The count-down is on for the two young members of the Rockhampton Table Tennis
Association who will represent the club at the four-day Queensland Junior
Championships at the impressive Brisbane stadium on Downey Park at Windsor starting
on Easter Monday. Nolan Hao and Cooper Bulow are the only two local juniors available
to participate in this annual tournament which will consist of inter-club team matches and
individual singles and doubles events across all five age groups from under-11 through to
under-19.
Hao who has represented the city on a number of occasions at state junior titles and has
also represented Queensland at the last two national junior carnivals. He will be trying to
make it third time lucky this year, however he has entered in the team’s competition in
the under-19 division and as he still qualifies in the under-17 section he will be against
some solid opposition and it is the team’s performances from which the state-sides are
usually selected.
Bulow is a relevant new member of the Rocky club. He resides in Gladstone and has
played at Rocky’s Leichhardt Park Centre when representing Faith Baptist Christian
School at the Queensland Schools Championships over the past few years. Following his
decision to try to make it to the state junior titles he has attended coaching and practice
sessions at the Rocky club and considering his level of experience he possesses a
competitive game and hits some balls really well. The experience he should glean from
his initial outing at the Q-Juniors will be invaluable to him as he tries to progress his
standard of play. Bulow will be contesting the teams in the under-17 age-group and he
will be taking part in the individual events in that section as well as under-19.
Another season of fixtures in open grade will wind up during this week with the two top
teams playing off for premiership honours prior to a break during the school holiday
period and a new season hitting-off after the break. Favourite for the flag is the
combination of Nick Green, Ann-Louise Stewart and Monica Deeth and this trio have
combined very well and been available for most weeks of the comp to post the highest
number of points with a cushion of two. The second-placed outfit of Gerard Watts, Erica
Nolan and Allan Clarke, who was coopted late due to an unfortunate withdrawal, will be
out to unseat the competition’s leaders in what should prove to be a tough assignment but
has the hallmarks of being a great match-up.
The two sides that will be going into battle for the third spot consist of Jakob Baker,
James O’Sullivan and Chris Leitner, who had a good season to actually finish the season
one notch in arrears to the second placed team, and Matthew Pettet, Pam Clarke and Levi
Sarin who just held fourth place after a competitive season.
Local players are reminded to submit their entries to the annual Rockhampton Open
Championships that are being staged over the weekend of April 20 & 21. Chauvel
Industrial Services and Bolsover Radiology are the major sponsors and a host of events
are available for entrants. Entry forms are available at the playing centre and
electronically and all activities of the local club can be followed on its Facebook page.