TABLE TENNIS
By KATRINA BRANDON
TOUGH games were fought at the 74th annual Table Tennis Victorian Country Championships on the King’s Birthday long weekend (June 6-8).
More than 70 teams made it to the event, showcasing the best country players in the state at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium.
Both teams and individual events were held at this year’s championships, with Traralgon sending in 11 teams to improve their chances of more shields.
Two rounds were played on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7, with individual rounds following the teams events.
From A Grade to E Grade, veterans, mixed doubles and open men’s and women’s rounds, the games continued late into each night.
Unlike previous years, doubles and singles were separated to help finish earlier and even out the competition.
Doubles was first, with Traralgon’s A1 player Mick Warr partnering Leongatha-Traralgon E1 player Katrina Brandon in mixed doubles, as well as A1’s Heath Sposato with B3’s Carol Weiying Chen and D1’s Maya Gomez with Geelong’s B1 Calden Lyons.
Warr and Brandon were knocked out in the first round by B Grade players Niva James and Daniel Roberts in a quick 3-11, 9-11, 9-11 defeat.
A bit luckier, Gomez and Lyons went against Albury’s Michelle Bowd and Bairnsdale’s Carey White, only just touching over the line in the first two sets, 12-10 and 11-9. In the last set, White and Bowd fought hard against the duo, only for the other two to set each other up for a push-and-smash combination, winning the final set 11-7.
The next round appeared much tougher for Gomez and Lyons as they met Melton’s C2 player, Lauren Lappin and Geelong’s A1 player, Benjamin J Taylor. In this round, the duos went back and forth, with every point riding on a good set and an even better attack. Unfortunately for Gomez and Lyons, they lost the first set 12-10, which gave the other two sets momentum; they won the next two sets 11-9 and 11-7.
After Gomez was knocked out, it was left to Sposato and Chen to secure Traralgon’s spot in the mixed doubles section.
The duo had a bye in the first section and advanced to the second, where they faced Yarrawonga’s Wil Anderson and Abby Moloney. The Yarrawonga team wasn’t quite up to the match, with the Traralgon team winning in three sets.
Advancing to the next section, Geelong’s Bradley Paton and Kim Avers were set to play against the duo. With another swift three-set match, Chen and Sposato were all warmed up for their next game in the semi-finals.
Unfortunately for the duo, the next team moved through them as quickly as they had in their previous games, with the first set in doubt, but sets two and three were knocked down.
Just a couple of courts across, the family doubles were set, with Peter and Maya Gomz teaming up, as well as Kamy with Patrik Wu and Saxon with Tynen Long. The family doubles played the best of three sets rather than the best of five.
The Gomez duo fought the Wu family in the first round. Unfortunately for the Wu duo, the Gomez family won the game.
Up next, the Gomez duo was to play against Bairnsdale’s Jarrod and Aaron Vague. In the first set, Peter and Maya had no chance of winning, as the first game ended 11-1.
After some careful planning, the second set was a bit better, but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough as Jarrod and Aaron smashed back harder, winning the game 11-6.
Unlike the other two Traralgon teams, Tynen and Saxon Long had a bye in the first round, only to play against Melton’s Juan and Edwin Refuerzo in Round 2. The Longs had met their match as the game was one of four games to reach three sets.
In the first game, the Longs fought hard against the Refuerzo duo, keeping two points ahead with Saxon’s loopy game and Tynen’s accompanying tactic. The Longs took the first set 11-9, only for the Refuerzos to come back in the second set 11-5.
Coming back with a game plan, the Longs fought back and claimed the third and final set 11-9.
Moving Saxon and Tynen into the next round, the duo was met by Albury’s Levi and Paul Geering. The first set seemed like an easy win for the Traralgon brothers, who took it 11-1. A glimmer of hope quickly turned into a tough, well-challenged match. Unfortunately for the Traralgon pair, the Albury team was too strong, taking both sets 11-8.
The final doubles event was the open men’s doubles, with Mark Strini teaming up with Peter Gomez, Mick with Stephen Warr and Heath Sposato with Bairnsdale’s Brandon Bradley.
Only the Warrs and Sposato teams made it into the third round among the Traralgon sides.
With a bye in the first round, Sposato and Bradley went into the second round against Bendigo’s Ben Anderson and Ryan Geier. Bradley and Sposato quickly came out on top, beating the duo in three sets.
Off to the third round, Geelong’s Matthew Avers and Calden Lyons gave Bradley and Sposato a real challenge, with the game going to four sets.
