Christopher Franklin retained his title as the senior men’s champion just ahead of a dynamic Shemar Britton when the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) senior national championships concluded on Monday evening at the National Gymnasium.
The match brought the teacher and his student together, and Franklin gave Britton a valuable lesson on how to finish matches.
Britton, touted as the future of the sport in the county, gave a good account of himself and looked well underway to claiming his first senior title at the age of 19 as he took a 2-0 lead ( 11-6 & 11-6).
His reaction, his serves, his placement –they ticked all the correct boxes and it seemed curtains for Franklin.
Shemar Britton (right) and Christopher Franklin produced a master class of a match in the senior men’s open on Monday evening at the National Gymnasium (Akeem Greene photo
But as the saying goes, a true champion never dies and Franklin began pressuring his training partner and came back in to the fray with an 11-9 victory. The audience, although few in number, saw to it that their cheers of support for both players were countless.
Rally after rally mixed with clinical deftness took hold of the fourth set and Franklin won again 11-9. It was now down to the fifth. Franklin edged ahead, but Britton regained his early composure and got the match to 8-10 in his favour and now just had to close out the match. The rest was history, as Franklin took the match to deuce and eventually won 13-11 to spark loud jubilation.
Additionally, former champion Nigel Bryan got the better of Joel Alleyne in another match which went down to the wire. Bryan had the first two set 11-7, 11-5, but Alleyne came back 9-11, 11-13; the decider went 11-8 for Bryan.
In another match, the ageless Colin France defeated “B” Class champion Kyle Edghill 11-6, 12-10 & 11-7.
The three-day event saw Natalie Cummings being crowned the senior female champion, Britton and Priscilla Greaves winning the 21 and Under titles respectively while 11-year-old Jonathon Van Lange took home the “C” Class honours.
