PANJIM: Royal Ruby outplayed M&S Titans 3-2 to emerge champions in the the MTTCL 4.0 Masters Table Tennis Champions League organised by Peddem Sports Club in collaboration with the Goa Table Tennis Association (GTTA) and the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), at the multipurpose stadium, Peddem, Mapusa, recently.
The league featured 12 corporate teams battling it out for a total prize purse of Rs 1 lakh.
In the group stages, Parrikar Smashers and Estilo Legends dominated Group A and Group B, respectively, while Y S Dempo Mavericks and Burye Enterprises secured runners-up spots in their groups. These four teams, along with Suzuki-B N Thakur, Royal Ruby, UK Ultra, and M&S Titans, advanced to the quarter-finals. Vicky 10, Diya Enterprise, Tuff Security Services, and Divine Angels competed hard but were eliminated in the league stage.
The quarter-finals were full of surprises as both group leaders, Parrikar Smashers and Estilo Legends, were ousted in closely contested matches, each losing 3-2. Parrikar Smashers were defeated by M&S Titans, and Estilo Legends were edged out by Royal Ruby. The second-placed teams also faced upsets, with Y S Dempo Mavericks falling 3-1 to UK Ultra, and Burye Enterprises narrowly losing 3-2 to Suzuki-B.N Thakur.
The semi-finals saw M&S Titans claim a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Suzuki-B N Thakur, while Royal Ruby cruised to a 3-0 win against UK Ultra. The final match was a nail-biting affair, with Royal Ruby ultimately defeating M&S Titans 3-2 in a contest that kept spectators on the edge of their seats. Each match in the tournament comprised five doubles games.
The victorious Royal Ruby team comprised Satyam Thakral (team owner), Shawn Soares (captain), Prashant Kaisare, Prakash Alphonso, Suresh Karapurkar, Siddharth Govekar, and Milind Salkar. The runners-up, M&S Titans, included Mark Cordeiro (Team Owner), Yusuf Sheikh (Captain), Ratnadeep Shivani, Dinesh Shetty, Vinay Raikar, Prashant Kamat, and Vikas Prabhu.
Earlier, the league was inaugurated by Sports Minister Govind Gaude in the presence of former Aldona MLA Glen Ticlo; SAG Executive Director Dr Geeta Nagvekar; GTTA President Sudin Verenkar; Peddem Sports Club President Mayur Sawkar, and the team owners. The closing ceremony was graced by GTTA EC Member Kabir Pinto Makhija, Chaitanya Tarcar, Mayur Sawkar and other dignitaries, along with the team owners.