Coming in hot, Van Lange storms to U21 and B Class titles

…Edghill is singles champ, Billingy and Rahim win respective categories

By Timothy Jaikarran

The electrifying atmosphere at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall had every member of the large crowd on the edge of their seat while Jasmine Billingy emerged as women’s U21 champion; Jonathan Van Lange as men’s U21 and B class winner; Saalih Rahim as C class winner, and Chelsea Edghill as women’s singles winner.

Women’s U21
Jasmine Billingy reigned supreme in her match against Thuria Thomas. With the game continuing from last week’s round robin format, and both Billingy and Thomas tied on 4 points each, when the battle ensued, it was only the best of the best who would emerge as victor.

The talented Billingy excelled at all levels, as she defeated Thomas 3-1 in a best-of-five matchup. Round one went to Thomas 15-13, but Billingy shook off the rust and battled her way to the next three rounds 11-3, 18-16 and 11-5 to be crowned the women’s U21 champion.

Men’s U21
The men’s U21 final saw Jonathan Van Lange taking on Colin Wong in a high-intensity match. While the crowd favourite was Van Lange, a possible upset by Wong was not impossible.
However, Van Lange took round one 11-8, and then returned to bag round two 11-3. While Wong did put up an excellent fight, Van Lange was too hot to handle, and he stormed to the rest of the rounds 11-7 and 11-9 to win the best-of-seven matchup 4-0.

C Class
Ishaka Jackman and Saalih Rahim fought tooth and nail to make it to where they were. At that point in time, it was “may the better man win”, and Rahim was the better man, as he won his best-of-five matchup 3-2.
In round one, both athletes were seemingly going for the juggler, but Jackman managed to bag it 11-6. Jackman exerted further dominance over the much younger Rahim by taking round two 11-7. With a 2-0 lead from Jackman, Rahim took game three 11-7 to give himself a fighting chance. With the game at 2-1, he indeed made it count, as he took game four to lock the matchup at 2-2, bringing the results down to the penultimate game.
In the final game, Rahim accelerated to walk away with a well-deserved win and take the title 11-2.

B Class
The B Class contest was a matchup like no other. Jonathan Van Lange, who had just won the U21 title, was now set to go up against Miguel Wong. While both athletes are among the cream of the crop, there was no denying that Wong was there to win. He claimed round one 11-7, but Van Lange managed to blindside Wong 13-11 in round two to keep things in contention with wins being level at 1-1.
Wong then took game three 11-8, but with the tally of wins being 2-1, Van Lange bagged the next game 11-7 and tied things up at 2-2. Then, with great determination, Van Lange snatched the last two rounds 11-8 and 11-3 to be crowned champion.

Women’s Singles
The battle of the giants played out in the women’s singles with Chelsea Edghill opposing Natalie Cummings.
The play from both athletes was fantastic, but Edghill, the unstoppable force that she is, breezed through her sets with elegance and grace, bagging games one and two 11-2 and 11-4, and asserting her dominance in the other games 11-4, 11-7 to win 4-0 and close out the night of action.