Kashyap wins gold at veteran nationals

NEW DELHI: Anil Kashyap of Assam lifted the winner's trophy after beating Sudhir Kesarwani of RBI in the final of the 40+ category singles at the 29th National Masters Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.

In contrast to the two higher-category finals that went down to the wire, Kashyap disposed of his rival in less than 10 minutes as Kesarwani failed to overcome his opponent. In the 50+ singles final, the results could have gone either way at 11-11 in the fifth game. But Manish Rawat of Maharashtra, suffering cramps, conceded the match as Malay Kumar Thakkar took home the gold.

Thakkar led 2-1, but the Maharashtra paddler fought back to level the score. In the decisive fifth game, Rawat conceded with cramps making it worse for him to continue.

In the 60+ singles final, Anil Rasam of Maharashtra led 2-1. But a fightback from Pankaj Sharma saw Rasam pushed to the brink as the Punjab paddler took the fourth game to pull level. In the last game, Sharma lost his steam and wilted under pressure from Rasam.

Without breaking a sweat, Prakash Kelkar of Maharashtra beat Peter Desouza of Himachal Pradesh 3-0 to win the 65+ singles title for men to swell the Maharashtra kitty of medals. Results: Men’s Singles 40+: Final: Anil Kashyap (Asm) bt Sudhir Kesarwani (RBI) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8.

Men’s Singles 50+: Final: Malay Kumar Thakkar (Guj) bt Manish Rawat (Mah) 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11.

Men’s Singles 60+: Final: Anil Rasam (Mah) bt Pankaj Sharma (Pun) 8-11, 11-2, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8.

Men’s Singles 65+: Final: Prakash Kelkar (Mah) bt Peter Desouza (HP) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7.

Women’s Singles 40+: Final: Chandrani Dey Ganguly (WB) bt Mousumi Banerjee (WB) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.

Women’s Singles 50+: Final: Ripu Daman (Pun) bt Anagha R Joshi (Mah) 11-8, 9-11, 11-2, 11-6.

Mixed Doubles 40+: Final: Chandrani Dey Ganguly/ Kaushik Dey Sarkar (WB) bt Soumya Narendra Prasad/Sandeep Kannabadi (Kar) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4.

Mixed Doubles 50+: Final: Sonal Joshi/Hiral Mehta (Guj) bt Shilpa Joshi/Manish Rawat (Mah) 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 12-10.

Mixed Doubles 60+: Final: Karabi Maity/Subhamoy Chatterjee (WB) bt Mantu Murmu/Jaswinder Singh Patheja (WB) 11-9, 15-13, 11-7.

Mixed Doubles 65+: Final: Mangal Saraf/ Yogesh Desai (Mah) bt Mythili Sodhi/Jayant Kulkarni (Mah) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7.