It was a glorious day for table tennis fans as Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias TT Championship 2017 kicked off yesterday. The state level ranking tournament which is one of the few of its kind in the state was inaugurated with Rajesh Kaunte, Secretary, Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias serving the first ball against Vishnu Kolvalcar, Hon Secretary, Goa Table Tennis Association.
PANAJI
Speaking at the inaugural Rajesh Kaunte said, “This is the second year we are organizing this tournament and we are glad to receive a great response with over 300 entries from across 13 categories. We are organizing such events to promote the sport in Goa.”
Day one witnessed exciting matches played out in the Under 10 Mini Cadets (Girls and Boys) and Under 12 Cadet (Girls and Boys) categories at the Polygon Hall at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias in Miramar.
The annual fixture organized by Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Goa’s first tennis club in partnership with Goa Table Tennis Association (GTTA) witnessed the inaugural matches where Siddharth Parsekar defeated Sparsh R. Shenvi Holdankar (13-15, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6) while Aaron Farias triumphed over Arnav Sheikh (11-2, 11-1, 11-1) to move to the next round in the U-10 Mini Cadet Boys.
In the U-10 Mini Cadet Girls category, Leoma Fernandes beat Sunidhi Sawaikar (11-4, 11-8, 11-7) while Galya Fernandes won against Davia Pinto (11-6, 1-3, 11-5) to proceed to the next round. In the U-12 Cadet Boys category, Shantesh Mapsekar defeated Siddhart Parsekar (11-4, 11-2, 11-5) in a one sided match; whereas Soham Patil played against Aditya Mittal and emerged victorious with a score of 11-2, 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 13-11 in an entertaining match.
In the U-10 Mini Cadet Boys, Akshan Lawande, Vivek Carvalho, Aaron Farias and Sumedh proceeded to the semi-finals where Aaron beat Sumedh (11-1, 11-1, 11-2) and Akshan Lawande triumphed over Vivek Carvalho (13-11, 11-3, 11-9). Akshan Lawande will meet Aaron Farias in the finals and battle it out for the ultimate spot.
In the Mini Cadet Girls category Galya Fernandes beat Divya Pinto (11-6, 11-3, 11-5) and Leoma Fernandes triumphed over Sunudhi Sawaikar (11-4, 11-8, 11-7). The audience will be in for a treat as twin sisters Galya Fernandes and Leoma Fernandes will battle it out in the Mini Cadet Girls finals.
Day 2 of the tournament will see matches played in Under 16 Sub Junior Girls, the Under 18 Junior Girls and the Ladies Singles categories.
