NATIONAL Junior cadet table tennis players and Bishops’ High School students Kristian Sahadeo and Jonathan Van Lange again turned in impressive performances on the USA Junior circuit when they participated in the monthly American Asian Cultural Centre Tribeca Table Tennis tournament held last Sunday, in Flushing, New York, USA.

Sahadeo, a 2016 ITTF Caribbean World Hopes product, just off of his scintillating performance in the Joola North American Teams table tennis championships, with a new rating of (1510) triumphed in the Under 1650 event, rebounding from an earlier loss in the group stages, he ousted Number 1 seed Xiao Li (1558) 3-2 in the semi-finals before smashing past Grisel Thomas (1363) in the final.

He also participated in three other events namely under 1850 ,2050 and under 3900 Doubles In the 1850 he managed to get to the semi-finals with 3-0 victories over Shaun Abrams(1783),Xiao Li (1558) and 3-2 against Kevin Chow (1097)in the group stage
In the quarter-final he surged past Carlos Gutierrez (1593) whom he had earlier lost to in the 2050 event before bowing out to No.2 seed Jingjing 3-0 in the next round. In the 2050 he failed to advance from his group despite picking up single games against some 1800 level players.

Van Lange (ranking 1888) partnered NYU player Michael Song (1021) to win the 3900 Doubles event defeating all the teams in the round-robin finals.
In other events he captured second place in the U-2050 event losing to William Song (1931) 3-1 in the final.

In the 2150 he lost in the semi-finals to Amir Khan (1911) after playing unbeaten in the group stage with a victory over No.2 seed Mukaila Rabiu (2042).
Rabiu again suffered at the hands of Van Lange in the Under-2300 event in the Group stages. Van Lange, however, could not produce another whirlwind display, succumbing to Ren Lei (2008)3-0 in the quarter-finals. Lei, it must be noted, plays a similar style to Amir Khan using long pips and anti-spin rubbers.

The players are scheduled to participate in a 3-day Winter table tennis training Camp and Westchester December Open before returning home the first week in January.
The players are working under the tutelage of 11-time national champion Sydney Christophe. They will be participating in training camps and competitions aimed at improving their technical and tactical abilities in preparation for other key regional encounters in 2019. They are in the USA with their parents as part of their development.

Christophe, in an invited comment, indicated that he was very honoured to once again work with Guyana’s young table tennis talents. He expressed admiration for the attributes displayed by Jonathan and Krystian who, he believes, have the talent to excel and reach the highest level once nurtured in the correct environment. He also noted that the players are a “coach’s dream: tenacious, talented, clever, with great work ethics and disciplined”.
Christophe is an ITTF Level Three Coach and ITTF Course conductor with a wealth of experience