Table tennis season ends on a high

THE junior table tennis season was concluded at Swakopmund recently when ten teams participated in the FNB Inter-schools Coastal Championships in the Haus der Jugend.

Two teams from Rehoboth, Dr Lemmer High School and the Reho Table Tennis Club, travelled to the coast to compete against the teams of Namib High School, Westside High School, Herman Gmeiner Technical School and the Kuisebmond Secondary School. The tournament showcased some promising talent at the coast who, with the proper guidance, can reach great heights in Namibian table tennis.The participating teams contested the championships in two sections on a round robin basis.In the B-section, the Westside High School B-team emerged as the overall winners.The team, consisting of Damien Rickerts, Calla Joone and Yasmin Kaeser, proved too strong for the opposition in their section in which they finished unbeaten in the first place.In the playout for promotion to the A-section, they easily beat the Herman Gmeiner Technical School A-team, consisting of David Guruseb and Kevin Haraeb by 6-3.The competition in the A-section proved to be closer as only minimal points separated the first two teams, the Reho School.The most outstanding player of the championships was David Guruseb of the Herman Gmeiner Technical School.This promising youngster caused the upset of the tournament when he beat the reigning singles champion, Allister Baron, in straight sets in the encounter against the Reho Club.To add insult to injury, Guruseb, in the same match, also beat the second ranked junior singles player, Hughan Cloete, in straight sets.In fact, Guruseb won all but one of his games in this tournament – losing only to Even Dumeni of the Namib High School.The most exciting match of the tournament, which produced table tennis of a high standard was the one between Reho Club and Namib High School.Although Arnim Ritter, Even Dumeni and Kevin Baumann put up a brave fight against Baron, Cloete and Warren Rittmann of the Reho Club, they had no counter to their rivals’ fierce attack and bowed out narrowly by 3-2.The President of the Namibia Table Tennis Union, Siggi Goebel, expressed her appreciation to FNB Namibia for its sponsorship which made the event possible.She said that without FNB’s assistance, table tennis would not have grown to the extent that it has in especially Rehoboth, Mariental and Swakopmund.”FNB has been sponsoring this tournament for the past 14 years, and it is encouraging to see that the bank continues to invest in a sport which, although not such a popular spectator sport, still tries its best to get the youth of the country involved in something positive.I hope that FNB will back us for a long time to come still,” she said.The tournament showcased some promising talent at the coast who, with the proper guidance, can reach great heights in Namibian table tennis.The participating teams contested the championships in two sections on a round robin basis.In the B-section, the Westside High School B-team emerged as the overall winners.The team, consisting of Damien Rickerts, Calla Joone and Yasmin Kaeser, proved too strong for the opposition in their section in which they finished unbeaten in the first place.In the playout for promotion to the A-section, they easily beat the Herman Gmeiner Technical School A-team, consisting of David Guruseb and Kevin Haraeb by 6-3.The competition in the A-section proved to be closer as only minimal points separated the first two teams, the Reho School.The most outstanding player of the championships was David Guruseb of the Herman Gmeiner Technical School.This promising youngster caused the upset of the tournament when he beat the reigning singles champion, Allister Baron, in straight sets in the encounter against the Reho Club.To add insult to injury, Guruseb, in the same match, also beat the second ranked junior singles player, Hughan Cloete, in straight sets.In fact, Guruseb won all but one of his games in this tournament – losing only to Even Dumeni of the Namib High School.The most exciting match of the tournament, which produced table tennis of a high standard was the one between Reho Club and Namib High School.Although Arnim Ritter, Even Dumeni and Kevin Baumann put up a brave fight against Baron, Cloete and Warren Rittmann of the Reho Club, they had no counter to their rivals’ fierce attack and bowed out narrowly by 3-2.The President of the Namibia Table Tennis Union, Siggi Goebel, expressed her appreciation to FNB Namibia for its sponsorship which made the event possible.She said that without FNB’s assistance, table tennis would not have grown to the extent that it has in especially Rehoboth, Mariental and Swakopmund.”FNB has been sponsoring this tournament for the past 14 years, and it is encouraging to see that the bank continues to invest in a sport which, although not such a popular spectator sport, still tries its best to get the youth of the country involved in something positive.I hope that FNB will back us for a long time to come still,” she said.