Former national champion Anthony “Sandfly” Brown turned back the clock in winning both his matches, to lift Solo Crusaders past host Queen’s Park Parkites in the opening match of the inaugural seven-team Table Tennis Champions League on Monday night.
Playing under strict health protocols and guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Indoor Racquet Centre, Queen’s Park Oval Table Tennis venue Tragarete Road, Brown, a past Senior Caribbean Men’s Doubles champion with the deceased Dexter St Louis handed his team a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five match series by defeating national youth player Joshua Maxwell 11-7, 11-2, 11-5.
However, the Parkites got back on level terms thanks to 17-year-old national senior men’s player Derron Douglas, ranked fourth in the country via his 11-6, 12-14, 11-7, 11-9 triumph over N’Kosi Rouse.
Javier King, another upcoming national junior player handed the Parkites the lead for the first time on the evening thanks to his hard-fought come-from-behind 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9 win against Andrew Alexander.
Facing defeat, Brown then kept Crusaders alive in the contest when he outplayed Douglas in another five-setter 6-11, 11-4, 2-11, 11-5, 11-6 to set up the fifth and deciding match which Rouse won, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9, 12-10 against Maxwell.
The win was a perfect start for Crusaders to the tournament who next face WASA on Thursday at Himalaya Sports Club, Barataria from 7 pm, while the Parkites, who are without Guyana’s Shemar Britton, a former regional Under-21 champion, will next play Renegades on Saturday at Tragarete Road from 6.30 pm.
On Tuesday night, WASA served off its campaign against Survivors today (Wednesday), D’Abadie Youths will host Southerners at D’Abadie Community Centre, D’Abadie instead of Siparia Community Centre.
And in Thursday’s other matches, D’Abadie Youths entertains Survivors while the match between Renegades and Southerners which was postponed on Monday, comes off at Siparia, from 7 pm and 7.30 pm respectively.
The start of the six weeks competition for A1 and A2 players which is expected to conclude in March marked a welcome return to action for players, and is only the second event played locally since the Silver Bowl Championships was the first sporting event halted in the country due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) last year
Participating Teams:
QPCC Parkites: Shemar Britton, Darren Douglas, Aaron Edwards, Joshua Maxwell, Brittany Joseph, Javier King.
Southerners: Wayne Oudit, Anson Lowkie, Ishwar Sookoonsingh, Terry Corbin, Kevin Redhead.
Solo Crusaders: N’Kosi Rouse, Chloe Fraser, Anthony Brown, Andrew Alexander, Kwame Laurence, Dayanand Maharaj, Billy Guo.
Survivors: Michael Fong, Sharaaz Ali, Rafael Mohammed, Saleem Mohammed, Isa Mohammed, Riad Abasali, Musaahib Newaj.
D’Abadie Youths: Anson Wellington, Everton Sorzano, Edwin Humphreys, Declan John, Sarvesh Mungal, Sherdon Pierre, Carlisle Cleveland.
WASA: Curtis Humphreys, Alaric Humphreys, Kyle Borneo, Vinoo Maraj, Daveon Humphreys.
Renegades: Yuvraaj Dookram, Ancil Russell, Franklyn Seechan, Kirk Mohammed, David Mahabir, Kenneth Parmanand