Team South Africa made a clean sweep of the medals at the 2022 Southern African Regional Table Tennis Championships, held at the Brixton multipurpose centre.
The women’s gold medal and a cheque of USD$400 (R 6,553) went to Danisha Patel of Johannesburg, defeating Cape Town’s Musfiqur Kalam, who picked up silver and a cheque for USD$200 (R 3,276).
As always, Patel played a clever game, slowing down the match at appropriate times to suit her style of play. She hardly faltered on her serve, which gave her the upper hand for much of the match.
Kalam worked hard trying to speed the match up to counter Patel, which proved to be a success at certain points in the best of seven match, especially in the fourth set, but for most of the game the pace was dictated by Patel and the score line of 4-0 reflected this.
“I’m ecstatic!” said Patel immediately after congratulating her opponent at a packed Brixton multipurpose centre.
“I felt really comfortable throughout the match, but I am a little disappointed with myself because in the fourth set, I messed up: I was up 10-8 and unnecessarily made some silly errors and all of a sudden it’s 10-10. And that’s bad, especially against Musfiquh, because it happened the last time we met, where I was up, lost a bit of momentum and ended up losing to her.”
Patel says that now that the COVID restrictions have been lifted, she is “loving the calendar.”
“My training and fitness won’t stop. I’m in full preparation for the tournaments coming up – so on to the Commonwealth Games and Nationals, thereafter the African Champs, in Algeria in September this year.”
Kalam expressed disappointment as she always aims for the title: “I came here for gold and I let myself down. I allowed my opponent to dictate the play, whereas I should play my own game instead of responding to hers. I should have strategized better, and could have been more patient in finding the winning shot.”
Ambitious Kalam says that she has her sights firmly set on being the number one player in South Africa.
Zodwa Maphanga of Tshwane, took home a bronze medal as well as a cheque for USD$100(R 1,638), adopts a similar approach to Kalam in wanting to get the winning shot as soon as possible.
Playing an aggressive style, she hits the ball really hard, but this proved to be her undoing against Lailaa Edwards in the 3rd/4th place playoff match.
The Championships were attended by senior international and national officials, including ITTF Vice president Khalil Al-Mohannady and Group CEO Steve Dainton.
These officials are in the country as Table Tennis South Africa prepares to host the World Table Tennis Championships next year.
Photo 1 Caption: Team South Africa made a clean sweep of the medals at the 2022 Southern African Regional Table Tennis Championships, held at the Brixton multipurpose centre. Photo: Supplied
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