Jaipur, February 15: The presence of former national champion Arup Basak gave the necessary edge as he heled West Bengal beat IA & AD-A 3-1 and lift the Men 40+ team trophy in the 25th Veterans National Table Tennis Championships at the SMS Indoor Stadium here today.

And the triumph somewhat made up for the two team trophies which their women lost earlier in the day. In Men 50+, Delhi avenged last year’s loss to down Maharashtra A 3-1.

It was not a bed of roses for Arup, who was making his maiden foray in the veterans’ event. The Team India coach, despite being in regular practice, found it hard in the opening rubber against Santanu Banerjee before overcoming him 3-1. Nupur Santra made it 2-0 in favour of West Bengal but Joginder Singh Bisht spoilt a straight win as he beat Ranjan Chakraborty 3-2, leaving it for Arup to do the finishing act. And he did it but with some struggle against Kasturi Srivassa Chakravarty who took him the full distance.

As for Delhi win, left-hander Harsh Chopra played his reverse singles with a cool mind than he did in the opening rubber against Naveen Salian of Maharashtra. In the second tie, he beat the rival lefty Vivek Alwani after being down 1-2 in a fine comeback, taking the last two games. Earlier, Vinay Chopra and Ajay Jhad provided Delhi with a 2-1 lead which Harsh cashed in on.

But in the bargain, Maharashtra lost both Men 40+ and 50+ titles which they held last year.

The women 40+ gold went the way of Gujarat A in the final played yesterday evening. The women squad, comprising Sinaloa Joshi, Prasunna Parekh and Neha Patel, defeated Karnataka’s A team 3-0. Donald downed Mamatha Jayaraman 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 to provide the lead and Prasunna consolidated with her win over Samina Rukadikar (11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2). With a 2-0 cushion, it was easy for Neha to cash in on the situation to beat Anmina Barua 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 to wrap it up quickly. 

MEDIOCRE DISPLAY

Surprisingly, West Bengal who held both 40+ and 50+ crowns last year at Pune ceded them to Gujarat and Maharashtra, respectively. In other words, West Bengal women would return home empty handed this year and would like to forget the mediocre performance.

The other first-time title winners included Telangana (Men 85+), Uttar Pradesh (Men 80+) and, most notably, Andhra Pradesh (Men 75+). Karnataka could not retain this trophy as Andhra veterans, who pushed them to the second position, proved too good in final. Of course, there were no teams in Men 85+ and 80+ last year, but the event has caught the imagination of the veterans in this edition.

Madhya Pradesh’s 70+ men continued their domination and retained the title when they beat Telangana 3-0 as Indresh Purohit, Santosh Kaushik, and R.C. Moriya accomplished the task for the winners. 

Results (Team Events):

Men 40+ (Final): West Bengal B bt IA&AD-A 3-1 (Arup Basak bt Santanu Banerjee 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, nupur Santra bt KS Chakravarty 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4, Ranjan Chakraborty lost to J.S. Bisht 13-11, 10-12, 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, Arup Basak bt KS. Chakravarty 11-4, 8-11, 2-11, 12-10, 11-4).

Men 50+ (Final): Delhi A bt Maharashtra A 3-1 (Harsh Chopra lost to Naveen Salian 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, Vinay Chopra bt Vivek Alwani 11-1, 11-6, 15-13, Ajay Jha bt purushottam Markad 13-11, 9-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-6, Harsh Chopra bt Vivek Alwani 13-11, 11-13, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8).

Men 60+ (Final): Maharashtra A bt IVC-A 3-0 (Dinkar Selarka bt Gopal Chakraborty 12-10, 11-3, 11-5, Prakash Kelker bt Subrata Goswami 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, Jayant Kulkarni bt Amar Kumar Roy 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7).

Men 65+ (Final): Maharashtra A bt Maharashtra B 3-0 (Yogesh Desai bt Pinakin Sampat 12-10, 11-5, 12-10, Suhas Kulkarni bt Deepak Dudhane 11-7, 12-10, 9-4-11, 11-7, Ulhas Shirke bt Dilip Kudtarkar 11-9, 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5).

Men 70+ (Final): Madhya Pradesh A bt Telangana A 3-0 (Indresh Purohit bt Jagannath Prasad 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, Santosh Kaushik bt Srinivas Chalavadi 11-0, 11-2, 11-7, Indresh-RC Moriya bt Jagannath-Srinivas 11-7, 11-7, 11-9).

Men 75+ (Final): Andhra Pradesh A bt Karnataka B 3-0 (10-12, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-3, Anand Kumar Rednam bt BU Krishnamurthy 11-3, 11-6, 11-5, Satyananda-Anand Kumar bt Gopalan-Krishnamurthy 11-4, 11-9, 11-7).

Women 40+ (Final): Gujarat A bt Karnataka A 3-0 (Sonal Joshi bt Mamatha Jayaram 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, Prasunna Parekh bt Samina Rukadikar 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2, Neha Patel bt Anmona Barua 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8).

Women 50+ (Final): Maharashtra A bt Madhya Pradesh A 3-1 (Neeta Kulkarni bt Manisha Kataria 11-5, 11-8, 11-8, Suhasini Bakre bt Rubi Kaur 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-8, Sneha Padhye lost to Rashmi Soni 3-11, 6-11, 5-11, Suhasini Bakre bt Manisha Kataria 11-5, 13-11, 11-6).