The three-day State ranking table tennis tournament that concluded at DRRMC indoor stadium witnessed a brilliant display of paddling by Hyderabad’s Naina, who won a hat-trick of titles – youth, junior and sub junior and hearts. She shocked the locals when she defeated the better-ranked city’s Karnam Spoorthy in the youth girls final 4-2.
The tourney saw the return of the international paddler K. Chandrachud, who left the game to pursue medicine and he proved his critics wrong by reaching the final only to succumb to South Central Railway’s Somnath Ghosh.
The organisers, in an effort to promote the game among the schoolchildren, conducted a tourney separately them in which local schools took part in the both the boys and girls segments. “The effort met with a good measure of success as more than 10 schools took part,” said district association secretary K. Balaram.
That the academy culture is fast catching up in Vijayawada was visible as coaches were seen busy convincing parents to send their wards to their academies for better coaching.
“The game has immensely prospered in Hyderabad owing to intense rivalry among the academies. The coaches give their best while honing the skills of their wards and the triumphs by their wards in tourneys would help them get more trainees,” said Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Academy secretary S.M. Sultan.
The organisers felicitated three paddlers who represented India in various age groups – Karnam Spoorthy, Naina, and Nikhat Banu with blazers. They also gave away cash prizes to all the winners and runner-ups of all categories.
Sunflower Group chairman Punnam Raju, District Sports Development Officer P.V. Ramakrishna, Krishna District Olympic Association secretary K. P. Rao, Krishna District Table Tennis Association president K.V.S Prakash, Income Tax Officer P. Viswanath and others took part in the prize distribution function.
