Solo Crusaders’ newcomer, Chloe Fraser and Javier King of Queen’s Park Table Tennis Club captured the women's and men's Open titles when the Tobago Zone Table Tennis Tournament took place at Signal Hill Secondary School Auditorium, Signal Hill on Tuesday night.
The 12-year-old Fraser who transferred from Queen’s Park Table Tennis Club at the start of the year played unbeaten in a five-women round-robin series to take top honours with a 4-0 record, ahead of former club-mate Imani Edwards-Taylor (3-1) while Monique Cooper of Spin Jabberz was third with a 2-2 win-loss record.
The duo of Rebekah Sterling of Carenage Blasters (1-3) and Jordan Thong of Queen’s Park (0-4) were the other competitors.
A student of St Joseph Convent, San Fernando, the Cocoyea Village-born Fraser defeated Sterling (11-6, 11-0, 11-5); Cooper (11-2, 13-15, 11-3, 11-9); Thong 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-6) and Edwards-Taylor, in a virtual title-decider 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4.
Edwards-Taylor had victories against Thong (11-9, 11-5, 11-5); Cooper (11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 11-2) and Sterling (11-4, 11-3, 11-4), and Cooper got her wins over Sterling (11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 11-5) and Thong (11-5, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7).
Sterling avoided the wooden spoon thanks to her 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 defeat of Thong.
In the men’s Open, 18-year-old King of the University of T&T (UTT) stopped the high-flying Gabriel John of Carenage Blasters 11-9, 11-9, 11-3 in their decider.
This after King whipped Kerry Manswell of Spin Jabberz (11-2, 11-3, 11-4, and fellow Blasters’ players, Nicolas Lee (11-9, 11-4, 11-9) and Nikoli Alexis (11-3, 11-9, 11-0) in his respective round-of-16, quarterfinal and semifinal matches while 13-year-old John won by default from Andy Taylor before he upstaged national Under-18 players Jalen Kerr of Spin Jabberz (11-8, 11-9, 14-12) and Crusaders’ N’Kosi Rouse (12-14, 12-10, 11-5, 13-11) in his last-16, quarterfinal and final-four encounters respectively.
Rouse got a round-of-16 bye then battled past Abhai Lal of Blasters 8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 and Alexis swept past Kwesi Jack of Spin Jabberz 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 and ousted Jelani Bramble also of Spin Jabberz 11-3, 11-8, 11-13, 11-3.
When the tournament served off with round-robin matches, King had wins over Zachary Fuller (Carenage Blasters) 11-7, 12-10, 11-5 and Abhai Lal (Carenage Blasters) 12-10, 11-8, 11-3 to top Group Five while in Group Six, John overwhelmed Jahron Alfred (Ind-Tobago) 11-4, 11-3, 11-9, and Kerry Manswell (Spin Jabberz) 11-7, 11-6, 14-12.
OTHER RESULTS
Round-of-16:
Abhai Lal bt Orell Cooper 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-2; Jelani Bramble bt Shaquille Mitchell (Spin Jabberz-Tobago) 7-11, 14-16, 4-11, 11-3, 11-4; Jelani Kerr bt Collin Lyons (T&T Masters-Tobago) default; Nicolas Lee – bye; N’kosi Rouse – bye.
Round Robin:
Group One:
N’kosi Rouse (Solo Crusaders) bt Gareth James (Hope-Tobago) 11-3, 11-6, 11-1; N’Kosi Rouse bt Kwesi Jack (Spin Jabberz) 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4; Kwesi Jack bt Gareth James 11-1, 11-7, 11-1.
Group Two:
Nicolas Lee (Carenage Blasters) bt Collis James (Hope-Tobago) 11-5, 11-2, 11-2; Collin Lyons (T&T Masters-Tobago) bt Collis James 11-5, 11-4, 11-6; Nicolas Lee bt Collin Lyons 11-2, 11-1, 12-10.
Group Three:
Jelani Bramble (Spin Jabberz-Tobago) bt Ajamu Daniel (Ind-Tobago) 11-8, 13-11, 11-9; Jelani Bramble bt Andy Taylor (Hope-Tobago) 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 11-1, 12-10; Andy Taylor bt Ajamu Daniel 11-7, 11-6, 11-0.
Group Four:
Shaquille Mitchell (Spin Jabberz) bt Kevin Lewis (Solo Crusaders) 11-7, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9; Jalen Kerr (Spin Jabberz-Tobago) bt Kevin Lewis 13-11, 11-6, 12-10; Jalen Kerr bt Shaquille Mitchell 11-6, 5-11, 11-3, 11-7.
Group Five:
Javier King (QPCC) bt Zachary Fuller (Carenage Blasters) 11-7, 12-10, 11-5; Javier King bt Abhai Lal (Carenage Blasters) 12-10, 11-8, 11-3; Abhai Lal bt Zachary Fuller 11-9, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9.
Group Six:
Gabriel John (Carenage Blasters) bt Jahron Alfred (Ind-Tobago) 11-4, 11-3, 11-9; Gabriel John bt Kerry Manswell (Spin Jabberz) 11-7, 11-6, 14-12; Kerry Manswell bt Jahron Alfred 15-13, 11-6, 11-7.
Group Seven:
Nikoli Alexis (Carenage Blasters) bt Yannick Lewis (Carenage Blastes) 11-7, 11-8, 12-10; Orell Cooper (Spin Jabberz-Tobago) bt Jamal Thompson (Ind-Tobago) 11-8, 11-3, 11-1; Orell Cooper bt Yannick Lewis 11-9, 11-7, 11-5; Nikoli Alexis bt Jamal Thompson 11-7, 11-6, 11-4; Yannick Lewis bt Jamal Thompson 11-2, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6; Nikoli Alexis bt Orell Cooper 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5.