It is the biggest week of the year for Otago table tennis.
An intensive training camp at Dunedin’s Edgar Centre for the best junior players in the South Island will be followed by the annual Otago Open.
The camp starts at 10am today and runs until noon tomorrow, while the Open begins with junior action at 3pm tomorrow.
Table Tennis Otago spokesman Ben Duffy said there were 137 entries for the Select Recruitment-sponsored Otago Open.
‘‘That includes 38 competing in the men’s singles, which is very pleasing to organisers and certainly the largest pool of players in the last 30 years at least.’’
Canterbury players and former Open champions Jong Eub Han, John Cordue and Hongyi Li would be the ones to watch, although any of the top eight players was capable of winning the tournament, Duffy said.
The women’s singles competition has attracted 14 players.
Local hopes Jill Liu and Shelley Neal are expected to challenge Gina Liu (Auckland) and Anny Li (Canterbury) for the women’s title.
The junior competition is booming with about 75 entries.
The best Otago youngsters would be fighting hard, Isaac Hobbs expected to trouble the field in the under-18 boys, Duffy said.
Kevin Tang, Lam Tung Doung, Milos Hendry and Naoki Kozakai all have a chance in the under-15 boys singles, which has a field of 28.
In the under-18 girls, Molly Newell and Alice Barrett will lead the Otago challenge for the title.
Babet Doherty, Georgia Te Raki and Abby Newell are the ones to watch from Otago in the under-15 girls competition.
Spectators were welcome and the best action would be from 5pm on Saturday, Duffy said.
The Southern Region training camp that precedes the open has attracted no fewer than 65 juniors for the Table Tennis New Zealand-supported event.
There would also be a team of 11 coaches from across the South Island delivering multiple training sessions to the athletes, Duffy said.
‘‘The focus of the camp is to provide technical, tactical and mental skills and strategies to support the athletes’ development.
‘‘The athletes will relish the opportunity to train with the best players in the South Island and to learn from an experienced team of coaches and sparring partners.
‘‘Collaboration among the coaches is also a key focus, with the programme designed to support knowledge-sharing.’’
