With fewer teams in fray for the Women 70+ category, it was easy business for the competition department of the TTFI on what was a very hectic and chaotic opening day in the Silver Jubilee edition of the Veterans National Table Tennis Championships at the SMS Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

The A team of Telangana defeated Gujarat A 3-0 to claim the first gold in the three-day team events that began today. Though the win looked easy for Telananga, it came about after Nirmala Abhyankar managed to pulled it off against Ghia Kokilaben in the opening rubber which went the full distance. Nirmala won 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4. In comparison, it was rather easy for Adilaxmi Krishnan who beat Bhaiji Mehrunnisa in straight games to give the southern state a comfortable 2-0 lead before the two Telangana players combined to down Ghia and Bhaiji 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 in the doubles for the title.

In other events, especially Men and Women 40+ and 50+ sections, two rounds of first stage group matches were gone through with one round pending before the qualifiers are known. Two teams from each of 12 groups in men and three each in women will qualify for the second stage which will be played on a knockout basis.

As compared to the men section, matches in the two women categories were interesting but pedestrian, consuming a lot of time. One match that stood out in Men 50+ was the second-round outing between IVC A and Telangana B which the former won 3-2. IVC A are the wildcard entrant from West Bengal.

IVC A were leading 2-1 after Subhamoy Chatterjee and Vivek Kumar Arora put them ahead following their first rubber surrender to Telangana. Surender Rao beat Jay Sankar Pramanik 7-11, 12-10, 11-7. But Subhamoi defeataed Nataraj Sarama and so did Vivek Kumar beating Yerraganty Kenney in straight games. However, Nataraj brought his team back on the rails when he accounted for Jay Sankar 3-0, leaving the issue to be decided by Subhamoy and Surender Rao. The IVC veteran beat Rao 11-4, 12-14, 11-8 to clinch it in his team’s favour.

Results:

Men 40+ (Round 1): Maharashtra A bt MP A 3-0, Punjab A bt Kerala A 3-0, RBI A bt West Bengal A 3-0, Karnataka B bt Chhattisgarh A 3-0, Telangana A bt Tamil Nadu B 3-0, Gujarat A bt Mizoram A 3-1, Karnataka A bt Manipur A 3-0, West Bengal B bt Delhi C 3-0, IA&AD A bt Chandigarh A 3-0, Uttar Pradesh A bt Haryana B 3-0, Maharashtra C bt IVC A 3-0, Delhi B bt Tamil Nadu A 3-0, Gujarat B bt J & K A 3-0.

Round 2: Maharashtra A bt Himachal Pradesh A 3-0, Delhi A bt Uttar Pradesh B 3-0, Punjab A bt Telangana B 3-0, West Bengal A bt Rajasthan C 3-1, Karnataka B bt Punjab B 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Tamil Nadu B 3-0, Gujarat A bt Andhra Pradesh A 3-0, Karnataka A bt Rajasthan a 3-0, IA & AD A bt Rajasthan B 3-0, Uttar Pradesh A bt Maharashtra C 3-0, IVC A bt Haryana B 3-0, Gujarat B bt Tamil Nadu A 3-0, Delhi B bt J&K A 3-0.

Men 50+ (Round 1): Maharashtra A bt Chhattisgarh B 3-0, Delhi A bt Karnataka B 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Odisha B 3-0, Punjab A bt J&K A 3-0, North Bengal bt Andhra Pradesh A 3-0, Gujarat A bt Chhattisgarh A 3-1, Maharashtra C bt Haryana A 3-0, IVC A bt Delhi C 3-0, Uttar Pradesh A bt Rajasthan C 3-0, West Bengal A bt Telangana A 3-1, Tamil Nadu A bt Kerala A 3-0, Air India A bt Rajasthan A 3-0, IA&Ad A bt West Bengal B 3-0, Rajasthan B bt Manipur A 3-0.

Round 2: Maharashtra A bt Uttar Pradesh B 3-0, Delhi A bt Gujarat B 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Madhya Pradesh A 3-0, Punjab A bt Madhya Pradesh B 3-0, Delhi B bt Andhra Pradesh A 3-0, Gujarat A bt Tamil Nadu B 3-0, Maharashtra C bt RBI A 3-0, IVC A bt Telangana B 3-2, Uttar Pradesh A bt Jharkhand A 3-0, Telangana A bt Karnataka A 3-1, Tamil Nadu A bt Rajasthan A 3-1, IA&AD A bt Manipur A 3-0, Rajasthan B bt West Bengal B 3-1, Air India A bt Kerala A 3-1.

Women 50+ (Round 1): Maharashtra A bt IVC A 3-2, Karnataka A bt Manipur A 3-1, Gujarat A bt Maharashtra B 3-2, Madhya Pradesh A bt Andhra Pradesh A 3-0, Maharashtra C bt West Bengal A w/o 3-0.

Women 70+ (Final): Telangana A bt Gujarat A 3-0 (Nirmala Abhyankar bt Ghia Kokilaben 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, Adilaxmi Krishnan bt Bhaiji Mehrunnisa 11-3, 11-3, 11-8, Nirmala-Adilaxmi bt Ghia-Bhaiji 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8).