![]() ![]() In Vasco, where he was born and brought up, he always admired those playing badminton, though he never got a chance to play the sport himself. How Pandit mastered the art of table tennis is another story. Pandit, though, was not to be denied his success at the national level as he partnered Subhash Kolwalkar to win doubles gold at the All-India Civil Services TT in Patiala (1979) and settled for the silver the next year in singles at Ahmedabad. We lacked that cutting edge,” says Pandit. The table tennis scene was very competitive and entertaining in Goa during the seventies, but we didn’t know what to do when we were up against the best players from the country. Rakesh Mundye “We didn’t have any match experience those days. Pandit had to settle for an individual award, but that hardly mattered. Not surprisingly, Arun pounced on that opportunity and closed the match at 22-20. I should have killed that,” says Pandit, with more than just a tinge of regret. Imagine everyone’s horror when I hit the ball wide. “I was leading 20-19 (in the last set) and received a high ball. He won the first set, lost the second, and in the decider was one point away from securing the most famous victory of his career when it all went south. You guessed that right, it was Pandit! With nothing to lose, Pandit played some eye-catching table tennis, taking the champion by complete surprise. Arun was in Goa for the Western India Table Tennis Championship and his first opponent in the main round was a qualifier from Goa. A few years later, Arun Kumar was the new talk of Indian table tennis and nobody was left in any doubt that he was destined for greatness. #GUTS AND GLORY UNBLOCKED AT SCHOOL HOW TO#I was stunned and didn’t know how to react,” says the 63-year-old Pandit. “Sudhir was a defensive player by nature, but he suddenly changed gears and went on the attack when he was four points behind in the decider. Those five points that would have made him a hero, though, never came. Sudhir won the second, but in the deciding set, Pandit raced to a 16-12 lead. ![]() Against Pandit, he probably took it easy, and before anyone realised, the Goan paddler had grabbed the first set. 35 in the world, the highest then by an Indian. Sudhir ruled the Indian table tennis scene in the mid-seventies and reached top rank of No. In 1975, when the Southern India Table Tennis Championship was being played in Ernakulam, Kerala, Pandit was drawn to play India’s top-ranked player, Sudhir Phadke, in the opener. Yet, it’s what he didn’t win that probably defines the player that Pandit was. He won the tournament seven times in nine years. There is also the Cansaulim Shield placed quite prominently. They both teamed up to win plenty of honours in the state. Subhash Pandit (with trophy, second from right) was Goa’s topranked player in the seventies alongside Vero Nunes (extreme right). ![]()
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