Former national table tennis player Andrew Daly announced his return to competitive tennis by dominating the 2011 Inter Organisation singles competition to claim the top prize yesterday at the Queen’s College Auditorium.
Daly who was a part of the dominant Guyana Police Force (GPF) ‘A’ team that won the team competition a day prior to his individual glory, romped his way through the rounds to defeat Warren Hackshaw of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) in the final with a 4-1 score line.
Although the score line suggested a fairly easy win for Daly, the battle between the two was intense and competitive.
Hackshaw coming off a hard fought encounter with veteran Patrick Triumph in the semifinal that ended 4-3 took the initiative in the final as he looped the ball well, countering excellently against Daly’s returns to take the first set 9-11.
Daly, who dispatched Devon Richmond of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) 4-1 in his semifinal, seemed to be dazzled by the aggressive approach of Hackshaw in the final as he searched for some fluency in his game before coming from behind in the second set to win 11-8.
The third set was another intense encounter between the two as they provided the crowd in attendance with some exquisite passages of tennis as both countered and returned the ball well, winning and losing points. Daly, however, prevailed to take the third set 11-9.
Seemingly becoming more fluent and confident, Daly started to tap his experience as he used his spin and forehand shots well to dominate the fourth set 11-6.
With Police Commissioner Henry Greene in his corner and even doing some coaching during the set, Daly seemed to improve on all levels displaying an excellent service game as he won four points on his serve alone, closing off the game with an 11-7 win in the fifth set.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport, the 34-year-old Daly who hadn’t played a competitive tournament since 2009, spoke about winning the tournament along with his reason for the two-year break in his career.
“Well first off I would like to thank God and my family, I would also like to thank the commissioner who has made this possible for me to get back into tennis.
“I didn’t train for this competition so I basically played off of my experience and instinct and it feels good to come out on top and I will use this win as the launching pad back into competitive tennis with the hope of representing my country again. The reason I came out of tennis in the first place is because I had a severe shoulder injury which still affects me now… so I was playing in some amount of pain during the course of the tournament,” Daly revealed to Stabroek Sport.
In the third place playoff youth prevailed over experience as GDF’s Richmond knocked off seasoned campaigner Patrick Triumph in a competitive match-up that ended 3-2 at 13-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8 and 13-11.
Meanwhile at the presentation ceremony Commissioner Greene congratulated the players on their performances, making special mention of the policemen. He also thanked the various sponsors for their continued support while concluding that table tennis is a growing sport that is becoming recognized nationally.
