Pratik Patil and Khushi Tambe of Junior College, Bandra clinched the boys and girls' titles in the Indian Education Society (IES) table tennis tournament organised in the IES Orion 'D' Block campus at Hindu Colony in Dadar (East).
The event was inaugurated by Anand Taggrsi, chief general manager of SVC Bank, and the students were honoured by Ramesh Rao, vice-president of IES.
In Category 2 (V-VII std), Hetar Thakkar of VN Sule Guruji English Medium School topped the competion among the boys while Aaradhya Tandale of Chandrakant Patkar Vidyalaya bagged the first place among girls.
Sarthak Pawar of Mulund English School claimed the boys' first place in Cat-3 (VIII-X std) while Avani Kulkarni of Bhandup English School took the top spot among the girls.
Indian Education Society (IES), a prestigious institution with a 107-year legacy, organizes a sports tournament encompassing 19 disciplines throughout the year.
The events are meant to foster the students' physical and mental development. This event sees participation from over 25,000 students and has been instrumental in nurturing national and international sports talents.
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IES has produced several sportspersons and especially cricketers for India. More than 120 Ranji Trophy players have come out of IES schools. Close to 40 of these players have featured in Tests and ODI matches for India.
The most prominent among them would be the likes of Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Madhav Mantri, Vijay Manjrekar, Bapu Nadkarni, Naren Tamhane, Anil Joshi (ex-BCCI manager), Ajinkya Naik (MCA Secretary), Kaushik Godbo le (MCA Apex member).
Several Chatrapati Awardees have come from IES Schools and to name a few there are the likes of Ruchira Arun Lavand (Gymnastics & Rifle Shooting), Suvarna Bartakke (kabaddi & DSO officer), Vikrant Patwardhan (badminton), Gaurav Shettye (kabaddi).
IES also has produced more than 400 national as well as more than 1000 state-level champions and they are looking to keep that tradition going.
Satish Manikrao Lotlikar, chairman of IES Sports Centre and Trustee of Indian Education Society, was of the opinion that they want to nurture sporting talent which comes out of the IES sporting stable.
"We would provide private coaching to those children who do exceptionally well at our sports tournaments and help them finetune their talent,'' Lotlikar added.
Hiraman Bhor, an octogenarian, is a veteran table tennis player and a member of the IES Sports Commitee and he was excited with the organisation of the TT event.
"We started as a grassroot level tournament. We are preparing for state and national-level tournaments from the grassroot level. We have 67 branches and students from different schools in Mumbai, Thane and Raigad are participating. These are intra-IES tournaments, so they get an opportunity to participate and prove themselves for next tournament,'' he added.
