Maha paddlers continue form in Central Zone Tourney

Maharashtra paddlers stamped their authority on the Central Zone National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament, cornering a rich haul of three gold and six bronze medals in Indore on Tuesday evening.

Pooja Sahasrabudhe bagged the gold in the Women’s Singles, getting the better of PSPB’s Archana G. Kamath 4-1. Young Diya Chitale, however, caught the eye with her magnificent run that saw her pick up the bronze medal.

She scored a couple of big upsets during her march, including a grand 4-2 victory over state-mate Madhurika Patkar. Diya lost to Pooja, the eventual champion, in the semifinals.

Reagan Alburquerque clinched the gold in a nail biting 4-3 encounter against Gujarat’s Manush Shah in the Junior boys’ singles category while Deepit Patel settled for bronze after he lost to the eventual winner and state-mate Reagan in the semifinals.

Gaurav Panchangam was crowned the champion of the Cadet Boys’ category after he defeated Karnataka’s Varun Kashyap with a comprehensive 4-1 victory.

Gaurav looked in great touch after he breezed past top seed Divy Nagpal in the second round and made good use of the momentum to go all the way. However, his state-mate Kushal Chopda couldn’t get past the semifinal stage after a gallant fight to settle for the bronze medal.

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In the Cadet girls roster, two Maharashtra girls — Radhika Sakpal and Hardee Patel — bowed out in the semifinals and took the bronze while Siddesh Pande claimed the bronze in the youth boys’ roster.