Table Tennis Tournament
Natomas, December 10, 2005


Participation at this first ever TT Tournament was pretty healthy - with 10 Men and 7 ladies in the fray. The knockout format was chosen, and matches were played best-of-three.

Men's 1st rounds got off to a scintillating start in a keenly fought match between Rajesh Parab v/s our newest member (moved-in from Maryland) Ashish Gharpure. Rajesh's topspins, loops and guile were ably matched by Ashish who won with his controlled offense and classic serves! Ajit Natu predictably sailed through his match with Vikrant Sawant. Shashank Deshpande and Mandar Nimkar fought it out with easy mistakes on both sides, but Shashank prevailed. Sachin Padmawar and Ram R. both were well-matched novices and were neck-to-neck till Sachin won. Harish Jain was already thanking his stars at getting a bye during the initial draw, when eventually Sandeep Seth turned up, and in their hard-fought match, Harish was laid to dust, despite his superlative defense! Sandeep effectively used his 1st round match to loosen up his arms and hit the ball all over the ceiling! Raw aggression, a la Sandeep, was hitherto unknown to the tournament before! Second rounds were a tad more exciting! Ashish easily dominated Shashank by showing his all-round class with foxy spins and serves, and some select smashes! Sandeep, sufficiently warmed up from round 1, started delivering on his shots. Amazingly each chop and smash found its target, and Sachin had no answer. The 3rd round match up between Ajit and Sandeep was expected to be a battle between two styles Ajit's excellent defenses versus Sandeep's hyper aggressive style. But eventually Sandeep fell victim since he was not offered many opportunities to smash. Ajit had control of the game with an excellent display of short and long chops, and some very good defenses. Sandeep simply could not cut through it, and fell!

The Men's final was a match of such a high-caliber as has not been witnessed in a long time! Ajit had to prove his mettle on his home-ground and home-table (home-garage too!), and the upstart aggressor and newbie-member Ashish was out to prove his superiority in the Sac Valley! They played a best-of-five, with Ajit trying to wrest the match initiative in Game 1 by playing a very un-natural game – he hit out with all the strokes he had, which mostly landed in the nets. Ashish won the game easily enough, mostly riding on Ajit's mistakes. In the 2nd game Ajit changed his tack and went back to his patented chops and placements strategy, which had his opponent sweating and reeling. The game went to Ajit. By game 3, both players looked tired already, and each had now understood the other's game plans and abilities. Here was when Ashish began to excel by a scintillating display of controlled aggression. Many of his serves had no answer, and his smashes found their mark. There was one notable rally where Ajit returned a very well struck smash, with Ashish perfectly smashing it back once again. It was sheer pleasure to watch this battle of talents! Ajit had a lot of family backing with his daughter Sayli side-chair critiquing quite vociferously! There was passion and emotion at each stroke play, and amazingly Ashish withstood all of that with his cool demeanor, to win Games 3 and 4 to emerge as the overall tournament champion! He got a very well deserved victory in a befitting final! After the match, the players flopped down, drained from all energy physical and mental!

The Women's 1st rounds started with the diminutive kid Anusha Deshpande getting the better of Dimple Nimkar. The match between Rajshree Deshpande and Shilpa Jain was sprinkled with the longest rallies, and looked more like a friendly game, which Rajshree won. Sayli Natu sailed through her match with Smita Gharpure. And Madhuri Natu was the lucky one to have gotten a bye to 2nd round, where she met Sayli in a keenly fought mother-daughter duel, which saw several full-throated arguments too! Sayli eventually had the better game. This was the only match that went all the way upto three games in the best of three format. Another 2nd round match was between another mother-daughter pair Rajshree and Anusha, where the latter clearly outclassed the mom in almost every department of the game! Ironically, the Women's final was a match-up between two daughters Sayli and Anusha. This match was avidly watched, and cheered by all. There were several long rallies, no smashes, and lot of were unforced errors. There were few shots that were quite tricky and eventually named as 'Sayli Shots'. It was quite fun with the most patient one, Sayli emerging champ!

So all in all, Marathi Mandal Sacramento Tournament was won by Ashish Gharpure (Men) and Sayli Natu (Ladies) with runner ups honors going to Ajit Natu (Men) and Anusha Deshpande (Ladies).
It was a great enjoyment for all the participants and their families. We not only witnessed good TT played with right spirit but also had GALA time with Chips, Salsa, Chiwda, Biscuit (with Date filling), Cheese Cake, and favorite Garam Chai.

In the end, everyone had one feeling: WE HAD FUN AND WE SHOULD DO THIS AGAIN!!   Believe this is a great start and hope more can join next time.