Lae Biscuit Toti claim inaugural table tennis crown

The National Sports

By LARRY ANDREW
TEAM Lae Biscuit Toti won the inaugural Lae Yacht Club table tennis title after overcoming a strong challenge from Atlas Steel to win 3-2 in the grand final on Wednesday night.
Toti and Steel were the two-top teams of the six-team competition and their run to the top of the ladder was not easy.
The grand final went down to the wire with five rubbers being played with each having five sets. Steel’s Joel Caberolia was on the go in the first rubber, beating Toti’s Chris Areo 4-1 with a scoreline of 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 11-6, 13-11.
But Areo came back strongly in the second rubber to equalise with a 5-0 win over Steel’s Mencui Caberolia.
The game changed hands as Joel stepped up in the third set in a tightly-contested round to upset Areo 3-2 to put Steel an inch away to claim the inaugural title with a game to go.
But Toti’s Martin Caberio turned the game around as he won the fourth rubber with 5-0 win over Mencui.
With the scores lock at 2-2 the final rubber was anybody’s game as Joel and Mencui combined against Toti’s Areo and Caberio in the double that saw Toti’s duo win the first set of the game 11-9.
The next set was won by Steel but Toti bagged the next two sets to win the inaugural title in the final rubber 3-2.
Toti’s Caberio said the grand final was a close game.
“We were undefeated through the elimination rounds,” Caberio said.
“I was quite nervous going into the game at the final rubber, but we were able to maintain the pace of our game to win the grand final.”
Joel told The National that despite not winning, the game was close with both teams playing well.
“This is the first table tennis competition and we’re hoping to come back stronger next season,” he said.
“This game is great for students in Papua New Guinea and introducing the sport to students at the young age will help develop them to play better when they grow up.
“I hope this competition will encourage the public, including students, to play table tennis.
Coordinator Kevin Howard told The National that his committee would look at how they would continue the competition going forward with the number of teams and the format in the second half of the year.