RTTA Players Kick Off Tournament Season with Northern Adventure

Some of the keener players from the Rocky Table Tennis Club have hit the state’s tournament circuit early in the year when they attended the Northern Challenge that was hosted by the Mackay Association over the weekend. Some encouraging results were achieved by these players in competitions that are a bit different to what is played it regular open championships.

On paper, Oliver Wright performed particularly well considering that he could only participate in day-1 of the two days of mixed events. He won the gold medal in the mixed team section after returning an undefeated effort in all his singles and doubles competitions. His brother Julien, who also could only attend on the first day, performed quite strongly at Mackay as he has done in local fixtures where he has been one of the most improved players over the past twelve months.

In the singles competition that was also staged on the first day all of the city’s representatives in Warun Wilkinson, Jeff Jordan, Hilton Kane and Julien and Oliver Wright made it to the main draw with both Jordan and Julien Wright both reaching the quarter-finals before meeting more stronger talent. Wilkinson, who also only took part in the matches staged on the first day of this carnival was on his way home to Rocky after taking part in the Townsville Lunar New Year Tournament that was staged on the previous weekend.

Jordan and Kane stole the show in the second division on day-2 when they won the gold medal in the doubles event and this was quite an impressive outcome. In an action-packed program all doubles combinations played off in a single pool and the more successful outfits progressed to the top section for further matches as did the remainder that made up division two.

At the half-way mark in fixtures in the local open grade competition the leaderboards are starting to take shape. However, some solid performances by players who are hitting their straps after a month of competitive matches in the first season for the year could easily result in changes to the finishing order in a fixture where the premierships will be decided via the first past the post basis in both sections.

In top division the team consisting of Joel Coughlan and Ann-Louise Stewart hold a narrow lead and this situation speaks volumes for the subs who could be arranged to replace Stewart who was unavailable for the first three weeks of the comp. Matthew Pettett and Monica Deeth sit in second spot only one point in arrears while a further point behind Dane Coughlan and Glenn McDonald could do some damage on the run home.

The second division situation is even closer with the combinations of Geoff Geddes and Helga Leitner, Warun Wilkinson and Oliver Wright and Julien Wright and Patricia Green currently sharing the top spot. Interestingly, only one notch off the pace Chris Leitner and Hilton Kane and Pam Clarke and Jeff Jordan share second spot so the stage is certainly set for an exciting finish with this group. All of these players will be out to post their best results in the count-down to the conclusion of the season at the end of the month.