High-class field for Manawatu Open

With tournament entries declining around the country, Manawatu was surprised to have the largest entry for many years for their Manawatu Open tomorrow.

More than 80 table tennis players from Manawatu, Wellington, Waikato and Auckland have entered.

This is mainly due to Manawatu's reputation of running a good tournament which keeps to time thanks to the vast experience of tournament controller Shona Cudby.

The open men's singles has a field of 43. Top seed Andrew Hubbard, of Wellington, has represented New Zealand and is rated No6. He has been overseas for a number of years, returning to Wellington last year.

The second seed is Oliver Scarlett, of Auckland, who is also the under-18 boys' top seed. Seeded seventh is Manawatu's top player, Matthew Bal, who is in good form and could be the one to upset.

In the open women's singles, Catherine Zhou, of Wellington, is top seed. She has just returned to playing in the last couple of years and is ranked No10 in New Zealand. Challenging her will be five players of similar standard – Natalie Paterson, of Manawatu, who will represent NZ at the world junior champs in Slovakia this year, Merle Sneddon, of Manawatu, Raewyn Young, of Wellington, and Jessica Macaskill and Armindeep Singh, of Waikato.

In the veterans events, Charly Talumepa, of Manawatu, is top seed in the over-40 men's singles but will be strongly challenged by Keith Aldersley, of Wellington.

The under-18 boys has a high calibre field led by Oliver Scarlett, of Auckland, and Thom Nguyen, of Wellington, who have both represented New Zealand.

Promising Manawatu junior Nathan Watson is top seed in the under-15 singles but Caleb Magan and David van Drimmelen, of Wellington, and Zac Lochhead, of Manawatu, will challenge.

The open events start around noon with the knockout draw and finals scheduled for 4pm to 5pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News