Kevin Sunich

Ari­ma Hawks' Reeza Burke and Cur­tis Humphreys, of UTT, will face off in the men's sin­gles fi­nal when the So­lo Na­tion­al Ta­ble-Ten­nis Cham­pi­onships end at the Cen­tral Re­gion­al In­door Sports Are­na, Ch­agua­nas tonight, from 6pm. The duo will al­so be on op­pos­ing ends in the Mixed Dou­bles fi­nal as well as the In­ter-Team de­ciders. In the Men's Dou­bles, Burke a four-time na­tion­al sin­gles cham­pi­on, and An­son Welling­ton will be hop­ing to re­peat as cham­pi­ons against Humphreys' and his younger broth­er Alar­ic. This af­ter Burke and Welling­ton de­feat­ed UTT's Yu­vraj Dookram and Ever­ton Sorzano 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10 in their semi­fi­nal and the Humphreys' broth­ers crushed Me­shach Pil­lai and Aaron Wil­son 11-6, 11-7, 11-4.

Burke will part­ner Na­tal­ie Montes in the Mixed Dou­bles fi­nal ver­sus Humphreys (C) and Jinelle Nor­eiga. The Hawks pair stopped As­tra Ed­wards-Bur­nette and Alar­ic Humphreys 12-10, 11-9, 11-2 and Humphreys (C) and Jinelle Nor­eiga, bat­tled past UTT's Kris­ten Sci­pio and Ter­rell Ab­bott 11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9 in Sat­ur­day's semis. The Women's Dou­bles de­cider will see new­ly-crowned na­tion­al sin­gles cham­pi­on, Ed­wards-Bur­nette and her UTT team-mate, Kris­ten Sci­pio up against Ver­na Ed­wards'(As­tra's moth­er) and Av­er­nelle Abra­ham of Glad­i­a­tors. Ed­wards and Abra­ham reached the fi­nal with an 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 beat­ing of young­sters, Artie­nea Gre­goire and Ade­fa James; and Ed­wards-Bur­nette and Sci­pio came from be­hind to beat Cather­ine Spicer and Krys­tal Tay­lor 7-11, 11-13, 11-5, 11-8, 11-3. Ed­wards-Bur­nette will al­so be on the hunt for a hat-trick of ti­tles as she leads UTT I in­to bat­tle with Wood­brook Glad­i­a­tors and Hawks in a three-team women's round-robin fi­nal.

...Ed­wards, Nan­ton crowned cham­pi­ons

On Sun­day, Ed­wards-Bur­nette and Michael Nan­ton of Hawks were crowned new Open Sin­gles cham­pi­ons re­spec­tive­ly at the same venue. Ed­wards-Bur­nette, who was run­ner-up to her old­er sis­ter Aleena Ed­wards in last year's fi­nal, went one step bet­ter this time out by out­last­ing 15-year-old Cather­ine Spicer, her na­tion­al team­mate 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8. Aleena Ed­wards, an eight-time na­tion­al cham­pi­on, was un­able to de­fend her crown due to stud­ies in Wales. Ear­li­er in the last-four clash, Ed­wards-Bur­nette took care of Na­tal­ie Montes of Hawks' 15-13, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6 and Spicer de­feat­ed Renu­ka Sitram 11-3, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-2. The men's cham­pi­onship match was some­what of an an­ti­cli­max as Nan­ton swept past 44-year-old Dayanand Ma­haraj 11-5, 11-6, 1-8, 11-5.

Nan­ton head ear­li­er booked a spot in the ti­tle match beat­ing Kris Frank 11-8, 13-11, 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, 12-10 and Ma­haraj eased past Ter­ry Corbin 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4. Corbin was re­spon­si­ble for dump­ing last year's win­ner, Li­onel Darceuil, 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5 in the quar­ter­fi­nals Ed­wards, Nan­ton crowned cham­pi­ons. On Sun­day, Ed­wards-Bur­nette and Michael Nan­ton of Hawks were crowned new Open Sin­gles cham­pi­ons re­spec­tive­ly at the same venue. Ed­wards-Bur­nette, who was run­ner-up to her old­er sis­ter Aleena Ed­wards in last year's fi­nal, went one step bet­ter this time out by out­last­ing 15-year-old Cather­ine Spicer, her na­tion­al team­mate 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8. Aleena Ed­wards, an eight-time na­tion­al cham­pi­on, was un­able to de­fend her crown due to stud­ies in Wales. Ear­li­er in the last-four clash, Ed­wards-Bur­nette took care of Na­tal­ie Montes of Hawks' 15-13, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6 and Spicer de­feat­ed Renu­ka Sitram 11-3, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-2