Mysore/Mysuru: City’s Shashank Keshav Rao is the youngest member to win the State-level NMS title.

NMS means Non Medallist Singles event where in any age group players including men and women can compete against each other in a knockout format.

He won the title at the Table Tennis (TT) Tournament organised jointly by Karnataka Table Tennis Association and Belagavi District Table Tennis Association at Belagavi by beating Bengaluru-based TT coach M. Varun in the finals 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-8).

In the semi-finals, he won against N. Aarnav (Under-13 National Ranking No. 5 holder) from Bengaluru and has entered finals. At the same tournament he has also won a silver medal in the State-level Under-13 boys category losing to Atharva Nawarange of Bengaluru (2-4) in the finals.

The 12-year-old Shashank is the son of Paediatrician couple Dr. Suma Rao and Dr. Prashanth Rao of Aaditya Children’s Clinic, Vivekanandanagar, Mysuru.

Shashank is presently studying in 7th standard at  Kautilya Vidyalaya.

He has been under-going training for the last three years under Chief Coach Akshay Mahanta, who himself is a multiple State-level Champion and a National-level medallist.

Shashank is currently training in Olympic Maharshi Table Tennis Academy (OMTTA), Vishweshwaranagar in city.

OMTTA Club is equipped with national standard sports flooring, eight TT tables and sports lighting. Shashank is currently ranked 3rd in the State. He aims to reach the top ranking both at the State and National levels by next year.