TABLE TENNIS
VICTORIAN OPEN
By KATRINA BRANDON
NO MERCY was the name of the S-Trend Table Tennis Victorian Open on April 5 and 6, with the state’s best table tennis players coming to the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium.
More than 300 players attended, including local, state-wide, and some internationals.
Unfortunately for Traralgon players, the competition was fierce.
Local players were lucky to win one or even two games as they entered the draws for each section.
In doubles games, Traralgon players teamed together in most games.
The open sections started with Traralgon’s Heath Spasato entering the Open Men’s games and Katrina Brandon entering the Women’s. Unfortunately for both players, their opponents were too strong, beating them in three sets.
Spasato’s games started against Croydon player Yugandh Kiran Zende and Table Tennis Victoria player David Segal. In a tough battle, Spasato couldn’t quite tip the scales against Zende, scoring 9-11, 6-11, and 10-12. If that game wasn’t challenging enough, Segal stepped up to the plate, taking the game.
Croydon’s Ellen Walker and India’s Riti Shankar thrashed Brandon with no mercy. Keeping it steady, Brandon stood 2-11 in all games against Shankar, but managed to score four points in the second set against Walker, which she easily adjusted her game to in the following set.
Shankar made it to the championships for the Women’s Open but was eliminated in the first round, along with Zende, who followed the same fate in the Men’s Open.
In the Over 60s, Traralgon’s Noel Burns, Brian J Considine, Peter Gomez, and Jeff Pollard took to the table. Unfortunately, all Traralgon players also took an individual hit as opponents overpowered them.
Gomez, Pollard, and Burns managed to take points off their opponents, but sadly didn’t take the games.
Sale’s Sharon Collins, who also plays with Traralgon and Bairnsdale, aimed for the Over 60 Women’s Singles, but also succumbed to the fate of the other local players. Traralgon’s Sheila Whitehead followed suit in the Over 70 Women’s Singles.
Turning in a slightly more positive note for Traralgon, Mick Warr managed to take a win in the Over 40s against Greater Dandenong’s Karthik Kumarasamy. Warr won the game 11-8, 11-7, and 13-11. Next against Warr was Segal, who ran each other into the second set with Mick losing 6-11, 2-11, 11-3 and 7-11.
Double trouble from Traralgon, Mark Strini and Peter Gomez teamed up for the Over 50 Men’s Doubles. The team played against Segal and teammate David Pui, who once again took a game off Traralgon players.
Other doubles at the time included the Over 60 Men’s, Over 60 Women’s, Over 70 Women’s and Over 30 Men’s.
Getting things done, the Warr brothers were a furious duo in the Over 30s, beating out Croydon’s John Chan and Greater Dandenong’s Amal Dias. The Warr brothers (Steve and Mick) won 11-8, 11-6, 9-11 and 11-6, not letting the other team come back from their win in the third set.
Unfortunately, the other teams weren’t so lucky, featuring Traralgon’s Jeff Pollard and Brian Considine in the Over 60s, Sheila Whitehead and Glenys Marchesi in the Over 70s, and Sharon Collins and Shepparton’s Kam Wong in the Over 60 Women’s.
The Over 60s Mixed Doubles featured Collins and Considine, who were beaten by Geelong’s Debbie Wilson and Wayne Greeves.
Making it to the second round in the Over 65’s Mixed Doubles, Whitehead and Pollard beat Shepparton’s Kam Wong and Graeme Edwards in four sets. Croydon’s Jeff Dever and Anne Bellion managed to beat Whitehead and Pollard in the next round in three sets, with the duo fighting for the game to flip. The Traralgon duo managed to increase scores each round, which were 6-11, 8-11 and 10-12.
Traralgon’s Burns and Marchesi also played in the Over 65 Mixed Doubles but unfortunately didn’t make it into the second round.
Next lambs to the slaughter saw Brandon and Spasato heading for the Twentites singles. The first round passed quicker than it began, with Brandon losing to Greater Dandenong’s Ryan McMahon, even making the scoreboard nervous, breaking midway through set one.
If that game wasn’t enough, Coburg’s Sho Kawasaki came along next and took Brandon out of the running for the next round.
Spasato made second in his grouping, but didn’t quite make it into the Championships as Walker swooped in, beating him in three sets. Spasato’s grouping threw challenging games at him, but he was able to take a game in four sets against Scorpio Table Tennis Academy’s Ananya Krishna.
The Over 65 Men’s Singles saw Burns and Pollard unlucky with their pairings.
Steve Warr lost his first game in the Over 30 Men’s Singles but took out his second against Greater Dandenong’s Tarun Sharma. The loss wasn’t so much for Warr as he took two sets off Croydon’s Harsh Madaan. The incredible feat from Madaan brought him into the Championships for his age group.
Following the theme of the day, Strini and Gomez were unlucky in the Over 50s Men’s Singles.
Finally, ranking games followed the end of the day, and many faced off with other people near their ranking.
Making it to the third round, Considine won in four against Croydon’s Alan Chan but got swept out in the semi-finals of the Under 1000 Rankings. Others who also competed in that section included Whitehead, Gavin Carrigg, Burns, and Collins, who were all unlucky in their draws.
In the Under 1400s, Gomez won against Coburg’s Ross Demirel in four sets, making it to Round 3, where Warrnambool’s Rehan Iqbal later took him out.
Going back to the Under 800s, Brandon made it past the first challenger, Croydon’s Maya Madaan. Brandon passed through with flying colours, only to be battered down by Sunshine’s Leonie Anstey in the next section.
Another return was made by Spasato, who played in the Under 1700s and won the first round against Sunshine’s M Kaunain Beg in three.
Traralgon’s Maya Gomez played in the juniors section of the weekend, but had the same fate as the rest of the local players.
