Kihikihi team top of table

Kihikihi Table Tennis Club made a positive start to the season winning the first of three interclub matches against Matamata 35-27. It was just the start to the series that Kihikihi had hoped for after losing 2-1 to Matamata in 2013.

The club has some new players to offset the loss of one of their strike weapons, Darin May, who has moved back to his homeland in Australia for family and work commitments. Match of the night was the A grade showdown between Hyrum Sunnex (Kihikihi) and former Waikato representative Jatinder Sign who has joined Matamata this season.

In the best of five sets, Sunnex won the first two 11-3, 13-11. The third set featured a great array of shots. Singh was serving for the set at 10-8, only for Sunnex to claw his way back to 10-10. He then close it out, 13-11, for a straight sets victory.

“It was a great match, I got lucky on a few points that could have gone either way, we always have great matches regardless of the scoreline,” says Sunnex, who went through the night unbeaten. Singh had earlier beaten Sam Roa 11-2, 11-7 and Alba Yoon 11-3, 11-2.

Kihikihi’s leading youth player Turongo Mahara went through undefeated in his grade, as did Aaron Kelly and James Krippner. Final team results:

• A Grade Team (Hyrum Sunnex, Sam Roa, Alba Yoon) Lost 3-9 to (Jatinder Singh, Shane Quigley, Phil).
• B Grade Team (Andrew Mahara, Josh Brown, Shannon Atwill) Lost 4-8 to (Lyall Wilson, Deniz, Ragvir Singh).
• C Grade Team (Turongo Mahara, Don Conway, Andy Baker) Won 10-2 over (Heather, Trent, Hannah),
• D Grade Team (Aaron Kelly, Hori Barton, Len Onehi) won 9-3 over (Bill, Vivienne, Debbie),
• E Grade Team (James Krippner, Issac Milne, Denis Fouhy) won 9-3 over (Jack, Colin, Abbey).

The Table Tennis Season is from April to end of October 2014. Club Nights are on Mondays at 7pm – 9:30pm. New Players are welcome, for more details please visit www.kihikihitabletennis.co.nz or phone 021 068 7017.