Teenager Aaron Wilson and Ashley Quashie, both of Carenage Blasters were crowned champions of the TEK Electrical Tobago Open Table Tennis Tournament which concluded at the Scarborough Secondary School on Sunday. Wilson of Carenage Blasters, created the biggest stir of the tournament when he defeated top ranked local player, Curtis Humphreys of the University of T&T in five sets, 10-12, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, after trailing 6-8 in the deciding set. Earlier in the semifinal round, Wilson, who turns 14 today, registered an 11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9 win over Solo Crusaders' Terry Corbin while Humphreys, who was after a fourth title this season, ousted PowerGen's Arun Roopnarine 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7. In the quarterfinal round, Wilson overcame Crusaders' Andrew Alexander, Humphreys stopped former Caribbean champion, Barbadian Kevin Farley of Crusaders, Corbin booted two-time Caribbean champion Lionel Darceuil of Arima Hawks, and Roopnarine dumped Everton Sorzano of D'Abadie Youths.
It was the second win for Wilson in two days after he topped the Under-15 competition on Saturday. In the Women's Open, Quashie also came from behind to beat Natalie Montes of Arima Hawks 9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5. Quashie reached the final after beating PowerGen's Catherine Spicer in the semifinals 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 while Montes battled past 14-year-old national champion and her Hawks' clubmate Brittany Joseph, 11-8, 11-9, 14-16, 11-6. This after Quashie swept past Hawks' national player Linda Partap-Boodhan while Montes beat nine-time national champion, Aleena Edwards (UTT) to make it into the last eight. On Saturday, Roopnarine and Spicer won two titles each.
Roopnarine smashed his way to the boys' Under-18 and Under-21 titles while Spicer also won the girls' Under-18 and Under-21 singles. In the under-18 age-group, Roopnarine battled past Wilson 11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 14-12, 11-8 while in the Under-21 decider he swept past Lawrence Ince 11-7, 13-11, 11-4. Spicer upstaged Brittany Joseph in the Under-18 finale 11-4, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8 and then had wins over Renuka Sitram (3-0), Shannon Watson (3-0) and Ambika Sitram (3-1) to top the Under-21 four-player round-robin series.
TEK Electrical Tobago Open winners:
Boys:
Under-21: Arun Roopnarine (PowerGen)
Under-18: Arun Roopnarine (PowerGen)
Under-15: Aaron Wilson (Carenage Blasters)
Under-13: Daniel Henriques (Maloney Tigers)
Under-11: Jakeem Welch (St Andrew's Anglican)
Girls:
Under-21: Catherine Spicer (PowerGen)
Under-18: Catherine Spicer (PowerGen)
Under-15: Brittany Joseph (Arima Hawks)
Under-13: Ray J Thomas (St Andrew's Anglican)
Under-11: Chelsea Fong (Carenage Blasters)
