VADODARA, Nov. 19: Can Ahmedabad’s Chitrax Bhatt make it a grand double? Can Pratha Pawar stamp her authority in the grandest way or do Surat’s Mili Tanna and Arnee Parmar stall the march of the rising star from Ahmedabad?
Questions are many and so are the possibilities as the paddlers from the state gear up for the season finale at the IOCL 5th Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament 2021 that is being organized by The Table Tennis Association of Baroda under the aegis of Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) at the Sama Indoor Sports Complex in Vadodara from November 20th to 22nd.
The tournament, co-sponsored by GAIL, ONGC, GSFC and STIGA, will be the final tournament in the post-COVID season and the stakes are high for Chitrax as he will be looking to make most of the fact that the current no.1 in the Men’s category, Ishaan Hingorani, gave the tournament a miss. Chitrax will be hoping to secure the top rankings in both Men’s as well as Junior Boys’ (U-19) rankings.
Surat mates Burhanuddin Malubhai and Shlok Bajaj are going neck-to-neck for the Junior Boys’ (U-17) ranking. It will be interesting to see who will blink first.
But all eyes will be on 12-year-old Pratha as she will hope to make her breakthrough season memorable by topping the rankings in Junior Girls’ (U-17), Sub Junior Girls’ (U-15) and Cadet Girls’ (U-13) categories. However, she will face a strong challenge from Mili (U-17) and Arnee (U-15) with Ahmedabad’s Nidhi Prajapati having the potential to crash the under-15 race.
Hosts Baroda will also put their bet on promising Sheli Patel as the youngster will be looking to improve her current ranking of 5 in Junior Girls’ (U-17) category in a familiar environment.
“There are a lot of possibilities in Vadodara and it makes the competition exciting as the players will be eager to sign off on a high. One cannot ask for a better finale as the competitive instinct of the players bodes well for table tennis in the state,” GSTTA president Mr Vipul Mittra, IAS, said.
“That the race for the rankings is still open speaks volumes about the quality and the competitiveness of Gujarat table tennis. It is really great to know the equations as it is a sign of progress that the sport has made in the state. I wish all the players the very best for the tournament,” GSTTA chairman Mr. Milind Torawane, IAS, added.
Written by : Pranjal Protim Boruah