Gujarat U-19 boys team grab gold in School National Games

Gandhidham 23, January : Gujarat U-19 boys team exceeded all expectations as they decimated Maharashtra 3-1 to pocket the gold medal in the boys under-19 team event of the recently concluded 67th School National Games 23-24 organised under the aegis of School Games Federation of India at The Emerald Heights International School in Indore.

The event was hosted by Indian Public School’s Conference.

The Gujarat team, consisting of Armaan Shaikh, Harshvardhan Patel, Janmejay Patel, Dhyey Jani, Pavan Detroja and coached by Mahavir Kumpavat and Sagar Trivedi, crushed Chattisgarh 3-0 in the pre-quarterfinals before fighting hard to post a 3-2 victory over CISCE in the quarterfinals.

Gujarat boys had to dig deep during their semi-final encounter against the mighty Haryana before they sealed the final berth with a 3-2 win.

Interestingly, Gujarat team’s top four paddlers-Armaan, Harshvardhan, Janmejay, Dhyey- train at the SAG-Tapti Valley High Performance Table Tennis Center which is being run at the Tapti Valley International School in Surat.

The High-performance centre is supported by Sports Authority of Gujarat and managed by Gujarat State Table Tennis Association and Tapti Valley Education Foundation.

Top cadre coaches from France- Julien Girard and Cedric Rouleau- have been honing the skills of top state paddlers while Mahavir Kumpavat has been appointed the assistant coach.