Champs defend their titles

Rafe Fleming (17), of Christchurch, plays a shot during the Otago Open table tennis tournament at...
Rafe Fleming (17), of Christchurch, plays a shot during the Otago Open table tennis tournament at the Edgar Centre on Saturday.PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
The defending champions have shown last year's upsets were no fluke.

Dean Shu and Kim Wang returned to defend their Otago open singles titles at the Edgar Centre on Saturday.

A year ago the pair entered as underdogs, both toppling the top seeds on their way to victory.

However, this time around they showed they could be just as effective as top seeds themselves.

Shu cruised through the draw before meeting a tough match-up in No2 seed Victor Ma in the final.

They were locked at two games each, but Shu was able to prevail 4-3.

Meanwhile in the women's final, Wang had things a little easier.

She prevailed 4-2 over Jiayi Zhou, following a 4-0 semifinal win over Jill Liu.

Wang claimed a second title when she teamed with Zhiying Cheng to win the women's doubles.

She also combined with Dunedin's Ben Duffy to claim the mixed doubles title.

In the men's doubles Dunedin's Isaac Hobbs paired with Wang Qi and knocked over top seeds Jesse Wilson and Alex Zhou 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

The sixth-seeds then won their semifinal, but were beaten 3-2 in the final by Craig Dye and David Walle.

Dunedin duo Molly Newell and Ruby Anderson were beaten finalists in the girls under-15 doubles.

 

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