KANE Watson and Yvonne Foster successfully defended their Men’s and Women’s titles respectively as the prestigious National Table Tennis Tournament ended at the National Arena on Sunday following three days of action.
The inward hunger for table tennis as an indoor sporting contest was demonstrated as 250 entrants turned out for the unsponsored 2013 National Table Tennis Championships, held at the National Arena for the first time in more than 10 years. Twenty-four events were carded, and the return to that venue apparently brought out a number of former great exponents of the game and prominent sporting officials that included the eminent High Court Judge and former national women’s champion and national representative Ingrid Mangatal, Rudolph Muir, deputy Governor of the Central Bank, albeit as a player, and Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) President Mike Fennell, who presented Watson with his trophy.The last time the Nationals were held at the local table tennis mecca was in 2001 when defending national champion Christopher Marsh defeated overseas-based Hector Bennett in the final. Marsh defeated Peter Moo-Young in 2000 at the venue for the first of his three titles. Marsh, who took part in the 2013 rebirth and failed to advance beyond the last 16, won his third title in 2005.Watson, fresh from his sojourn at the recently concluded World Table Tennis Championship in France, completely annihilated the former many-time champion Joseph Dibbs, 4-0, in a roller-coaster victory with three small scores at 4, 3, 10 and 6. The women’s final was quite the contrast, as many-time champion Foster had to dig deep for her survival to recover from a two-set deficit to keep her unbeaten run intact with an emphatic 4-3 win over former champion and number one seed Kaydian Carney, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-7. It was the seventh national title for the 20-year-old Foster in nine years.She first became national champion at age 11. One year she did not play, and the tournament was not staged last year. En route to the final, Watson, the number one seed, defeated Simon Tomlinson, the number three seed, in straight sets, 11-6 11-9 11-6, 12-10.Dibbs, the number two seed, then overcame Phillip Drummonds, the number four seed, 12-10, 11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5. In the women’s final, defending champion and number two seed Foster easily beat Ashli Alexander in straight sets, 11-9, 11-7, 13-11, 11-5, while Carney bettered Dadrian Lewis 4-1,11-4, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7.The growing number of young players being once again attracted to the sport was quite evident as a record 200 juniors participated in events ranging from Under-9 through to Under-18, Men’s and Women’s Open, ‘C’ and ‘B’, along with Junior and Senior Doubles and Junior and Senior Mixed Doubles events.Another 50 adults contested the Senior Men’s and Women’s events that included Parishes events, men’s and women’s, Rural Singles, along with the Novice Open, Over-40, and Over-50 Open Singles.The tournament opened on Friday’s first day, which was devoted to Junior and Parish events, and reached the semi-final stages.Saturday’s second day opened with the Men’s and Women’s Open which progressed to the quarter-final round of eight that included defending National champion Kane Watson, overseas-based former national champion Keith Evans, former many-times national champion Ludlow Bailey, Simon Tomlinson, Don-Walker Petinaud, Phillip Drummonds, Rohan Schloss and Joseph Dibbs. Yvonne Foster returns the ball during action in the women’s singles play at the National Table Tennis Tournament at the National Arena on Sunday.Kane Watson is all concentration as he returns a ticklish serve that sent Joseph Dibbs packing 4-0 during the men’s singles final at the National Table Tennis Tournament at the National Arena on Sunday. (PHOTOS: HURBUN WILLIAMS)
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Watson, Foster claim TT crowns
