Tight men’s B final tops Infinity Table Tennis

The curtain came down on the Club Infinity Junior Table Tennis Tournament at Bridgeport High School recently with young Logan Royes edging his Jamaica College teammate Brian Blake in an under-19 singles final that went to the limit.

After a sloppy start, the duel took on real quality. With Blake perhaps weary after a long day of table tennis, Royes played steadily to win the first two sets, 11-9 and 12-10 but then Blake, a Jamaica junior representative, shifted into gear. The tall, part-time track and field athlete zoomed out to an 8-1 lead in the third set, won it at 11-4 and though Royes fought him in set four, Blake won 11-8 to push the contest to the fifth set.

With the title on the line, the 13-year-old underdog took charge early and his accurate forehand smash earned him a 5-3 lead. He kept going to 8-3 before Blake summoned one last big effort. Longer rallies suited Blake better throughout the match and little by little, his athleticism made the match tight. Along the way he had some luck in the form of a point won when the ball dribbled over the net to Royes' side, but his strong effort made it 9-9.

Then karma struck, in the form of a net dribbler for Royes to give the 2022 Caribbean Pre-Cadet medal winner match point which he converted to win the title. The final score was 11-9, 12-10, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9.

Sponsored by FESCO, Optical Solutions, Grace Kennedy, Jonathan Grant and Bridgeport High Schools and Kiss Bakery, the event saw wins for Tsenaye Lewis, Karecia Peterkin and Christina Royes in the girls under 19, 15 and 11 categories, respectively, and for Rasheed Clarke, Gmarco Smith and Kyle Johnson in the boys under 19, 15 and 11 age groups, respectively.

Notably, Royes was runner-up to Clarke in the under-19 category.

The tournament had some star power as national champion Mark Phillips and Nigerian Adeniyi Akindele joined the fray in the men's doubles. They duly won over Smith and White.