Omkar makes a spectacular start

Surprisingly, Torgalkar started playing the game only recently, in September 8217;97. In January 8217;98, in a tournament conducted by Lion8217;s Club for players in Mulund, Thane and Bhandup areas, Torgalkar won the title. That is when his father Vaman realised that his son could do well in the sport.

Furthertestimony came when Torgalkar lost in the semi-finals of the TT event of a tournament conducted by the Mulund Gymkhana for its members. In the single-wicket cricket event, he lost in the quarter-finals, batting well and bowling a mixture of off-spin and leg-spin.

Then began a tussle between Mulund Gymkhana8217;s cricket and table tennis coaches. Cricket8217;s loss was TT8217;s gain. Torgalkar now trains under Sudhir Kolhatkar who has this to say about him: 8220;He is a quick learner, temperamentally strong and has good ball judgement.8221;

The coach spares a special session for the boy because Torgalkar is 8220;very intense, has all the strokes and is an attacking player8221;.

Torgalkar8217;s love is not just restricted to table tennis or cricket, he is a keen badminton player and is enthusiastic about carrom. In fact, he was not given a membership to Mulund Gymkhana as he had not played even one season in Mumbai. But recommendations from Avinash Madhavi, who watched Torgalkar win the Lions Club tournament, forced the Gymkhana tochange its stand.

Of all the matches that Torgalkar has played so far, his four-game victory over top seed Shishir Juvekar in the final of the Andheri YMCA tournament was the toughest.

Torgalkar fought back from a game down, saved one match point to win 15-21, 23-21, 21-15. He has beaten Juvekar on four occasions thereafter.

From being unseeded at the start of the season, Torgalkar has progressed to being the top seed in the recently-held State Ranking tournament at Mavli, Thane.

Some progress that.