Ravindra, Tejaswini reclaim mixed doubles title, Mayuresh clinches singles crown

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, September 15: Afcons Infrastructure’s star pair Ravindra Ekande and Tejaswini Joshi stole the show, completing a rare hat-trick in the Mixed Doubles of the 9th UTT Corporate Table Tennis Tournament, promoted by NSportz, at the Khar Gymkhana here on Sunday.

Mayuresh Kelkar too put up a stellar show to clinch the Men’s Singles title after a thrilling encounter. 

Defending champs Ravindra and Tejaswini displayed immense grit and vigour as they toppled the pair of Mayuresh Kelkar (Indian Express) and Ruchira Manekar (Sportz Consultz) in another exciting duel. 

After taking the first game with a hard-fought 13-11 win, they suffered a setback, losing 6-11 the next. They, however, held on to their nerves to win the next two 11-5, 11-7 to seal the tie. 

Mayuresh Kelkar was the other hero of the day, clinching the Men’s Singles title in a thriller against Zobble Solutions’ Shishir Juvekar. Shishir made it to the final by thrashing defending champion and favourite Suraj Chandrashekhar in the semi-finals.

He, however, couldn’t unravel Kelkar, last year’s runner-up. Kelkar won the first two games 13-11 and 11-4 but lost the third 5-11. He won the last game 11-3, though, to take the Men’s Singles crown rather comfortably. 

On the distaff side, it was MM Shah College’s Nikita Kotkar who dominated the finale with a clean 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4) victory over Reliance Industries’ Shilpi Goel. 

HDFC Life’s Suraj Chandrashekhar managed a scintillating victory in the Veteran’s Singles category (35+) by downing Motilal Oswal’s Shashank Raghunath 3-2 (11-7, 1-11, 15-13, 6-11, 11-9).

Reliance Industries earned a tough 3-2 win over TATA Consultancy Services to clinch the coveted Super Mixed Team title. While ICICI Bank A Team and HDFC Life were the finalists in the Super Men’s Team Event. 

IMPORTANT RESULTS-

Mixed Doubles:

Ravindra Ekande/Tejaswini Joshi bt Mayuresh Kelkar/Ruchira Manekar 3-1 (13-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7)

Men’s Singles:

Mayuresh Kelkar bt Shishir Juvekar 3-1 (13-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-3)

Women’s Singles:

Nikita Kotkar bt Shilpi Goel 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4)

Veteran’s Singles:

Suraj Chandrashekhar bt Shashank Raghunath 3-2 (11-7, 1-11, 15-13, 6-11, 11-9)