…‘Focused’ Van Lange wins Cadet and Junior Challenge titles

JASMINE Billingy and Jonathan Van Lange are not just the future of table tennis – they are also the present. The Titans Table Tennis Club players dominated the GTTA Cadet and Junior Challenge, which was played at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Monday.

The Challenge, which attracted 53 players in total, was held by the national association to keep the young players active.

Both Van Lange and Billingy had won titles over the weekend at the GTTA National Mini- and Pre-Cadet Table Tennis Championships, which was held at the same venue.

Nine-year-old Billingy won both Mini-Cadet (11-and-under) and Pre-Cadet (13-and-under) competitions, while Van Lange had defended his Pre-Cadet title.

The 12-year-old, who won the National Cadet and Junior Championships in March this year proved his dominance at the 18-and-under level, by stopping all challengers.

FOCUSSED
According to the pre-teen, although he emerged victorious, he needed to stay focussed and had to implement new strategies when needed.

“It was very challenging, especially as there were players who had a lot of experience in the discipline, so I had to be very vigilant and with the help of God and the support of family and friends I pulled through.”

The youngster, who is also a quality cricketer, said he had solid training help for the event.

“I managed to put in the hours with coach Dwain Dick who is very determined and committed to this sport. I also received some useful advice and tactics from veteran Colin France. Hopefully, I could get some much more needed hours in training as I am not where I would like to be; as getting to the top is much easier than staying at the top.”

Van Lange defeated Jamal Nicholas in the 18-and-under final by a 3-1 (12-10, 11-4, 7-11 and 11-8) margin.

Van Lange had defeated Terrence Rausch 3-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-9 and 12-10) in a close semi-finals, while Nicholas had gotten past Isaiah Layne 3-0 (11-8, 13-11, 11-4) in the other final-four clash.

Both Rausch and Layne finished joint third.

Layne battled against Van Lange in the 15-and-under final.  Van Lange, who called the match his toughest for the day, said that he was exhausted.  He won the opening game 11-8, before losing the next two 8-11, 9-11.  The youngster got his second wins in the fourth game and drew the clash even with an 11-2 win, before he claimed victory at 11-7.

Colin Wong and Krystian Sahadeo finished joint third in the 15-and-under division.

IMPROVEMENT
Billingy, who continues to improve, got past Nkechi McRae in both the 15-and-under and the 18-and-under finals.

Both girls played some quality table tennis to reach the 15-and-under final unbeaten, but in the championship clash, Billingy surged ahead 3-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8).

Tatyana Mohamed claimed third place, Rose-Anna Saunders fourth and Racheal Saunders fifth.  Meanwhile in the 18-and-under final, Billingy dispatched McRae by a 3-0 margin (11-6, 11-1, 11-9), while Mohamed and Rose-Anna Saunders finished joint third.