By Royston Alkins
A series of sporting activities in memory of the 94th birth anniversary of Guyana’s first executive president, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, ended Sunday night at the National Gymnasium with former national men’s singles champion Nigel Bryan carting of the handicap table tennis tournament.
In a final watched by a fair sized crowd, Bryan defeated rising star Nicholus Romain 3-1, in a match that was fast-paced and entertaining.
Bryan, with a minus four handicap, defeated Romain, minus 2, by three games to one.
Bryan took the first game 11-8 but Romain, however, bounced back to take the second game.
He led 4-1 but Bryant forced a couple of errors to take the lead 9-7. Romain, nevertheless pulled it back to tie the game at 9 and 10 all and eventually won the second set 12-10.
Bryan seemed more intent on winning the third game and led 5-1 before eventually cruising to an 11-5 triumph.
The 24-year-old Bryan piled on the pressure in the fourth game which he won 11-6.
“It’s been a great win for me after a while. I haven’t been training but I recently resumed in the month of January and winning this tournament is great for me. It’s helping me to focus and build my consistency,” he told Stabroek Sports after the match.
“My plan for 2017 is to focus on the Commonwealth Games since it’s one of the major events. In fact, it’s the third biggest games in the world,” he declared.
In the ‘C’ class final, nine-year-old Danesh Persaud won his first major title when he defeated Karl Nedd by three games to one.
The feisty Persaud, who is small in stature, surrendered the first game to Nedd 4 -11 but, expressing jubilation at every major point won, he bounced back to take the second 11 – 9, the third 13 – 11 and the final game 14 – 12.
Persaud, a student of Mae’s said that he felt ‘nice’ after winning his first major tournament.
The ‘B’ class final, was won by Romain who returned for his second final of the evening to defeat Kevon Corbin and take the title in three straight games. He won the first 11-8, before dominating the next two games which he won 11-6 and 11-7.
Romain, after his win, said that the loss to Bryan in the handicap final didn’t affect his game or confidence going into the ‘B’ class final.
“The loss to Bryant wasn’t really bad for me because he is a senior national player and it was an experience for me to play better the next time around. Going into the ‘B’ class, I had high hopes of winning because I’m a good player and I trained a lot over the past few weekends,” added the Central High school player.
Romain, when asked about his endeavors for 2017, said:” I just plan to win in the tournaments I play in and compete internationally,” said the 16-year-old who also pointed out that he has aspirations of competing in the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, president of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Godfrey Monroe said that he was satisfied with the way the tournament unfolded.
“I think we had a great tournament over the weekend, quite fitting and all in keeping with our drive to have a tournament every month just to keep the players active. I want to say a heartfelt thank you and appreciation to the Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham Foundation for coming on board and partnering with us to making this a reality,” added the GTTA president.
