Louis triumphant in Kuching Inter-Zone

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SELECTED ONES: For the coming inter-division championship to be held at Kota Samarahan at month end, Kuching will be represented by the top five boys and girls who won yesterday’s Under 12 MSSM Kuching Inter-Zone Table Tennis Championship.

KUCHING: Louis Chung Kian Fu bagged his second title of the week after emerging victorious in the Boys’ Under 12 MSSM Kuching Inter-Zone Table Tennis Championship held at SJK Chung Hua No. 3 hall yesterday.

The SJK Chung Hua No. 4 student who won the Kuching Zone A title at the same venue last week, defeated fellow team mate Ho Zong Chun 3-1. Chung won the first set 12-10 but lost the second 19-21. The 11-year-old went on to take the next two sets 11-6 and 11-9.

Enroute to the final, Chung enjoyed a first round bye before seeing off teammate Chong Kai Cheng 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7) in the last 16 and trounced Lundu’s Liew Shan Hou 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-1) in the last eight.

He was unstoppable and defeated fellow teammate Christopher Goh in the semi-finals after taking the first two sets 18-16, 12-10 before losing 8-11 in the third set but went to the finals after finishing the fourth set 11-9 for a 3-1 victory to set up a final clash with Ho.

Ho upstaged top seed Joel Chen also from Kuching Zone A 3-2 in an exciting semi-final thriller which saw him losing the first set 11-13 but recovered to take the next two sets 11-7, 13-11 before losing again 8-11 in the fourth set.

Ho’s patience and steadiness won him the decider 14-12 as Chen committed errors when the scoreline was level at 12-12.

Finishing as joint third were Christopher Goh and Joel Chen while in fifth place was Darren Siaw. There was an upset in the girls contest where the top seed Sammi Tay of Padawan lost 1-3 to unseeded Tay Lynn Jia from Kuching Zone A.

The Padawan representative had a first round bye and she beat Wendy Wong from Bau 3-0 in the last 16 and Chong Chiung of Kuching Zone A 3-0 in the last eight. Tay was stretched to four games before triumphing 10-12, 11-7, 11-2, 11-8 over Kuching Zone A’s Elicia Tsai.

Meanwhile, Lynn Jia who received a first round bye defeated Foo Sze Hui from Padawan 3-0 in the last 16 and Phang Xiao Jing of Bau 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

She went on to upstage number two seed Joan Chung from Kuching Zone A 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-9) in the semi-finals.

This year’s tournament was organised by Kuching District Education Office and hosted by SJK Chung Hua No. 3 with 42 entries including 21 girls from Kuching Zone A, Kuching Zone B, Padawan, Bau and Lundu.

In the coming MSSM Inter-Division meet to be held at Kota Samarahan from Jan 28-30, Kuching will be represented by Louis Chung, Ho Zong Chun, Joel Chen, Christopher Goh and Darren Siaw in the boys division while Sammi Tay, Tay Lynn Jia, Elicia Tsai, Joan Chung and Chong Chiung will compete in the girls’ division.