SOUTHLAND RESIDENTIALS, INVERCARGILL – 7TH SEPTEMBER 2024
The ILT Southland Residential Table Tennis Championship took place at Garrett Stadium on Saturday. There were some great games throughout the day with 51 players participating in the event.
Willie Brocks continued his great form, winning his third successive Residential Open Men’s title. However, he had to battle hard with a great come back victory winning the 7th game 11-9 over newcomer Pepe Mag-Abo (Formerly from the Philippines) to take out the title. It was a thrilling game and one of the best finals seen here with Willie narrowly taken the win. He turned the tables over Pepe who beat Willie twice earlier on in the day in age group games. He also teamed up with Richard Cavanagh to win the open doubles title over Steve McVicar and Andrew Fleming in 4 games in the final. He also took out the Mixed Doubles final with Gemma Buzzard where they beat Nathan Kennedy and Megan Parkinson to take out the title 3 games to 0.
Not to be outdone Gemma Buzzard won her 4th successive Residential Open Womans title beating Lynley Routhan by 4 games to 2 in a hard-fought game. Top Southland junior player Emma Bathurst teamed up with experienced player Lynley Routhan to win the Open Womans doubles.
Some other highlights in junior events – Keegan Jackson won both the U19 and U21 combined singles events, up in comer Slade Fordyce took out the U15 combined singles, Aatman Parashar won the U13 event and George Ramsey the U11 event.
In senior events – Pepe Mag-Abo was the deserved winner taking out the O45 title with Willie Brocks winning both the O30 and O60 events. It was also fantastic to see a new event created this year for Parkinson players. 4 Players took place with Jillian Howie taking the title.
Slade Fordyce won the award for umpire of the day.
Thank you to the organisers in a great day of table tennis, Gemma, Megan and Gillian – who ran tournament planner, Richard, Nathan, Wayne, Ron and all the parents who helped on the day. Also a big thank you to Renata who ran the canteen, which takes a lot of time.
Unfortunately, a sad day for Southland as well with Gemma Buzzard moving to Christchurch at the end of the month. Gemma has done a lot for Table Tennis in our region and I’d like to thank her for everything she has done and all the best for her future. She will represent Southland in the Womans Number 1 team at the New Zealand Nationals being held in Nelson in early October.
Full results of all events can be found on Tournament Planner.
See below for some photos from our day.
Thanking You
Richard C
Chairman
Table tennis Southland