Ahmedabad: Ved Panchal led Vadodara’s charge as the hosts’ paddlers made a strong start in the qualifying rounds and booked their places in the men’s and boys’ U-17 main draws of the 4th Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament. The tournament, organised by the Table Tennis Association of Baroda (TTAB) under the aegis of Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA), runs till Aug 14 at Vadodara’s Sama Indoor Sports Complex.Ved booked his place in the men’s main draw with a thumping straight-games win over Bhavnagar’s Ankit Chauhan, while his Vadodara teammate Manas Dave followed suit with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Bhavnagar’s Sagar Makwana.In the other men’s qualifiers, Ahmedabad’s Malav Panchal secured his main-draw berth with a facile 3-1 win over Bhavnagar’s Param Parmar, while Surat’s Anubhav Shah staged a fine comeback from two games down to defeat Bhavnagar’s Saumya Desani 3-2. Anand’s Parth Punjabi crushed Gandhinagar’s Maulik Jaiswal 3-0, while Surat’s Yug Parmar took out Navsari’s Bhumin Bhandari by the same margin. Ahmedabad’s Girish Jha and Surat’s Rohit Jadav also made the cut for the men’s main draw.In the U-17 boys’ qualifying round, Vadodara paddlers Krishay Shah and Dhairya Kadchhi ensured the hosts had a strong representation in the age-group main draw. Shah got past Surat’s Khush Agrawal 3-1, while Kadchhi edged past Bhavnagar’s Krishna Jethwa by the same margin.Anand’s Het Kamani pipped Surat’s Ayaan Agrawal 3-2, while Surat’s Dipak Sahanee defeated Vadodara’s Nevaan Agrawal 3-1 to advance. Bhavnagar’s Heet Dankhara and Surat’s Divyesh Shahanee also made the main draw.
