Inter-Venue Table Tennis Challenge produces spectacular final
Two of Pretoria's top table tennis clubs recently took each other on in the final of the Inter-Venue Challenge.
Play Table Tennis recently concluded its Inter-Venue Challenge, a four-player team competition with teams from four participating venues across Pretoria.
In the first of two semi-finals, the second-placed Pretoria Jacarandas proved just slightly too strong in each of the final round matches, prevailing with first, third and fifth places.
The Centurion Snipers had to be content with second, fourth and sixth places, and fell short on points. The 23-year old Marius Morkel showed lots of promise against older, more experienced players to win the final for the Jacarandas.
The second semi-final between the log-topping East Eagles and the fourth-placed Moot Mavericks should have been a much closer affair with the Eagles losing their top player to higher duty at the SATTB National Championships, but again the Eagles showed their depth and fighting spirit by taking first, second and fourth places.
It was also the first time that 24-year old Egmond van Heerden beat his much more experienced team-mate and mentor Ruan Kahts (32) in the final, with a tense scoreline of 3-2.
The stage was now set for a top final clash at The Collection Venue, home venue for the Eagles. The Jacarandas had been climbing the log steadily over the past month to breathe down the Eagles’ necks, showing intent to cause a major upset in the final.
Eventually the two teams matched one another every step, finishing exact equals after the group stages. This meant that the playoffs would necessarily be between players from opposing teams. Van Heerden repeated his heroics from a week earlier when he again upset Kahts in the semi-final, but this meant he had to pull a rabbit out of the hat in the final against Marius Morkel, who had a run of five successive wins in their head-to-head.
The third-place playoff was an easy affair for Kahts, with a 3-0 scoreline against Nikita Kolzun. The final and fifth place playoff were played concurrently.
Van Heerden made the jaws drop when he quickly went 2-0 up in the final, but a more aggressive approach from Morkel helped him level the scores. Down to the final set, and never more than two points separating the two finalists. The spectators were on their feet by now.
With the score on 9-8 Morkel hit the ball in the net to hand Van Heerden two match points. But he clawed his way back to level the scores again, and when he scored yet another point all of a sudden he was one point away from the win. And one match point was all he needed, winning it 12-10 in the final set.
The advantage was now with the Jacarandas, but there was more drama to come. The scores between the two teams were now so close that the fifth-place playoff would be the decider. The match between Paula Janse van Rensburg (Eagles) and Pieter Marais (Jacarandas) on the adjacent table had also gone into a fifth and final set. And the players knew what pressure was now resting on their shoulders.
It was the vast experience of Janse van Rensburg that made all the difference in the end, and she won the fifth-place playoff 3-2. The Eagles appropriately won it after dominating the whole season, but there could not have been a closer result. The Jacarandas had been worthy opponents.
In the individual rankings, Morkel did enough to unseat Kahts at the top of the log. Van Heerden came within a whisker of third place, but it was the Mavericks’ Jaco Mare that held on for a bronze medal.
For all the information as well as statistics, results, rankings and more, please visit www.playtabletennis.co.za or contact Chris van der Walt on chris@playtabletennis.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.
