Shemar Britton, Priscilla Greaves and Jonathan Van Lange were the first set of champions to be crowned when the Guyana Table Tennis Association’s (GTTA’s) Senior National Championships continued on Saturday at the National Gymnasium.
Still bubbling from his experiences at the 21st Commonwealth Games recently held in Australia, Britton swept away the talented Kyle Edghill to win the boys’ 21-and-under title.
Jonathan Van Lange (left) returns a serve to Colin Wong in the “C” Class Open final on Saturday at the National Gymnasium (Akeem Greene Photo)
The left-handed racket-wielder, widely known for his forearm dominance, came against an opponent with a long history of rivalry, and used finesse along with rapid application of pressure to win straight sets 11-6, 11-7 & 11-6.
Heading into the second set, all of the sprinkling of spectators, many of whom are relatives of players, would have mentally begun engraving Britton’s name on the trophy, but Edghill hit his stride.
He took a 4-1 lead, capitalizing on Britton’s unnecessary rushing of the match. However, his joy was short-lived, as Britton quickly recognised the error of his ways and began taking Edghill wide, while he mixed aggression with some cheeky play. In the precursor to the grand finale, a fired-up Britton made light work of budding prodigy Kaysan Ninavlle, winning their encounter 11-2, 11-6 & 11-3; while Edghil was made to work hard in his clash with Yeudistir Persaud in a match in which he eventually prevailed 11-7, 13-11 & 11-8.
For the 21-and-under females, a minimal participation meant it was played on a round-robin finals’ basis, and that opened it to literally becoming a cake-walk for Greaves, as she imposed her superiority on Nevah Clarkston, Thuraia Thomas, Nkechi McRae and Sana Jacques, the final standings finishing in that order.
Meanwhile, 11-year-old Van Lange, who spent most of 2018 watching others walk away with the silverware after some heart-breaking finals, crossed the final hurdle in grand style to win the “C” Class Open title ahead of Colin Wong.
Van Lange defeated his Titans Table Tennis Club mate 11-7, 11-9 & 11-9. The results notwithstanding, it was no easy match for Van Lange, as he was forced to pull all of his tricks out of the proverbial bag and do what he had not done since the season started: hold his nerve and win.
Trading shot for shot in some impressive rallies, Van Lange used his clear advantage, his extended reach in comparison to Wong’s, which essentially tipped the scale when some lopping rallies began to bud.
Their respective semi-final bouts saw Wong clinically defeating Krystian Sahadeo 11-7, 11-6 & 11-4; while Van Lange performed a similar feat against Chad Outar, winning 11-6, 11-4 & 12-10.
Today, The “B” Class and Senior Open Male and Female finals will conclude the 3-day event. Action commences at 10:00h.
