USA-based Derron Douglas won both his matches in four sets as the Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) table tennis team all but secured the title when they defeated title challengers WASA Club in their top-of-the-table clash in the T&T Table Tennis Association Premier Division League at the Queen's Park Oval, Tragarete Road, Port-of-Spain on Friday.
Douglas got the Parkites off to a winning start via his 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 defeat of Alaric Humphreys, while Guyana's Shemar Britton extended the advantage in the best-of-the-five series after he humbled Curtis Humphreys 11-4, 11-3, 11-7.
Jean Marc Lee Fai pulled one back for WASA courtesy an 11-7, 5-11, 13-11, 12-10 against Joshua Maxwell as they aimed to make a stunning fight back in an effort to lay claim to the league title. But, that was as close as his team would get as Douglas then overcame Humphreys 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 to seal a 3-1 triumph for his team. It was their ninth win from as many matches to move to 27 points and one match left to play against Servivors, one point ahead of WASA which ended its ten-match schedule with 26 points.
On Thursday, QPCC swept past Smalta Crusaders 3-0 with Yuvraaj Dookram beating Anthony "Sandfly" Brown 11-5, 12-10, 11-9; Douglas overcoming N'Kosi Rouse 11-6, 11-7, 11-4, and recent Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI) Silver Bowl women's Open title winner Imani Edwards-Taylor spanking Kwame Laurence 11-5, 11-4, 11-6.
Luc O'Young led Carenage Blasters to a 3-1 triumph over the University of T&T (UTT) by winning both his matches, firstly over Ameer Mohammed 6-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-5, and Andrew Edwards 10-12, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7.
Abai Lal had the other win for Blasters' 11-2, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 while Edwards got the lone win for UTT, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11, 12-10.
Sunday, Arima Hawks host Powergen and UTT both at the Arima Community Centre from 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm, respectively while on Monday, Blasters host Servivors at the Carenage Community Centre from 6 pm.
Latest standings
Pos Team P W L M/Won M/Lost Diff Pts
1 QPCC 9 9 0 27 5 22 27
2 WASA 10 8 2 27 12 15 26
3 Crusaders 10 7 3 23 18 5 24
4 UTT 9 5 4 17 15 2 19
5 Renegades 10 5 5 20 19 1 19
6 Blasters 8 5 3 19 14 5 18
7 Powergen 9 3 6 12 23 -11 15
8 Servivors 8 3 5 13 19 -6 14
9 D’Abadie Youths 10 2 8 15 27 -12 14
10 Couva Trailblazers 10 1 9 10 28 -18 12
11 Arima Hawks 7 2 5 14 17 -3 11