Dipal Bhana reclaimed the men’s singles title from his father Rajesh in the Nelson Mandela Bay Table Tennis premier division closed tournament at the weekend.
In the top half of the draw, Dipal made a great start in the semifinal when he overcame some stiff opposition along the way as he defeated Devin Langford 11-6, 7-11, 16-14, 7-11, 11-8 in a five-setter to book his place in the final.
In the bottom half, father Rajesh had a tough encounter and was stretched by number two seed Michael de Kock, but prevailed 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-2.
Dipal, the number one seed, underlined his talent by defeating his father 3-0 in the final.
Although Rajesh tried to keep him at bay, Dipal, fresh from victory in the Callies tournament, was once again in great form.
His athletic ability, great footwork and devastating loop drives away from the table proved too good for his father and he went on to win 11-3, 11-5, 11-9.
In a hard-fought doubles contest, father and son teamed up to take on Shahied Mamoojee and de Kock in an allAryans final. Both pairs produced table tennis of a high standard but, with experience and youth, the father-son combination clinched the final 3-0. The score was 12-10, 11-5, 11-8.
In the first division singles event, Julian Horne from Despatch had his hands full against Christopher Rockman, representing Livvie Alumni in the final.
Horne led from the front, taking the first game 11-5.
Rockman followed, taking the second, but in the end Horne prevailed 11-8, 11-8 to clinch the match 3-1.
In the doubles event, Ruben and Julian Horne kept their cool after losing the first game against Adrian Africa and Eugene Lambaatjeen, to win the final 3-2 with the games 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10.
The second division singles encounter saw Claud Lawack skilfully overcome his opponent, Adrian Africa, 3-2 in the final with games of 5-11, 16-14, 11-5, 12-10, 11-4.
The doubles was won by Lawack and Keeran Naidoo.
The women’s senior title went to Xiuyan Li, who defeated Eugene Stallenberg 3-1 (8-11, 11-1, 11-4, 11-3).