Opening the Guyana Table Tennis Association’s (GTTA) year was the Mashramani Junior and Cadet Championships yesterday at the National Gymnasium where participants are trying to make the team for the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) Junior and Cadet Championships.
On the opening night of the National Sports Commission-sponsored championships, the tables were taken up by the boys and girls under-9 players, with Malachi Moore taking the lead for the boys and Akera Watson taking it home for the girls in the first round. In his opening match, Moore took the lead against Jonathan Cox 9-11, 11-5 and 11-8. He continued on to defeat Case Outar 11-5,11-6. Moore made light work of his third opponent, Zammani Johnson with a score of 11-2 and then 11-3. Outar had the chance to play Moore again but was unable to recover from the first loss, falling 11-6 and 11-3.
Placing second was Ebo Mc Neil with three points. Despite falling to Moore in his opening match, the young Mc Neil came back to win his other three matches of the night. Cox went down to him 11-2 then 11-8. Johnson again fell to another opponent as Mc Neil defeated him 11-1 and 11-4. His last win for the night came from his matchup against Outar, where the final score was 11-8 and 11-5.
Holding third spot at the end of the opening night is Cox, who defeated Outar 11-5 and 11-6, then Johnson 11-7 and 15-13 to earn his points.
Outar managed to earn himself a point when he defeated Johnson 11-3 and 11-2, who was unable to get himself on the points table.
For the girls, leading the charges was Watson. Following in second was Jasmin Bellgeny and third was Quanna Torrington. Samara Suhkai and Deja Datt rounded out the table.
The competition continues today at the National Gymnasium at 9 am, with the under-11 boys and girls opening the day.
