PANAJI: Nishad Bakhale beat Satish Namshikar to win the Ponda Taluka Veterans Table Tennis Tournament. The competition was organised by Kukus Sports in collaboration with Arihant Sports Academy at Baboy Prabhu Smruti Bhavan, Ponda.
In a nail-biter of a finish, Nishad overcame the resistance from Satish with a 12-10, 14-12, 9-11, 14-12 victory in the final.
In the semi-final, Nishad had defeated Aniruddha Joshi 11-8, 11-3, 11-0 while Satish got the better of Gaurish Borkar 13-11, 11-8, 6-11 & 11-8
Sandeep Khandeparkar, Jeevan Talaulikar, Anil Prabhu Gaonkar and Pradeep Dhond all exited the tournament at the quarterfinals stage.
Earlier, the table tennis tournament was opened by Rayil Naik, owner of Kukus Sports in presence of Jayawant Hammanavar, President of Arihant Sports Academy, Santosh Prabhudesai, Treasurer of Arihant Sports Academy and Sudesh Thakur, Vice-President of Kreeda Bharati Goa. Anu Modak, Secretary of Arihant Sports Academy, delivered the introductory speech and welcomed the guests. Anushka and Trisha Hammanavar officiated the matches while Sukanya Thakur welcomed the guests for the prize distribution ceremony by presenting flowers.
Veteran players thanked the organisers for giving them a platform to play by organising the tournament in a pleasing manner. Sudesh Thakur presented the vote of thanks.
