Queen's Park triumph in ICWI table tennis

Queen's Park Table Tennis Club lifted the Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI) Table Tennis Champions League team trophy, after defeating Carenage Blasters in the final on Sunday at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya.

QPCC have been in excellent form after claiming the TT Table Tennis Association Nationals men's and women's teams event a week ago against the same opponents. Blasters were hoping to exact revenge, but QPCC were too strong and the unavailability of veteran player Reeza Burke on the final day made it an uphill task.

National player Derron Douglas of QPCC got the ball rolling with a clean sweep of Blasters' Gabriel John 3-0 (11:6, 11:6, 11:8). However, the tournament's singles champion and number-one ranked Aaron Wilson pulled a game back for Blasters against Joshua Maxwell in a tense battle 3-1 (7:11, 11:6, 11:3, 13:11).

Yuvraaj Dookram retook the lead for QPCC securing a close victory over Luc O`Young 3-1 (9:11, 11:2, 14:12, 11:9). Maxwell, who played exceptionally last week at Nationals, sealed the victory for QPCC with a comfortable 3-0 (11:8, 11:5, 11:5) result over Abhai Lal.

QPCC walked away with the first prize of $15,000 while Carenage Blasters claimed $7,000, and Legends secured the bronze medal and $3,000.

In the semis, QPCC defeated Powergen 3-0 in a one-sided affair. Douglas swept Rod Singh 3-0 (11:7, 11:9, 11:6) to give QPCC the lead. Dookram then got past Anson Lowkie 3-1 (11:5, 8:11, 11:6, 11:6) to extend the lead for the Parkites. Maxwell once again brought his team home with a comprehensive victory over Josiah Joseph 3-0 (11:8, 11:7, 11:9).

Blasters had a more difficult task in overcoming Legends, but the Carenage-based team eventually won 3-1 in their semi-final. Arun Roopnarine claimed the lone victory for Legends over national junior player John 3-0 (11:9, 11:8, 11:6).

Wilson triumphed over Barbadian Trevor Farley 3-0 (11:5, 11:8 and a walkover in the last game) levelling the match at 1-1. O'Young outclassed Andrew Edwards 3-1 (11:4, 11:7, 10:12, 11:2) to take the advantage 2-1. Wilson returned to seal the victory against Guyanese Colin Wong 3-0 (11:3, 11:7, 11:9).