New Zealand Secondary Schools Table Tennis Tournament
Posted on September 13, 2019
Four Macleans College teams competed in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Table Tennis Tournament which was held recently in Tauranga.
Macleans College provided one third of the total number of teams in the A grade competition. This was an Open tournament, one of the few where teams can be made up of boys and girls.
The teams were:
A - Jonathan Li (Snell House), Jack Chen (Rutherford), Joseph Zhang (Upham)
B - Heymans Lo (Hillary), Ray Wang (Upham), Anthony Zheng (Batten)
C - Sophie Low (Upham), Sunny Low (Upham), Jim Sha (Rutherford)
D - Jason Chak (Hillary), Zachary Wang (Upham), Hao Sha (Rutherford).
The A team went in as second seeds. They started well, winning all their pool games, making it to the semi-final. Unexpectedly in the other pool the team C won all but one game, including beating the third seeded Westlake Boys’ High School A team 5-2, placing them into the semi-final against Macleans College A.
The semi-final was a tough game, with the expectations on the A team. However, all three team C players had unexpected wins against the higher seeded A team; 5 out 7 games went to the full 5 sets. The C team prevailed, finally winning 4-3 to move onto the final.
This last match was against the 2018 winners from Burnside High School in Christchurch. The match started well with Sophie Low constructing her first win against their number 1 player. Unfortunately, the game went downhill from then on. With the final score of 4-1.
The last day of the tournament was an individuals’ competition. All but Sophie Low struggled to find form here. Sophie again beat the top seeded player from Burnside, but due to a complicated count back situation came away with the bronze medal.
Overall stars of the tournament were Sophie, Sunny and Jim; each played a part in getting their team to the final. This was Sunny’s first tournament, and she responded well to the pressure. For Sophie and Jim it was their last, completing five years of playing for Macleans College with a silver team medal.
