Nashik: Keshika Purkar Wins Two Silver Medals, Kushal Chopra Bags Bronze At State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament

Nashik: Nashik’s Keshika Purkar won two silver medals, while Kushal Chopra secured a bronze medal at the recently concluded 3rd State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament held in Navi Mumbai.

In the Under-13 Girls’ category, Keshika defeated Thane’s Mahika Suswikar 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9) in the semifinals to enter the final. In the final, she faced top-seeded Vedika Jaiswal of TSTTA Mumbai. In a closely contested encounter, Keshika lost 1-3 (9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11) and had to settle for the silver medal.

Keshika has now reached the final of state-level tournaments 11 times, winning six gold and five silver medals.

In the Under-15 Girls’ category, Keshika defeated TSTTA Mumbai’s Ritanya Devlekar 3-2 (11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8) in a fiercely contested semifinal to enter the final. However, she was defeated 0-3 (9-11, 12-14, 6-11) by Myra Sanglekar in the final, earning her second silver medal of the tournament.

In the Men’s Singles category, Nashik’s Kushal Chopra defeated TSTTA Mumbai’s Ravindra Kotian 3-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-5) in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals. He then lost to TSTTA Mumbai’s Regan Albucker 1-3 (11-7, 6-11, 3-11, 11-9, 6-11), securing the bronze medal.

Keshika and Kushal train under the guidance of coaches Jay Modak and Puneet Desai.

Following their impressive performances, Nashik District Table Tennis Association president Narendra Chhajed, secretary Shekhar Bhandari, vice-presidents Rajesh Bharvirkar and Milind Kachole, treasurer Abhishek Chhajed, along with Vaibhav Joshi, Alka Kulkarni, Sanjay Vasant and Suhas Agharkar, congratulated the players and wished them continued success.