By Stephan Sookram

IT WAS a memorable night for young Kyle Edghill as his roars of satisfaction filled the National Gymnasium just moments after winning the Under-18 division of the National Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships.Edghill, showing true grit and class, outshone Shemar Britton 3-1 in a tense final of the Guyana Table Tennis Association-organised tournament Sunday evening, reducing the later to second place.
On his march to glory, the 2016 champion also had successful run-ins with Miguel Wong (3-0), Nicholus Romain (3-1), Sheldon Atherley of Bartica (3-0), Yeudistir Persaud (3-0) and Jamaal Nicholas (3-0). His only loss of the round-robin phase was to third-placed Elishaba Johnson (1-3).
Speaking to the media, Kyle, the brother of female Caribbean Champion Chelsea Edghill, contended, “I got what I wanted,” adding, “I was just playing in the moment. I kept on focusing and going through with my game strategy.”
“I tried my best. I trained during the week and tried to get my game in order before I came here,” the national champion said.
Meanwhile,. president of the GTTA, Godfrey Munroe, contended that the tournament was a good one which yielded many positives for the sport, notably the introduction of the novices class.
In other results, Selenas Jackman took the top spot in the round-robin competition after beating Nevaeh Clarkston 3-1, Aneka Phillips 3-2 and Dovanna Bess 3-2. Clarkston defeated Phillips and Bess for second place while Phillips defeated Bess for third place.
In the juniors’ Boys 15 years and under which was again round-robin, Nicholas Romain defeated 11-year-old second-place finisher Kaysan Ninvalle 3-0, and third-place finisher Vicente Henery 3-0 as well as fourth-placed Terrence Rausch 3-0, to taste glory on the evening. On the distaff end, Selenas Jackman defeated Nevaeh Clarkston 3-0 in the final while third place went to Aneka Phillips.
Ninvalle had a good day at the office in the Under-13 division as he defeated Niron Bissu 3-1 while third place went to Isaiah Layne. For the girls Clarkston defeated Abagail Martin 3-0 and third place went to Janay Prescott Johnson
Ninvalle also picked up the 11 years and under boys title after pushing past Dhanesh Persaud, who finished second and third place went to Colin Wong. Thuraia Thomas defeated Kassia Liverpool 3-0 in the female segment.
9 years and round-robin final: Colin Wong finished first. He defeated Alexandre DeAbreu, Dhanesh Persaud, Christopher Shepperd and Paul David Bess, 2nd DeAbreu, 3rd Persaud, 4th Shepperd and 5th Bess.
In the newly created Novice division, Jonathon Van Lange and Tahira Stall emerged as male and female champions respectively.