2009 Winners and second seeds Hotel Manoshanti's Panjim TT Club set up a Finals date with Regal Electrotech in the prestigious Angley's Cup Table Tennis Team Championship event organised by Panjim Gymkhana. Both these teams reached the finals by registering identical 3-0 victory margins over their opponents in their respective semis matches played at the Panjim Gymkhana premises.
While the Manoshanti team romped home quite easily with a comfortable win over Mapusa Paddlers, hot favorites Regal Electrotech, featuring 3 top players from Maharashtra, were made to battle hard by last year's winners BPS Club, Margao. Amit Naik put the Manoshanti team ahead by smashing his way to a 11-8, 11-8, 11-3 win over Yash Naik. Ajit Ghantker made it 2-0 with another easy 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 win over Suneet D' Mello. In the third singles, Arun Naik was stretched to the limits but recovered well to beat a fighting Myron Pereira 10-12, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8. Though the scoreline would suggest an easy victory, the other semis was a thriller with Goa's best competing against the best from Maharashtra. Eric Fernandes, a former India player was expected to win easily, but was given a tough time by Goa's No 2 Player Agnelo Naik before prevailing to a 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7 laboured win. In the second singles, Goa's top paddler Diljeet Velingker was all set to shock Noel Pinto. At one stage, he was up 2 sets and leading 4-1 in the fourth, but the Maharashtra player displayed better nerves and composure to close out the match with a 7-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 five set win. Dhiraj Rai bt Tejas Shevde 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 to make it 3-0 for the Regal Electrotech and send the defending champions packing. yours sincerely Sandeep heble 9326129171 (For organizers)
