Mumbai: Suraj Chandrashekhar put up a sterling display to complete a grand hat-trick in the UTT Corporate Table Tennis tournament here at the Khar Gymkhana on Sunday. HDFC Life’s star player tamed defending champion Mayuresh Kelkar (Indian Express) in the blue riband event of the competition, the Men’s Singles, to wrap up the weekend on a high note. Earlier, he had claimed two titles, the Over-35 Men’s Title and the Men’s Doubles’ title, teaming up with Mayuresh. Suraj was in his elements right from the morning, scoring impressive victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals. He, however, was up against his bete noire Mayuresh in the final, who was equally at ease as he made it to the title round.
Suraj began tentatively but made the most of Mayuresh’s errors to run away with the first two games 11-8, 11-9. In the third too, he held the upper hand, taking a strong 10-6 victory. Mayuresh tried to fight back, winning three spectacular points to make it 10-9. But he made one more mistake to lose the title. In the Over-35 category, Suraj Chandrashekhar cruised into the finals with comfortable 3-0 victories. He began the final against Shashank Raghunath too on a strong note, winning the first two games on 8 and 9. Shashank, however, fought back to claim the third game and seemed to be on course to take it to the fifth game. But Suraj recovered to wrap it up at 7 to clinch his second title of the day. He then won the Men’s Singles to complete his hat-trick.
RESULTS (All Final)
Men’s Singles: Suraj Chandrashekhar (HDFC Life) bt Mayuresh Kelkar (Indian Express) 3-0
+35 Men’s Singles: Suraj Chandrashekhar bt Shashank Raghunath 3-1 (Motilal Oswal)
Team event: Motilal Oswal bt Investment Trust of India 3-1
Men’s Doubles: Mayuresh Kelkar & Suraj Chandrashekhar bt Shashank Raghunath & Kaushik Suvarna (Motolall Oswal) 3-0
Mixed Doubles: Tajaswani/Ravindra (Afcons Infra) bt Manish/Namita (BOA/TCS) 3-1