NSC/GTTA Mashramani tournament: Britton, Van Lange, Billingy, Hickerson win in respective categories
The action closed off on Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in the National Sports Commission (NSC)/ Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Mashramani tournament. From this event, Shemar Britton, Jonathan Van Lange, Jasmine Billingy, and Orin Hickerson emerged victorious in their respective categories.
Shemar Britton is the men’s singles winner
In the men’s singles, Britton and Van Lange were pitted against each other. The duo had teamed up on previous occasions and even won the doubles title in the National Seniors Table Tennis Championship in January 2022. However, this time they would be on different sides of the net; Britton showed his class while Van Lange put up a good fight, but in the end, Britton stormed to the title 4-0. Van Lange wowed the crowd in the first match, but Britton managed to steal it from right under his nose 14-12. Heading into the second round, Britton found his rhythm and took the lead 11-7, from there it was smooth sailing as he dominated the young talent, winning the other two rounds 11-9 and 11-7 to take the men’s singles title.
Jasmine Billingy won the Women’s singles
In the B Class Open, Hickerson beat the much-experienced Colin France to take that category. When the action commenced, Hickerson lost the first round 11-9, but bounced back to tie things up 1-1 with his victory of 11-9 in the second game. But then France took round three 11-4 only for Hickerson to take the other game 11-7.
Jonathan Van Lange won the U-19 title
The see-saw battle saw things tied at 2-2 with one more round to go. Hickerson dug deep and shot to the top with a comfortable 11-6 victory to take the game 3-2.
In the women’s singles, the players participating were Billingy, Samara Sukhai, and Akira Watson. Billingy stood on top at the pinnacle and she dominated the category, emerging victorious in all two of her games against Sukhai and Watson.
Orin Hickerson is the B Class winner
In Billingy’s first game against Sukhai, she won the match 3-1: the first round was won by Billingy 11-8, but Sukhai took the second round 11-9. But Billingy went into overdrive and took the other two rounds 11-7 and 11-5. Her next encounter was with Watson which was a breeze in the park as she won 3-0 with scores of 13-11, 11-5, and 11-6. Her victories meant she topped her group with four points.
In the Under-19 men’s singles, Van Lange and Niran Bissu locked horns, but it was Van Lange who continued his domination with a 3-0 win. Bissu while talented had no reply to Van Lange’s tactics; in the end, he was defeated 11-8, 11-2, and 11-5.
