Young stars shine bright

Table tennis
Tielman Van Lill
  • 7 Months Ago 21 May 2024
The Namibia Table Tennis Association (NTTA) hosted their national junior championships at Wanderers in Windhoek last weekend.

The boys competed in under-11, 15 and 19 age groups, while the girls played in under-15 and 19.

Besides the singles competition, the young stars also faced each other in girls and boys doubles and mixed doubles.

In the girls category Lian Gebauer was dominant despite her young age. She saw off challenges from fellow national team members like Cadence Farmer, Justina Namupolo and Karolina Shigwedha to clinch both the under-15 and under-19 singles titles.

Shigwedha was the runner-up in the under-15 singles, while Farmer clinched the silver medal in the under 19 category.

Lian Gebauer, Cadence Farmer, Karolina Shigwedha and Justina Namupolo will represent Namibia at the African Youth table tennis championship during July in Gaborone, Botswana.

The boys U11 saw a continuation of the battle between Terrence Kandandara and Wilhelm Twyman. Kandandara won the final with Twyman taking silver. The bronze medals went to Killian Beukes and Eliakim Namhila.

In the boys U15 and U19 age groups Kevin Zhang, Kamrouz Ghayouri and Caden Bosman were in a three-horse race. The trio are entangled in a very close rivalry for the top spot as best singles boys player.

Top seed Zhang clinched both the U15 and U19 titles, taking revenge for losses he suffered at the recently concluded Simonis Storm & Arysteq Singles Challenge.

Ghayouri beat Bosman in the semi-finals of both age groups to set up both finals against Zhang. The pair delivered two spectacular finals that often had spectators on their feet in admiration.

Ghayouri, who still played as U12 during 2023, came close to beat Zhang, but his older opponent managed to hang on and eventually win both age groups.

The above named trio, along with Agape Chicalu, will represent Namibia in Gaborone.



Doubles

The girls competition went precisely according to the rankings.

Lian Gebauer and Santie van der Walt beat second-seeded Karolina Shigwedha and Justina Namupolo.

Ester Shatika/Suvera Ikorua as well as Cadence Farmer/Kelly Zhang were eliminated in the semi-finals, with bronze awarded to each pair.

The boys doubles final was contested by Ghayouri/Zhang versus Bosman/Pascal Eysselein. They eliminated Chicalu/ Eeno Uusiku and Kandandara/Twyman in the semi-finals, respectively.

Bosman and Eysselein caused a huge upset when they beat Ghayouri and Zhang which were the favourites to win the final.

Lian Gebauer concluded a clean sweep with four gold medals for the day when she and partner Caden Bosman won the mixed doubles by beating Cadence Farmer and Kevin Zhang in the final.

The beaten semi-finalists were Ghayouri/Namupolo and Van der Walt/Eysselein.

The national coach, Simon Gologolo, attended the event and expressed his satisfaction with the general performance of the top players.

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