Auckland players dominate the North Island Table Tennis Championships

In the North Island Open and Para Table Tennis Championships, the main victories went to players from Auckland.

The four-day tournament, with 168 participants, concluded at the Arena on Sunday, with many of the countries’ top players competing.

It was the first major tournament hosted by Manawati since 2018.

Timothy Choi of North Shore won the men’s open singles, defeating Alfred Dela Pena of Waitemat 4-2 in the final.

The pair played a couple of good battles in the tournament.

Dela Pena had won the group stages, but 15-year-old Choi turned the tide in the final.

Choi also won the under-19 boys final, defeating Jeffrey Guo 3-1.

Choi and August Xiao (North Shore) won the open men’s doubles, defeating Manawats Matt Ball and Max Henderson (Bay of Plenty) 3-2 in the final.

In the women’s open singles, top seed Joanna Yang from Auckland went undefeated, defeating Aucklands Ayumi Emilie Moriyama-Picard 4-0 in the final.

Yang also won the under-19 girls event, beating Jocelyn Zuyan Lam (Auckland) 3-0 in the final.

Sarah Her-Lee and Zuyan Lam won the women’s open singles, beating North Shore pair Angel Han and Ariel Liu 3-1 in the final.

Dela Pena and Her-Lee won the open mixed doubles, defeating Yang and Roger Wang 3-1 in the final.

Manawats Tim Seaholme and former Manawat paymaster Abbey Webb, who now lives in Canterbury, were third.

The only Manawat player to win a title was Seaholme who won the men’s over-40 singles.

Ball finished fifth in men’s open singles.