Table tennis players produce top display

Some of the nation’s leading table tennis players demonstrated their considerable skills when the Redwood Trust Marlborough Open was held at Simcox Stadium recently.

Seventy-two competitors took part, from as far away as North Shore and Southland.

The Open and Under-15 events doubled as the third qualifying tournament for national selection for the forthcoming Oceania Championships in Australia.

The number one seed, Dean Shu from Auckland, took the men’s singles title, beating second-seeded Max Henderson from Bay of Plenty in the final 8-11, 11-7, 15-13, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7. Dean reached the final with a five-set win over Canterbury’s Griffin Buchanan while Max downed Simon Fenwick in the other semi. Simon beat Griffin to claim third place.

Local player Alex Kennedy qualified for post-section play and as the Open was a TTNZ qualifier, played off for seventh and eighth place, beating North Shore’s Ben Jung in five sets

Canterbury’s Abbey Webb beat fellow Cantabrian Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg by 11-6, 7-11, 12-14, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 in the final of the women’s singles.

Local player Jacqui Wood reached the semi-final, losing to Abbey in six sets while Lydia reached the final with a win over Canterbury’s Aarya Advilkar. Jacqui beat Aarya to claim the bronze medal. Dean won his second title when he combined with Waitemata’s Andrew Palmer for a win in the men’s doubles, the unseeded pair beating top seeds Simon Fenwick and Griffin Buchanan in the final 12-14, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7.

Alex and Canterbury’s Vladimir Ivanov finished with a bronze medal.

The women’s doubles went with seeding, top seeds Abbey Webb and Ellie Zhang beating the second-seeded mother and daughter combination of Helen Beumelburg and Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg 11-8, 11-8, 11-6.

Simon Fenwick and Kris Alisch won the mixed doubles final over the Buchanan siblings, Griffin and India, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6. The RB Catering C grade section produced a tremendous final between North Shore’s Ben Jung and Canterbury’s Eric Kim, who prevailed 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 15-13. Alex reached the quarter finals while Michael Kamson, a current Marlborough representative player, was undefeated in pool play.

In the equivalent women’s event, unseeded Ruhi Advilkar came through the draw and beat North Shore’s Ariel Liu 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8 in the final. In Sunday’s Martella Refrigeration over40 section, the top seeded Simon Fenwick beat Marlborough’s Matt

Millar in straight sets in the final. It was a great event for another local player Jason Kennedy, as he topped his pool and beat the third seed in the process. Nelson’s Shino Yonei won the equivalent women’s final against Ruhi Advikar by 11-5, 11-8, 1012, 10-12, 11-8.

In the Wadsco Trucks Over 55 section, the women’s final featured two local players, with

Marion Wood beating Barbara Burkhart. In the men’s event, Canterbury’s Gregg Davey finished top of the round robin pool, with Nelson’s Mark Nalder second.

The under-19 boys’ title was won by Griffin Buchanan, who beat Canterbury’s Xavier Reid. Canterbury’s Ellie Zhang won the girls’ title over Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg.