National women's singles champion, 14-year-old Brittany Joseph came up big for Arima Hawks as he secured a four-set win over former national champion, Merle Baggoo to earn her club a 3-3 draw with Solo Crusaders 'A' in the T&T Table-Tennis Association Second Division Inter-Team Championship. This was at the Arima West Primary School on Tuesday night.
Rawle Parsons got Hawks off to a winning start, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, 12-10 over Baggoo but Catherine Spicer then upstaged Joseph 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, to level at 1-1.
Kwame Lawrence then put the visiting Crusaders ahead via his 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9 defeat of Wayne Oudit before he paired with Spicer to beat Parsons and Linda Partap-Boodhan 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9 in the doubles for a 3-1 lead and within one win of taking the match.
However, faced with defeat Partap-Boodhan battled past Billy Guo 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 to keep her team in the hunt for the share of the points which was achieved by Joseph, thanks to her come-from-behind, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 win over Baggoo.
The win lifted Hawks to 25 points from 10 matches, two more than D'Abadie Youths which has two matches in hand while University of T&T (UTT) is next with 22 from 10 matches, followed by Solo Crusaders "B" (19), Montrose United and Crusaders 'A, both with 17.
At the Himalaya Sports Club, Barataria, Crusaders 'B' stayed in the hunt for top spot after whipping Carenage Blasters 4-2.
Imtiaz Mohammed defeated Nigel Morgan 11-4, 11-7, 11-5, then combined with Riad Abas Ali for an 11-9, 13-11, 11-6 victory over Rakellon Pierre and Khadeem Moore in the doubles to get Crusaders "B" on even at 2-2.
Vinoo Maharaj then swept past Donald Humphrey 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 and Wayne Lemessey outlasted Morgan 12-10, 11-5, 5-11, 7-11, 11-7 to seal the three points.
This after Pierre put Balsters ahead 1-0 when he overcame Lemessey 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8 and More overwhelmed Abas Ali 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10.
Current standings
Teams P W D L Won Loss Pts
Hawks 10 6 3 1 35 17 25
D'Abadie 8 7 1 0 31 8 23
UTT 10 5 2 3 30 26 22
Crusaders B 7 6 0 1 25 12 19
Montrose 8 3 3 2 24 19 17
Crusaders A 9 2 4 3 23 24 17
Blasters 7 2 1 3 16 23 12
UWI 7 1 3 3 16 23 12
U-18 Boys 7 0 1 6 8 27 8
U-15 Boys 5 0 2 3 9 18 7
U-15 Girls 6 0 0 6 4 24 6
