Olympian Chelsea Edghill added the national women’s crown to her long list of achievements and judging from her reaction, it appeared to be her most satisfying triumph yet.
The former Caribbean U13 and U21 champion’s body shook after her 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 11-7 win over the southpaw Cummings when the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) National Senior Championships continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall last night.
The final, the last of the day’s proceedings, was one sided for the most part expect for a brief period in the fourth game when Cummings took a 6-4 lead but after Edghill edged in front 9-7, Cummings, in a last ditch effort to delay the inevitable took a time out all to no avail as Edghill closed out the match upon resumption without the loss of a point.
However, the star of the day was the 15-year-old Jonathan Van Lange.
On Saturday he had teamed up with the precocious Shemar Britton, himself a former Caribbean U21 champion, to shock the pair of Godfrey Munroe/Christopher Franklin in the men’s doubles final.
Yesterday he added the `B’ and U21 titles to his bulging collection adding the scalps of brothers Colin (U21 final) and Miguel (B `Class’ final) to his long list of conquests in the process.
In between, the `B’ and U21 finals, there was a final that did not involve Van Lange and that was won by R. Rahim over Ishaka Jackman who led by two sets only to lose his way and the final in the remaining sets.
While yesterday was Van Lange’s day, Saturday belonged to Britton who guided the young Van Lange to one of the biggest upsets of the championships.
Their 11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9 win over the favourites Munroe/Franklin, was clinical as well as tactical.
The only bright spot for the losers was the play of the GTTA president Munroe especially in the second set when he produced unreturnable forehand and backhand loops that brought gasps from the crowd and installed him as a favourite for next week’s men’s singles.
Britton also featured in another upset in the mixed doubles final when he teamed up with Edghill to defeat Franklin/Cummings 11-8, 11-9, 11-6.
Cummings also won a title that of the women’s doubles which she won with Edghill.
The pair played unbeaten in the round robin final defeating Thuraia Thomas and Crystal Melville who placed second and Jasmine Billingy and Samara Sukhai who placed third.
