Harris takes premier titles

Donny Harris played some of his best table tennis to take out the premier singles and doubles titles in Table Tennis Nelson's summer grade champs at Saxton Stadium on Thursday night.

In the quarterfinals Harris dealt to Alan Villar three straight sets but found the going much tougher against Mark Nalder in the semis, winning in four sets. Then came the final which ended up being the premier match of the season against Chris Erskine.

Erskine looked set to win after staging a massive comeback in the first game, beating Harris 13-11 after Harris had led 9-3 but then in the second set Harris blasted a host of great winners to take that 11-9 to level the score. Erskine then won the third and led 10-7 in the fourth only to blow 5 match points to again bring the scores even.

The fifth saw Harris play some of his very best shots, holding a handy break right from the start. Harris went on to win 11-7, adding another Nelson title to his name.

In the premier doubles, Harris teamed up with A grader Bryan Keane and the pair played determined table tennis to down Phil Hamblin and Alan Villar in the semis before beating Mark Nalder and Mike Holmes in the final 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9. The plate was won by Phil Hamblin over Sunny Chan.

The A grade saw every player turn out to do the business in what was the most even competition for the last decade.

In the early rounds, all eight seeded players battled hard for victory, making their way to the quarters. Then after some intense matchups, top-seeded Brad Storer, second-seeded Nigel Deighton, Phil Higgins and Paul Op den Buysch made the semis.

Op den Buysch made extremely short work of Storer, beating him 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 in what was a major upset but Deighton had to call on all his experience to beat Higgins 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10 in a real thriller. Deighton went on to beat Op den Buysch 11-7 in a five-set thriller after being three set points down in the fourth. The doubles went to Storer and Deighton over Op den Buysch and Kevin Neumann in straight sets. Young Henry Neas won the plate final over another top junior Tom Hu also in straight sets.

Daniel Mayes proved the giant killer in the A reserve grade taking the singles title over Theo Mazataud. Zane Milligan and Bradley Deeley won the doubles over Mayes and Karen Holmes and the plate went to Deeley over Connor Nesbitt.

Thursday night table tennis now takes a break but the McDonald's Challenge will burst into action on Tuesday nights starting next week at the Saxton Stadium.

Table Tennis Nelson spokesman Bryan Keane said anyone interested in playing the sport at any level should contact him on 5477530.

- © Fairfax NZ News