Rockhampton table tennis championship

By Allan Clarke

Interest is building for the Rockhampton Open Table Tennis Championships that are being staged at the city's headquarters for the sport on Leichhardt Park on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 May.

It is hoped that players from other clubs in other cities will take advantage of this competition as part of their build-up towards the Queensland Open Championships at Bundaberg during the first weekend of June and the national senior and junior titles in Sydney very early in July.

Whilst entries close at the local club next Monday, early nominations are indicating that there will be an array of players taking part in the various age and ratings events that sit under the prestigious open events where the leading players are always trying to return performances that keeps their names in the minds of state selectors.

The Bernie's Pies men's open singles and doubles draws should attract some strong players and turn on excellent matches while the Bolsover Radiology women's open singles, the women's doubles and mixed open doubles will see all the top-liners at the tournament taking part.

The Chauvel Industrial Services ratings events are the section that usually attracts the most entries and with people wanting to improve their tournament ratings very competitive clashes are always on show in the four sections that this year's Rocky Open has included on the program.

This ratings section, which actually sits under the open events, is where all players can enter events based on their tournament rating which is generated by a computer-based program according to performances. This section has both males and females taking part in the same competitions.

Players of all ages will take to the courts to contest the Lawless-Pyne Electrical age events.

The veteran singles and doubles cover over 30, over 40, over 50, and over 60 while the youth and junior competitions cater to six age groups from under-21 through to under-11.

Local players, who have been using their weekly fixture activities to keep their games up to scratch with the keener ones travelling on the state's busy tournament circuit, are reminded that they need to submit their entry for the club's annual major carnival by next Monday.

After a few weeks of play in the second season for the year, in the top division of open grade, the combination of Rayden Smith and Erica Nolan hold a slender one-point lead over Matthew Pettett and Glen McDonald while Joel Coughlan and Ann-Louise Stewart and Dane Coughlan and Relly Pingol share third sport only one point off the pace.

The leaderboard is fairly tight in the second section with Pam Clarke and Leo Lai holding a one-point cushion over Nick Green and Linda O’Sullivan and several other sides are not far behind and have the talent and the time to move upwards.

The beginner junior coaching session continues on Thursdays from 4.30pm to 6.00pm and youngsters are welcome to try out the sport.

Equipment is provided and qualified coaches are always on hand to run the training.

Players need to have their own non-marking sports shoes.

All inquiries can be directed to organisers at 0417 474 898.