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81st Maharashtra table tennis Championship in Pune from Nov 3; Rs 1,40,000 up for grabs
25 districts will take part in the contest.
PUNE Pune is all set to host the 81st Maharashtra State Table Tennis Championship, for the sixth time in a row, from November 3. However, due to a jam-packed national table tennis calendar the event has been curtailed to four days.
The event will commence at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, from Sunday evening, and will conclude on November 6.
“Generally we have seven days time to conduct the state championship, but back-to-back tournaments have made things difficult for us. Currently, the West Zone championship is going on in Thane. It will end on Sunday afternoon and we will start our tournament in evening,” said Rajeev Bodas, president, Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association (MSTTA).
“On November 6, the team has to take a flight to Bhavnagar for the Central Zone Championship, while the National championship will start on November 16 at Dharamshala,” added Bodas.
In Pune, matches will be conducted on 24 tables, simultaneously, from 9am to 10pm.
“On November 4-5, matches will run for full time only on November 3 matches will be happening in evening session and on November 6 we plan to wrap the event up by 12 noon,” said Madhukar Lonkar, chief referee for the upcoming event.
Tournament facts
81st Maharashtra State Table Tennis Championship and 50th Inter District Table Tennis Championship
Date: November 3-6
Districts participating: 25
Players: 1,160
Prize money: Rs 1,40,000 (to be distributed among winners)
Categories: Midget (under-10); Cadet (u12); Sub junior (u15); Junior (u18); youth (u21); Open (men and women)
Doubles event: Cadet boys and girls; Sub junior boys and girls
Key players in action: Shouren Soman, Naisha Rewaskar, Devyani Kulkarni, Pritha Vartikar, Aadil Anand, Diya Chitale, Swastika Ghosh, Chinmaya Somaiya, Anannya Basak, Srushti Haleangadi, Mamta Prabhu
