Nagpur:; The Chhatrapati Shivaji Trophy State-level 
began on Thursday at Chitnis Park amidst row over ground quality and resentment by local referees. The tournament is organised by Sports and Youth Welfare directorate, Pune in association with Nagpur Municipal Corporation and Vidarbha Amateur Kabaddi Association.
On the opening day, Pune and Mumbai Mumbai Suburban teams registered easy victory to start their campaign on a high in women’s category. Pune outclassed Nashik in the one-sided affair. In the first half, they were leading by 23-5. The second half too was entirely dominated by Pune which eventually won the match 37-12.
Ankita Jagtap played pivotal role in Pune’s win. Apeksha Mohite of Nashik also played well but ended up on a losing side.
In the second match, Mumbai Suburban somehow managed to overpower Kolhapur district by just two points. Rajshree Pawar and Prajakta Desai played crucial role in Mumbai Suburban’s close victory in their first match.
In men’s category, Pune district Jalgaon district 35-19. Pune team maintained the lead from the very start of the match. At first half they were nine points ahead of Jalgaon with score 21-13 in their favour. They dominated the proceedings in the second half too and scored 14 points while conceding just five points.
Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by mayor Praveen Datke. NMC commissioner Shravan Hardikar, ZP chairperson Nisha Sawarkar, former MLA Arun Adsad, international kabaddi player Neeta Dadve, vice president of Indian Kabaddi Federation Ramdin Sahu, Dadoji Konddeo awardee Seetaram Bhotmane, secretary of district kabaddi association Sunil Chintalwar, deputy director sports Subhash Revatkar and secretary of Vidarbha amateur kabaddi association Jitendra Thakur were present.
Dr Hambirrao Mohite conducted the proceedings while district sports officer Vijay Santan proposed a vote of thanks.
