Ninvalle, Van Lange impress at GTTA Junior National C/ships

The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Junior National Championships wrapped up at the National Gymnasium on Sunday with an impressive battle for bragging rights of the Boys’ Under-15 title between Kaysan Ninvalle and Niran Bissu.

When the fat lady came home to sing, it was 13-year-old Ninvalle who emerged victorious 3-2.
The first two sets went in his favour 11-7, 13-11. In the second set, Bissu had a chance to level proceedings after coming back from a 1-4 deficit to carry the set to deuce, but faulted on the set point as Ninvalle played a tackle advantage by pressuring Bissu’s forearm play which surprisingly was not clicking.
Bissu, who is from the Titans Club, took the next two sets 11-6, 11-8, but lost the final set 11-4.
In the semi-finals, Ninvalle defeated Jonathan Van Lange 11-1, 11-9, 12-10, while Bissu took care of clubmate Isiah Layne 11-5, 10-12, 11-1, 11-9.
The Under-15 Girls’ title went to Navaeh Clarkston, who produced a clinical display against Thuraia Thomas, who won the Under-13 title the previous day.
Clarkston won 11-2, 11-7, 11-5. Added to her trophy collection was the Under-18 accolade for which she had matched skills with Titans’ clubmate Thomas. She won that match 11-8, 11-6, 13-11.
For the Boys’ Under-13 title, Van Lange had a change in fortunes against Ninvalle in the final. It was another robust exhibition by the young lads, who played to a five-set match.
Van Lange took the first two sets 11-9, 14-12, but allowed Ninvalle to come back into the fray by going down 5-11, 10-12. It was beginning to look like he was in for another heartbreak in the match set, but he had just enough determination to pip Ninvalle 11-9.
The Under-18 Boys category had some upsets as title favourite Miguel Wong was ousted by Bissu in the quarter-finals. Bissu went on to lose to eventual champion Nickolas Romain in the semi-finals.
Romain won the final against Jamal Nicholas quite emphatically 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4; Nicholas had stopped a ragging Van Lange in the other semi-final 16-14, 11-4, 17-15.
Other winners of the three-day event were Colin Wong (U-11); Jasmine Billingy (U-9 and U-11); Emmanuel Jeffery (Male Novices) and Shania Narine (Female Novices).