Young table tennis stars shine bright at National Championships

The Namibia Table Tennis Association (NTTA) hosted the national Youth Championships at Wanderers Sports Grounds on Saturday, 18 May 2023. The junior men competed in under 11, under 15 and under 19 while the junior ladies competed in under 15 and under 19. The young stars also competed in junior ladies’ doubles, junior men doubles and mixed doubles.

Despite the absence of various schools, many players showed up at Wanderers to display their skills to the spectators and officials who attended the event.

In the girls’ category Lian Gebauer was dominant. She saw of challenges from fellow national team members, Cadence Farmer, Justina Namupolo and Karolina Shigwedha to clinch both the under 15 and under 19 singles titles. Karolina was runner-up in the under 15 division while Cadence Farmer clinched the silver medal in the under 19 division. Santie van der Waldt and Karolina were the semi-finalists. Lian Gebauer, Cadence Farmer, Karolina Shigwedha and Justina Namupolo will represent Namibia at the African Youth table Tennis Championships in Botswana during July.

The boys under 11 saw a continuation of the battle between Terrence Kandandara and Wilhelm Twyman. Terrence won the finals, with Wilhelm taking second spot. The bronze medals went to Killian Beukes and Eliakim Namhila.

The boys under 15 and under 19 age groups were contested by the same 3-horse race members. Kevin Zhang, Kamrouz Ghayouri and Caden Bosman are entangled in a very close rivalry for the top spot as best singles junior men player. Top seed – Kevin Zhang clinched both the under 15 and under 19 titles, revenging the losses he suffered at the recent Simonis Storm/Arysteq Singles Challenge. Kamrouz beat Caden in the semi-finals of both events to set up finals with Kevin in both age groups. Kevin and Kamrouz played two spectacular finals who had the crowd on their feet a few times during both finals. Kamrouz, who was still playing under 12 during 2023, came close to beating Kevin, but his older opponent managed to hang on and eventually won both age groups. The trio, with Agape Chicalu, will represent Namibia at the upcoming Africa Youth Table Tennis Championships in Gaborone, Botswana during July. We are looking forward to seeing them against the best of Africa.

The ladies’ doubles event went strictly according to rankings. Lian Gebauer/Santie van der Waldt beat 2nd seeded Karolina Shigwedha/Justina Namupolo. Ester Shatika/Suvera Ikorua and Cadence Farmer/Kelly Zhang were eliminated in the semi-finals to take up bronze positions.

The junior men double final was contested by the pairings of Kamrouz Ghayouri/Kevin Zhang and Caden Bosman/Pascal Eysselein who eliminated Agape Chicalu/Eeno Uusiku and Jason Kandandara/Wilhelm Twyman in the semi-finals respectively. The pairing of Caden and Pascal caused an upset when they beat the favourites for the doubles title, Kamrouz and Kevin.

Lian Gebauer concluded a clean sweep of 4 gold medals for the day when she and partner, Caden Bosman won the mixed doubles by beating Cadence Farmer and Kevin Zhang in the finals. The semi-finalists were Kamrouz Ghayouri/Justina Namupolo and Santie van der Walt/Pascal Eysselein.

The event was attended by Coach Simon Gologolo, who expressed satisfaction with the general performance at the championships.