The first two sets didn’t look good for the Gippsland duo, as Geelong’s team ensured no point would get past them. Giving the third set their all, Sposato and Bradley claimed the next set 11-8 after some careful strategising to get the best out of their game. Unfortunately, this was not enough to get past the Geelong duo in the fourth, returning to a no-ball return game.
A similar path was drawn for the Warr brothers, with the duo heading into the semi-finals. Unfortunately for them, they met Albury’s Levi Geering and Mornington’s Myles Collins, who won the overall for the men’s open doubles.
This was the end of the games for Saturday.
SUNDAY night was all about the individual games and player skills.
Starting with the open men’s singles, Sposato, Peter Gomez, Dhiira Slade, Charlie Boyd and Saxon Long played in this section. Unfortunately for Slade, Boyd and Long, the game was very intense, with the three knocked out in Round 1.
Knocked out in Round 2, Gomez had a bye in the first round and then faced Albury’s young gun Levi Geering in the second.
Having a bit more luck with his draw, Sposato also had a bye in the first, then faced Melton’s Aidan D’Crus in the second. Flying through the game against D’Crus, Sposato won 11-5, 11-3 and 11-2, not giving D’Crus a chance to defend against his loops.
Up for a challenging game, Sposato was to play Albury’s Sam Palmer next, who had 1675 points compared to Sposato’s 1429.
Knowing he was up for a challenge, Sposato went all in on the game, with the first set going to Palmer, 11-7. Finding his feet, Sposato exposed some of Palmer’s weaknesses and challenged him in the second set.
While he didn’t win the set, Sposato held his ground with a two-point improvement, leading to a good win in the third. There was lot’s of back-and-forth in the third set, with both players playing for everything they had; Sposato came out on top, 13-11.
Unfortunately, having used up all his energy, Palmer came back to win 11-9 against Sposato in the final set.
Traralgon was a bit luckier in the women’s open singles, with Maya Gomez and Carol Weiying Chen both reaching the semi-finals.
Gomez’s first game was against Leongatha’s Katrina Brandon (who also plays for Traralgon). The two went head-on, with the first set going to Brandon 11-8.
Not looking too good, Gomez stepped back and recalibrated her game, adapting to Brandon’s choice of bat for the night. While still providing a strong game, with little room for mistakes, the two went at it, with Gomez winning the second set 11-9, and the next two sets 11-7 and 11-6.
Moving on to the next round, Gomez was set to play against Ballarat’s Kim James, who put up an even stronger game.
Once again, the first set was taken away from Gomez with an 11-5 win to James. Bringing a plan to the game, Gomez flipped the game around in the second set, taking an 11-6 win.
Seeing the win slip away from her, James stepped up and changed her game around to match Gomez’s, which won her the third set 11-6. But for James, this is where her luck against Gomez ended.
While James did not give up and fought to the end against Gomez, she slipped, losing 12-10 and 11-9 in the final sets.
On to the semi-finals, Gomez played against Bendigo’s Niva Udugama, who was too strong, beating Gomez out of the running for the women’s open singles.
Provided with what could look like an ‘easier’ path, Chen had a bye in the first round and a win in three sets in the second.
It wasn’t until the third round that Chen faced Ronja Lebig, who dominated the women’s open singles, beating Chen in three sets.
Moving over to the open veteran games, Traralgon’s Stephen Warr participated in the veterans men’s singles (O/30&40). Warr had a bye in the first round, with Yarrawonga’s John Wright putting his bat up against Warr first.
Warr made a strong start against Wright, taking the first set 11-7, only for Wright to come back even stronger in the next. Scores went back and forth, with Wright winning the second set 11-9, Warr winning the third 13-11, and Wright again in the fourth 12-10.
Down to the deciding set, Warr fought hard against Wright, with hard work paying off. Warr won the game 11-8, with a lot of back and forth between the two, with Warr’s carefully placed offensive shots and Wright’s motion of set up, defend and push through showing.
With the hard-won victory, Warr moved on to the next game, playing against Mornington’s Justin David. Unfortunately for Warr, David was too strong, winning in three sets.
Playing adjacent to the over 30s and 40s was the vets men’s singles over 60s, with Peter Gomez in the running.
Starting off well, Gomez had a default when his opponent failed to appear for the game, advancing him to the next round, which happened to be a bye.
Then playing Mornington’s Andy Barker in the semi-finals, Gomez was ready to get on court. Meeting the mark, Barker drove Gomez to an 11-9 game, with Gomez claiming the first win.
