Ben Duffy of Otago and Debbie Garrett of Southland took the Men’s and Ladies Singles titles respectively at the recent Southland Open Table Tennis Championships played in Invercargill.
Duffy, the top seed, defeated former Aucklander and second seed Lingnan Kong who is now based in Otago in the Men’s Final by four sets to one (14-12, 11-5, 13-11, 8-11, 11-9). Earlier he had beaten Jonathan Wang of Canterbury in one semi while Kong beat former Southlander Michael Zhang, on a summer break from Duke University in North Carolina, to get to the final.
Garrett secured her tenth Southland Open Women’s title since her first in 1991 when she beat fellow Southlander Shelley Smith in the final, also in a four sets to one victory (11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8). Garrett defeated Gemma Buzzard of Canterbury in the semis while Smith beat Debra King-Newell of Otago to reach the final.
The Men’s Doubles title went to Otago pairing Bruno Sarson and Willie Brocks, the sixth seeds, who eliminated top seeds Ben Duffy (Otago) and Grant Wilson (Canterbury) in the quarter-finals. In the final they beat Wilson’s son Alex and Jonathon Wang in straight sets.
Debbie Garrett and Holly Wu (Southland) combined to win the Women’s Doubles beating King-Newell and Buzzard in the final.
Duffy and King-Newell took the Mixed Doubles title beating Southland’s Andrew Fleming and Holly Wu, the seventh seeds in the final. Fleming and Wu had eliminated second seeds Wang/Buzzard and fifth seeds Finn Holden (Southland) and Debbie Garrett on the way to the final.
Barry Ellis (Southland) won the Over 45 Men’s Singles before combining with William Brocks to win the Over 45 Men’s Doubles. Ellis also paired with Lynley Routhan of Gore to defeat Southland’s Ron and Ngaire Garrett in the Over 60 Mixed Doubles while Ron Garrett beat Ellis in the Men’s Over 60 Singles.
Bruno Sarson won the Over 30 Men’s title and Shelley Smith the Women’s with Ben Duffy taking the Over 30 Men’s Doubles with Christian Kasper (Otago) and the Over 30 Mixed Doubles with King-Newell.
Laura Geraghty of Southland took the Under 21 Women’s Singles while Jack Bell and Jordon Mills (Otago) won the Under 21 Men’s Doubles defeating Southland’s Carl Rodmell and Damian Mitchell, three sets to one.
The Under 18 Grade produced a clean sweep for Southlanders, Caleb Duffy and Holly Wu taking the Boys and Girls titles respectively with Andrew Fleming and Damian Mitchell becoming the Boys Doubles Champs and Holly Wu and Maia Cavanagh the Girls Doubles winners. Mitchell and Wu took the Mixed Doubles title.
Martin Page of Otago defeated Finn Holden (Southland) in the Under 15 Boys Singles with Alex Clarkson (Otago) and Andrei Casareo of Southland winning the Under 15 Boys Doubles. Lauryn Fleming and Maia Cavanagh (Southland) combined to take the Under 15 Girls Doubles while Cavanagh and Finn Holden won the Under 15 Mixed Doubles.
In the Under 13 Grade Andrei Casareo won the Boys Singles and Ruby Anderson of Otago the Girls Singles.
Casareo and Mac Allen (Southland) took the Boys Doubles and Alex Clarkson and Ruby Anderson the Mixed Doubles.
Southlanders also dominated the Under 11 events with Lauryn Fleming taking the Girls Singles while Harriet Allen and Fleming won the Girls Doubles for the age group.
Martin Page (Mens) and Gemma Buzzard (Ladies) took the B Grade titles.