Titles shared in OECS Table Tennis Championships

The honours were divided among four of the five participating territories when the 2011 National Lotteries Authority OECS Championships came to an end last Sunday night at the Bethel High School’s Auditorium.{{more}}

Host St. Vincent and the Grenadines claimed two titles.

Veteran player Bob Ballantyne copped the Men’s singles, beating defending champion Adrian Albert of St. Lucia, four sets to one in the final.

Meanwhile, the Vincentian pair of Kamal Hunte and Romano Spencer secured the Men’s Doubles over Grenadians Jason Stanislaus and Evrol John. Stanislaus had earlier retired hurt because of a knee injury.

The mixed doubles was won by the St. Lucian pair of Adrian Albert and Shermain Hyacinth, by default, as Stanislaus, one half of the Grenadian duo, was unable to compete in the final. Rosemarie Dinnoh was Stanislaus’ partner who successfully reached the last stage.

Hyacinth also claimed the women’s singles beating Rosemarie Dinnoh of Grenada three sets to one.

Hyacinth stormed back after losing the first game 5-11, to win 11-8, 11-5, 12-10.

In the semi finals, Hyacinth defeated Gem Eloi of Dominica 3-0, while Dinnoh beat Natasha Shortte of St. Vincent and the Grenadines by the same score line.

However, the match of the night saw the Dominican pair of Gem Eloi and Larryssa Dover coming from two sets down to beat the Grenadian combination of Dinnoh and Donna Ashton, 3-2.

In getting to the finals, Eloi and Dover, surpassed Nattifah Williams and Natasha Shortte of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 11-6, 12-10, while the Grenadians whipped Karen Browne and Camille Crichton, also of the host territory, 11-4, 11-7.

Kamal Hunte was named the Most Promising Male Player, and Gem Eloi, the Most Promising Female Player.

Grenada took the women’s team title, beating SVG Team One and St. Lucia by 3-2 margins, and downed Dominica and SVG team two, 3-0.St. Lucia docked in second, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines team one finished third.

St. Lucia again took hold of the Men’s team first place, repeating their 2008 performance, when they hosted the sub regional championships.

The St. Lucian saw off SVG Team one, SVG Team two, and Grenada 3-2 and Dominica 3-0. Second was Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines team one, third.

The other competing territory was St. Kitts and Nevis, which was represented by a very small contingent and made little impression on the championships. (RT)