Rudra Shikhare is making the community proud. The ninth grader at California High School in San Ramon, Calif., won a gold medal July 3 at the 2019 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships, held June 30-July 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Shikhare, who hones his game at the Milpitas, Calif.-based India Community Center, was declared a champion in the U-1600 Junior RR category. He beat Zhang Austin 3-1. About 65 participants competed in that category.

Shikhare, according to an earlier India-West story, began playing table tennis in league play in 2016. The 2017 Sacramento Summer Fun Open table tennis tournament was his first competitive experience and he prevailed as the champion at that competition. (Read India-West story here: https://bit.ly/30mJiOO)

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