Players make waves at Table Tennis tournament
The recent quarterly Play Table Tennis Legends Invitational was, as usual, full of surprises.
The ninth instalment of the quarterly Play Table Tennis Legends Invitational was yet another spectacular affair, with some of the best amateur players fighting for glory.
Like the eight previous tournaments, this one was full of surprises.
The Super Series, which serves as a qualifier series for the Legends Invitational, had recently received a major overhaul to stimulate fair competition. This move has been highly instrumental in developing upcoming players, and there was a large contingent of debutants present.
The event boasted a full draw of 32 players, participating in group stages before the knockout rounds. At 1,654 ranking points for the winner, this was by far the most valuable of all the events on the PTT calendar.
In the absence of defending champion and top-ranked Ruan Kahts, there were a number of favourites, most notably Kobus Heyns, Mahomed Shaffe, Jonathan Zetisky and Japie Crafford.
Perhaps Shaffe had the inside lane, high on confidence after a victory against Kahts in the Super Series Leg 9 final less than a week earlier.
But Zetisky also had a good run lately, improving in leaps and bounds after changing bats a few weeks ago.
The pair made it to the final from opposite ends of the draw, Shaffe defeating Heyns 3-1 in the first semi-final and Zetisky prevailing with the same score line against outsider Werner Bredenkamp in the other.
Shaffe had too much momentum and confidence though, and conceded only his second game of the night in the final to take the title 3-1. The win gave him enough points to climb to third on the rankings, one behind Kobus Heyns.
The biggest surprise for the night came from 15-year old Storm Speranza, who defeated some big names on his way to 7th place overall. Speranza was one of twelve juniors in the competition – another record for the series.
Play Table Tennis hosts weekly social events for young and old, beginner and semi-pro. For more information or to join any of the events, please visit www.playtabletennis.co.za.
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