Police pair dominate nationals

Namibian table tennis ace Ramon Hansen dominated the Namibian Nationals which took place at the Police Table Tennis Club in Windhoek last weekend. Hansen not only clinched the top spot in the singles division, but also went on to win the doubles category with his partner, Rudi Saunderson. The Nationals were previously known as the Namibian Championship, but after much consideration the Namibian Table Tennis Association (NTTA) decided to split the event into an open and closed tournament. The closed tournament allowed only Namibian citizens or those with permanent residence to compete. In total, 17 of Namibia’s best players took part with no significant absentees recorded. Due to the nature of the tournament, no NTTA ranking points were awarded to the participants. Hansen was in great form throughout the tournament. He started off with a win against Kean Tait to move to the quarterfinal where he met Fabian Tait. After struggling in the first game (11:9), Hansen quickly regained the upper hand to convincingly beat his opponent in the next three (11:4, 11:7 and 11:6) games to book a place in the semi-finals. Here the sixth-ranked player met Heiko Fleidl, who had moved past Michael Stevens to compete amongst the best four. Fleidl did great to take the first match with 11:2, but Hansen was far from being defeated as he stepped up his game to eventually win the next four games (6:11, 9:11, 8:11 and 4:11). In the final Hansen faced Saunderson, who had booked his place in the final match after a momentous effort against Wayne Green; a game that was decided in a six-game thriller. Hansen was, however, unfazed by Saunderson’s impressive win as he set the pace from the very beginning, leaving his counterpart with little chance. The game ended with 11:7, 11:9, 12:10 and 11:5 in favour of Hansen who received the prestigious Namibian Championship Men’s Singles trophy which dates back to 1964 for his efforts. It was the second time that Hansen had the honour of receiving that trophy. One title alone did not quench Hansen’s winning thirst though. Together with his singles final opponent Saunderson, the man of the day also won the doubles section, beating Fabian Tait and Reinhardt Stanley in the final (11:5, 11:5, 11:9, 11:4 and 11:6). In doing this, Hansen/Saunderson received the Namibian Championship Men’s Doubles trophy which dates back to 1971. In other action, Theo Beukes won the singles plate division after a hard-fought game against Roger Beukes. Both players are from the Eliminators Table Tennis Club. The next event is the Swakop Open scheduled to take place on August 23 in Swakopmund. WINDHOEK-SPORT REPORTER