The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Table Tennis Federation (BTTF) hosted a few rounds of exciting table tennis action on Saturday at the LW Young auditorium.

After matches played across the under 11, 15, 18 and open divisions, four table tennis champions were crowned. This year’s Spring Classic tourney included over 50 participants, making for some entertaining table tennis matchups this past weekend.

Sudan Khalfani, BTTF youth director, talked about how impressed he was with the level of play on display at this year’s tourney.

“I am very impressed every time we come here [and] we set up a tournament. We always see the talent, you see kids who may not have been good turn out to be very good and the kids who are always good become better so it’s always improving everytime,” Khalfani said.

For the under 11 division, Ronal Fernando of Queen’s College represented the Comets well as he won first place in the division. He defeated second place finisher Courtney Rahming of Columbus Primary in two sets. Fernando claimed both championship sets 11-6, 11-7.

Rahming secured his second place position after ousting Sybil Strachan’s Markito Miller in a competitive three setter.

Rahming opened set one 11-6, but fell 6-11 in set two. However he recovered nicely in the final set after winning 11-8. Miller finished third in the division.

Despite his nerves ahead of the championship round, Fernando once again came out on top.

He revealed that his strategy was simple - aim the ball at the table and move around.

St Andrew’s Mahelis Reeves took care of business in the under 15 division for first place honours. He took down Kingsway Academy’s Samuel Corbin in a hard fought, three set match.

Reeves nabbed set one 11-8 but Corbin mounted a comeback to defeat him 8-11 in set two.

However, Reeves remained poised and collected the overall win after toppling Corbin 11-7 in set three. Corbin finished second in the division after shutting out St Andrew’s Callum Pritchard in three sets. The scores were 11-7, 6-11 and 11-8. Pritchard wrapped up the day with third in this division.

Reeves said he felt good going into the championship round but was a little nervous, nonetheless, he stuck to his strategy of finding the weakness, moving around and spinning the ball along.

Tyreck Pratt represented the CV Bethel Stingrays well as he secured a win in the 18 and under division. He battled his fellow schoolmate Sadeki Hendricks.

The battle of the Stingrays ended in two sets, favouring Pratt 11-8, 11-7. Sadeki nabbed second place after taking down Doris Johnson graduate Tori Ellis in three sets of play. He defeated the latter after sets of 11-5, 7-11, 11-9.For the adults open division, first place belonged to Sandeep Gali.

Second place was nabbed by Arnold Jones and third place went to Godfrey Springer.

The table tennis athletes saw their great efforts noticed as the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg paid a visit to the tourney to acknowledge the sport and high-level gameplay among the children and adults.

“Anytime you can find a safe haven in any sport where you can get young people involved who have a love for it, this is where we save lives and deter them from the life of crime,” the minister said.

Bowleg added that he hopes to see the sport grow not only from persons five and up, but also for older adults as it’s the collective goal to build a healthier nation. Minister Bowleg said the MOYSC fully supports table tennis and is committed to helping the sport grow through its developmental stages by providing them with the necessary tools and equipment needed for it to become a major sporting discipline in the country.

Both the minister and youth director are encouraging more Bahamians to come out and support, or join table tennis as the sport is steadily on the rise in the country.