Regrouping for the second set, Barker moved through Gomez’s defences with an 11-6 win. Time to smash back, Gomez jumped into the third set, taking it 11-8, ready for a strong fight for the next one.
Unfortunately for Gomez, Baker boosted his game, taking the next two sets 12-10 and 11-7.
Done with veteran and gendered games, only the grades were left to play, with Traralgon players taking part in the B, C and E Grade singles.
In the B Grade singles, Peter Gomez and Chen played in the section. Unfortunately, Chen once again went head on against Udugama, falling in three sets.
Gomez had a little more luck, playing Bendigo’s Sid Paton first up.
A match as close as you can make it, Paton and Gomez were set for a game to watch, with the game going to five sets.
Gomez claimed the first match, with the game showing a tight squeeze, and a pair with matching game styles. Gomez took the first set 11-9, only for Paton to come back in the second. Points were in Paton’s favour as both the second and third set seemed like easy wins looking at the scores of 11-5.
Watching the game slip away, Gomez stepped up his game with an 11-9 win getting him into the fifth set, where they were at each others noses. Tipping the scales in Gomez’s favour, Paton fought hard but couldn’t quite get through Gomez’s defence, losing 13-11.
On to the next match, Gomez then played against Yarrawonga’s Andrew Tegelaers. While the game was only in three sets, it could have gone either way. The first two sets weren’t too great for Gomez, the third and final set saw a massive improvement, pushing the set into the double digits. Unfortunately, it was too late for Gomez to turn the game around, losing 13-11.
Next was the C Grade finals featuring Traralgon’s Kamy Wu, Saxon Long, Tynen Long, Patrik Wu and Alan Griffin (who played for Bairnsdale). All the Traralgon players were knocked out in the first round but showed impressive games.
In the first round, Wu played against Leongatha’s Dirk Holwerda and was beaten. The loss wasn’t a total failure as Kamy made sure to give Holwerda trouble with no sets dropping the losing player below seven points.
Holwerda won sets one, three and four all 11-8, with Wu’s smash game against Holwerda’s tricky chop and defend style holding its own. In the second set, Wu tried all his might against Holwerda, beating him 11-7. Unfortunately, this was not enough to knock his opponent over.
Tynen also showed an impressive first round against Sunbury’s Winter Thomas, where he pushed the game to five sets.
Set one and two were a tough fight, with Tynen winning both. Thomas started off playing a strong game, fighting for every point, but ended up falling 13-11 and then 11-9.
Thomas had a power boost. As Tynen looked for a possible third and final set, Thomas fled passed him with more power in the third, throwing Tynen off his game. Tynen lost the third and fourth sets 11-6 and 11-5.
With the final moments of the game, both players went will all their might, with Thomas taking the game 11-9.
Saxon played Griffin in the first round, just for Griffin to be knocked out in the next round.
Finally in E Grade, Gavin Carrigg and Katrina Brandon participated in the graded section, even playing each other in the semi-finals.
Carrigg played against Yarrawonga’s Renee McCarthy in the first round, winning in four sets.
In the second round, Carrigg played against Ballarat’s Albert Pan, where he saw a clear win in three sets.
Off to play Brandon in the semi-finals, this is where the real fight began.
Brandon played against Bendigo youngster Jedd Anderson in the first round, where she also saw an easy game, moving on to her next round. Next was against Mornington’s Paulina Welbourne; Brandon was faced with a larger challenge.
The start of the game didn’t look good for Brandon as Welbourne took the first set 11-6. The second set was full of smash-rallies between the two. Playing it safe, Brandon’s careful game of just knocking the ball enough to roll over the net, she ended up taking the second seat 11-9.
The intensity grew between the two, with Welbourne taking the third set 12-10 and Brandon 11-9 in the fourth.
Down to the final set, the two kept miss-matching their games to push each other over the edge. In the end, Brandon took the set 11-8.
Now against Carrigg, the game heated up.
It was now Traralgon versus Leongatha.
Brandon took the first set 11-9, bringing out her signature smash, which Carrigg has mentioned is “scary”. Realising he was playing the wrong game against Brandon, he switched up to a spin game, meaning Brandon would have to change her style.
Carrigg took the next three sets easily, 11-8, 11-7 and finally 11-8, with Brandon giving in for the night.
In the finals, Carrigg played against Joshua Huang, who took the game in four, not too different from his game against Brandon.
