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Free State U12 girls claim silver─── 16:57 Thu, 10 Jul 2014
Lee Khotlele
Bloemfontein - The Free State team walked away with silver medal after losing to Western Province in the junior girls under 12 final of the 2014 National Juniors and Seniors Table Tennis Championship currently taking place in Bloemfontein at Tempe military base sport centre.
Western Province had all eight of their teams in the finals, after dominating the championship from the beginning.
Seven of Western Provinces’ eight teams claimed the titles, with the U12 boys being the only team losing to KwaZulu Natal’s Uthukela in the finals.
Uthukela B and Eastern Cape claimed the bronze medal in the girls while Eastern Cape and Griqualand West did the same in the boys’ U12 categories.
The girls’ and boys’ U14 teams of Western Province beat UMgungundlovu and Eastern Cape and the U17 teams did the same against the same teams.
The bronze medal in this age group went to Eastern Gauteng and Free State (girls) and Umgungundlovu and Uthukela A (boys).
The U17 girls from Griqualand West and Ethekwini as well as the boys from Gauteng Central and Free State claimed the bronze medal.
The coastal side continued their dominance in the senior category, winning both the men and women titles against the Gauteng teams.
The men beat the Central B side and the women downed the North side.
The Gauteng North A and Eastern Cape received bronze medals in the men’s category while Eastern Cape and Umgungundlovu also walked with the third place in the women’s category.
The event organiser, Kagisho Lekhela, congratulated the Free State teams, adding that it was an overwhelming event for the youngsters.
“It has been a good exposure for the youngsters. They’ve seen senior players play the game at the highest level and I think they will cherish what they’ve learnt at the tournament,” Lekhela told OFM Sport.
“Free State has never hosted a tournament of this magnitude in the past 20 years, so it has been a good event so far, especially for the youngsters,” he added.
The knockout stages of the Open Championship have begun and will continue until Saturday.
