New table tennis champion crowned in Legends Invitational
Exciting table tennis action was again the hallmark of the recent Legends Invitational event in Pretoria.
Pretoria experienced brilliant table tennis action last week when it was time for the quarterly Legends Invitational event hosted by Sports Challenges and Play Table Tennis.
The competition was held at The Collection Venue in the East of Pretoria and attracted a record attendance of 44 players, with an average level of 15.
There were a number of favourites for the event, the most obvious being Ronald “Chico” Lawrence, the defending champion, and Fanie Slabbert, the top seed and top-ranked player. But with vast amounts of old and new talent coming through in the past few months, the final was everything but a foregone conclusion and a number of upsets were on the cards.
The first of these came in the form of Japie Crafford upsetting Slabbert in the quarterfinals. It was only their second meeting after Slabbert won the first encounter 3-1. But Crafford had all the answers and managed to defeat the previous runner-up 2-1. The semi-final was a slightly easier affair, which Crafford won relatively comfortably against newcomer Manish Kumar from Centurion.
Less surprising perhaps was Ruan Kahts’ journey to the final. After all, Kahts has the pedigree, having won the Gauteng North Table Tennis Board’s (GNTTB) Open three times along with many other achievements. In his semi-final he defeated defending champion Lawrence in straight sets for the third time in less than two weeks, setting the stage for a first-ever meeting with Crafford in the final.
Even though Kahts was always the solid favourite for the final, Crafford did not go quietly into the night, fighting bravely and causing his opponent some trouble. But ultimately Kahts showed his class and prevailed 3-1 to become the Legend of Legends and earning him an incredible 607 ranking points – the highest ever in a Sports Challenges event.
Kahts also achieved level 20, now only one behind Fanie Slabbert and Al Troskie on level 21. Crafford achieved level 19 and currently sits fifth on the rankings.
For the next twelve weeks the attention shifts to the fourth instalment of the Sports Challenges Inter-Venue League. The IVL is now up to ten teams from the previous eight, which means the 30 top players from three venues battling it out in home-and-away fashion for the ultimate crown of IVL Champion in October.
Sports Challenges and Play Table Tennis has also just launched a dedicated juniors event which takes place in the East of Pretoria every Thursday afternoon, for kids aged 10 to 17.
For more information, please contact Chris van der Walt on 082 924 0359 or chris@challengers.co.za.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
