All eyes on local boy Ishaan
Gandhidham, Aug 3: The Kachchh District Table Tennis Association, Sports Complex will be buzzing and under the racket blows of all the paddlers engaged in the GCCI Third Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament 2019, which gets underway on Sunday. The four-day tournament has attracted 500 entries.
The attention will be highest on the home player – and men’s top seed Ishaan Hingorani. After clinching the Men’s title in Surat, he didn’t win the second State Ranking Tournament of the calendar year at Jamnagar. However, the lanky paddler will look up to local inspiration to get back to his winning ways. It is easier said than done as the likes of old war horse Jignesh Jaiswal and Jamnagar-leg winner Kaushal Bhatt, his potential semifinal opponents, will be ready to make life difficult for Ishaan.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s section defending champion and top seed Frenaz Chipia starts favourite. In first two State Ranking Tournaments, the Surti faced two different opponents in the Women’s title round. First it was Prarthna Parmar (in Surat) and then Namna Jayswal (in Jamnagar). Frenaz barely sweated during her wins.
But then there is seasoned player and former champion Divya Gohil, who has had to face up to some inconvenient questions after failing to win a title in last two seasons. In Jamnagar, Divya looked a shadow of her former confident self as she went down to Bhavnagar-based Namna in the semifinals. She has to raise her performance bar if she expects to be part of Women’s team at the end of the season.
The Youth Girls section looks open and anybody’s title. A more immediate mission for the players, in this section, is finding their form. Prarthna Parmar of Bhavnagar won Surat edition but bowed out after prequarters in Jamnagar. In contrast, Filzah Fatema Kadri whose journey halted in Quarters in first leg, won Jamnagar to become joint leader with Prarthna in the points tally.
Gandhidham edition followed by Fourth State Ranking Tournament next month are the last tune-up events before the all-important State Championships. And players, in Youth Girls, like Kausha Bhairapure and Namna Jayswal, who have had tasted the podium position last season will be eager to find form and iron out deficiencies.
Tomorrow the tournament will be inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Shri Sanjay K. Mehta, IFS Chairman Deendayal Port Trust at 10 AM in presence of Guest of Honour Dinesh Gupta, President Gandhidham Chamber of Commerce and Industries.