Anil Ramlakhan was the toast of his Solo Crusaders B teammates as he pulled off a thrilling five-set win over Carlisle Cleaveland to earn his team 3-3 draw and, with it, the T&T Table Tennis Association Second Division title over finalist D'Abadie Youths on Thursday night.
Going into the encounter at the D'Abadie Community Centre, Crusaders B held a one-point lead over D'Abadie which needed nothing less than victory to take the title.
But the host did not get off to the start it wanted as Cleaveland fell to Imtiaz Mohammed 8-11, 21-19, 7-11, 3-11 before Declan John got it even at 1-1 via his 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 win over Ramlakhan.
Vinoo Maraj restored Crusaders B's slim lead at 2-1 thanks to his five-set win over Issa Baisden 6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 8-11, 11-8 but once again D'Abadie responded with the doubles pair of John and Sherdon Pierre overcoming Mohammed and Riad Abas Ali 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9.
The match then swung in D'Abadie's favour when Pierre breezed past Abas Ali 11-6, 11-7, 12-10 in the fifth rubber for a 3-2 lead, but with victory a match away Cleaveland suffered a 11-8, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11 loss at the hands of Ramlakhan for the match to end 3-3 and giving the visitors a share of the points, which was enough to hold on to its lead at the top .
With the two points earned Crusaders B ended with 55 from 20 matches, one more than D'Abadie Youths while Arima Hawks, which swept past Solo Crusaders A 4-2 also on Thursday, ended third with 53.
At the Diego Martin Community Centre, Diamond Vale, Hawks ended its campaign on a high by whipping home club Solo Crusaders 4-2 led by Rawl Parson and national women's team player Linda Partap-Boodhan who combined for all four of their team's victories.
Hawks got off to the worst possible start when Wayne Oudit went under to host player Richard Young 11-8, 2-11, 12-14, 12-10, 8-11.
However, Parson settled his team's nerves a bit after easing past Kwame Laurence 4-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7, only for Billy Guo to beat national women's single champion 14-year-old Brittany Joseph 11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 2-11, 11-8 and regain a 2-1 lead for the host.
Joseph redeemed herself when she paired with Partap-Boodhan to get past Laurence and Aldwyn Rowe 11-2, 10-12, 11-5, 11-4 in the doubles to get their team even at 2-2 before Partap-Boodhan battled past Rowe 12-10, 14-12, 11-5 to put her team within one match of claiming an important victory and three valuable points.
Parson made no mistake in the penultimate match of the tie by brushing aside Young 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 for the 4-2 victory.
And in Thursday's other match, Carenage Blaster and UWI also battled to a 3-3 dead at UWI, St Augustine.
Final standing
Teams P W D L Abd SW SL Pts
Crusaders B 20 17 1 2 0 74 26 55
D'Abadie 20 16 2 2 0 72 23 54
Arima Hawks 20 15 3 2 0 73 29 53
UTT 20 11 2 7 0 57 42 44
Montrose 20 9 4 7 0 47 33 42
UWI 20 8 5 7 0 53 50 41
Crusaders A 20 6 5 9 0 49 53 37
Blasters 20 7 3 10 0 48 55 36
U-15 Boys 20 2 2 15 1 20 67 21
U-18 Boys 20 3 1 16 0 20 70 21
U-15 Girls 20 1 0 18 1 12 64 19
