The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sport s Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ROY Wallace outlasted Amol Pendharkar to win the men’s title of the Bahamas Table Tennis Federation’s National Championships at the AF Adderley Gymnasium on Saturday.

The tournament was sponsored by the People's Republic of China as a part of the Chinese Embassy’s 25th year in the Bahamas.

As a part of their celebrations, Ambassador Dai Qingli presented BTTF president Geoffrey McPhee with a total of 10 complete tables to distribute into the various schools.

After he clinched the men’s title, Wallace said it was all about the “youth” and he just wanted to assist in bringing more awareness to the sport.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a table tennis event in the country, so I’m just glad that the young people have an event like this to participate in,” said Wallace, who won all of three of his matches in the round robin format of the tournament.

As for the competition, Wallace said he knew it would be a tough match against Pendharkar, but he was prepared to put his best foot forward and he prevailed in the end.

Pendharkar was undefeated up to that match and was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t declared the champion, having played more matches. Hasting Johnson finished third.

On the ladies’ side, Yilka Fox was crowned the champion with Liz Darville as the runner-up. Francesca Montorsi was the third-place finisher.

In the under-13 junior boys’ division, Ronal Fernando won the title over Mirko Gervasini. Aidan Meister was third.

“I feel really good about my performance,” said Fernando, a 12-year-old fifth grader at Queen’s College. “It started out easy, but it got harder during the rest of the day. The competition got harder with more competitive players.”

The under-13 junior girls’ division was won by Eva Hilton Primary School’s Aiyanna Hernandez, who has only been playing for a few months. Dariah Adderley came in second and Kelisha Saunders was third.

“I felt good sbout my performance because I practiced a lot and I worked very hard,” said the 10-year-old sixth grader. “The tournament was good. Some of the competition was hard, but I won it.”

In the under-18 immediate boys’ division, St Andrew’s graduate Samuel Chan just flew in from Nova Southeastern University to win the title. Brothers Dillen and Daylin Brown were second and third respectively.

“It was important for me to be here to compete and to win it,” said Chan, a freshman studying business management.

“It was a long day, but I won all of my matches. I’m just happy I came home to participate in it.”

Chan said he was going to celebrate with a big dinner.

And in the under-18 intermediate girls’ division, Symore Symonette clinched the title over Destiny Moss.

Ambassador Qingli said it’s important for the Chinese Embassy to bring more awareness to the sport and what better way to do so than to work with the federation in getting table tennis in the Bahamas and what better way to do it through the schools.

“I’m pleasantly surprised that so many people signed up to participate in it,” she said.

“It was just a tremendous support for table tennis in the Bahamas. For us in China, table tennis is the national sport in China.

“We have a hundred million people in China and so we feel sports is the best way to deepen our people in friendship. Since I came here today, I played with so many people and now I have developed some friendships that will last for a long time.”

As a gesture to their celebrations in the Bahamas, Ambassador Qingli said the Chinese Embassy presented 10 tables with all of the equipment, including the net, balls and scoreboards for the schools.

“We feel it is important for us to place at least one table tennis in every school, including the Family Islands, so we will be working with the Bahamas Tennis Federation further.

“This year, the 10 tables is just the beginning. We want to do more next year to support the Bahamas and we hope that table tennis will be included in the Bahamas Games.”

McPhee said the event was a tremendous success and they were quite pleased with the turnout.

“We had to adjust fairly quickly to accommodate the number of people who came out,” McPhee said.

“We had a lot of people who showed up and we didn’t want to turn anyone away because this event was to get more people involved in the sport.”

McPhee said the next event will take place next year, but with the donation from the Chinese Embassy, their focus will be geared towards getting their high school programme up and running. He said BTTF youth director Sudan Khalfani has already been working with a number of the schools. “The equipment is not just for the kids to play, but we are also teaching them how to play,” McPhee summed up.