’s Team 65+: Bronze (Girja Kabra, Bhavana, Kalpana Modha, Jyotsana Joshi, Anjana Shah);
Men’s Team 50+: Gold (Mihir, Pranav, Hiral Mehta, Biren Soni and Malay Thakkar); Men’s Team 60+: Gold (Sanjay Tayal, Parag, Mahesh Raval, Rajesh Trivedi and Laxman Thakre); Men’s Team 75+: Bronze (Nazmi, Balavant Ray, Arun Kothari, Jayendra); Men’s Team 80+: Bronze (Indresh, Suryakant).