NATIONAL players Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin teamed up to defeat Donald Duff and Jamal Duff in the open doubles, while Kaysan Ninvalle and Tyriq Saunders were also among those who registered wins when the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) kick-started their 2017 season with a Novices, Doubles and Fundamental Challenge tournament last weekend at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

After ousting Joel Alleyne and Trenace Lowe in a 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7 victory, Britton and Franklin went on to triumph 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 over the team of Donald and Jamal Duff. The Duffs had earlier, in the semi-finals, succeeded 11-13, 8-11, 13-11, 11-4, 12-10 over Elishaba Johnson and Nigel Bryan.

Johnson and Bryan shared third place with Alleyne and Lowe. Alleyne and Lowe fared better in the mixed doubles, where Bryan once again failed to find his footings and carve out a win.
This time, collaborating with junior Priscilla Greaves, Bryan went down 16-14, 6-11, 7-11, 7-11 as Alleyne and Lowe prevailed in the mixed doubles final.
Britton also suffered losses in this category, where he and his partner Candace McKenzie shared third place behind team Miguel Wong/Natalie Cummings.

Alleyne and Lowe overthrew Britton and McKenzie with straight-sets wins in the semi-finals (11-7, 11-5, 11-4). The Bryan/Greaves combination was able to take out Cummings and Wong in another straight-sets match (11-9, 11-8, 11-7).
For the junior doubles Tyriq Saunders joined forces with Nicholus Romain to rule over Terrance Rausch and Jamal Nicholas, winning 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 13-11.

Johnson and Greaves were left to share third place with Wong and Niran Bissu. Over in the pre-cadet doubles Kaysan Ninvalle and Isaiah Layne were not to be stopped, and came out championing the category after beating Jonathan Van Lange and Dhanesh Persaud 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
In the Novices category 34 entrants from Georgetown, Linden, Essequibo, East Coast and East Bank cameg out to test their skills and see how they have improved.

In the end Karl Nedd of the Table Tennis Academy took home the win after getting the better of Buxton Table Tennis Club’s DeAndre Gordon, in a straight-sets win 11-4, 11-2, 13-11.
The novices’ female finals went to another TTA pupil, Tirishatha Semple who defeated East bank table Tennis Club’s Nkechi McRae. McRae went under 4-11, 9-11, 9-11.
The tournament also featured a fundamental challenge component which saw a three-minute pre-cadet rally being won by Van Lange and Layne, who finished on top with 111 rallies. Krystian Sahadeo and Colin Wong finished second with 99 rallies and third place went to Thuraia Thomas and Shania Barrow with 43.

Juniors three-minute rally win went to Johnson and Greaves with 142 rallies, second went to Nevaeh Clarkston and Selenas Jackman with 131.
For the seniors, Jamal Duff and Clarkston topped with 178 rallies, Franklin and Britton finished with 159, while Cummings and Dwain Dick had 145.