The South Island Teams & Canterbury Open Table Tennis Championships were held in Christchurch recently.
Junior teams were selected to represent Southland in the U18 Boys, U18 Girls, U15 Boys and U13 Boys age groups at the event which had the largest entries for many years with a total of 37 junior teams competing from all over the South Island representing Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, South Canterbury, Otago and Southland
The Southland teams competed very well with the U18 Boys team (Damian Mitchell, Caleb Duffy, Andrew Fleming, Carl Rodmell) and the U18 Girls team (Laura Geraghty, Holly Wu) both reaching their age group finals. The U18 Boys lost to Canterbury 7-0 and the U18 Girls lost to Canterbury 4-1 to both finish runners-up in their respective grades.
There were also some great individual results in the Canterbury Open with the ‘match of the tournament’ being Southland’s Andrei Casareo and Canterbury’s Joshua Kim winning the U13 Boys doubles title 3-2 (11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 7-11, 16-14).
Southland’s coach, Shelley Smith, was pleased with the effort saying, “Our juniors showed great consistency, they did the basics and did them exceptionally well. With table tennis being one of the fastest reaction sports in the world, it’s all about having a sharp mind as well as being physically fit. With a movement of younger players coming through in the sport, our Under 18 players have been great role models with all of their hard work from training paying off.”
South Island Teams Results:
U18 Boys Runners Up:
- Damian Mitchell
- Caleb Duffy
- Andrew Fleming
- Carl Rodmell
U18A Girls Runners Up:
- Laura Geraghty
- Holly Wu
U18B Girls 6th:
- Maia Cavanagh
- Jacqui Bathurst
U15 Boys 4th:
- Andrei Casareo
- Finn Holden
- Tyler Hewton
U13 Boys 6th:
- Mac Allen
- Ingamar Siegruhn
- Jayden Gray