2017 North Island Championships

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Final Wrap Up

Jenny Hung from Christchurch returned into the limelight with a bang.  She defeated Manawatu's Natalie Paterson and Wellingtonian Hui Ling Vong en route to winning the womens singles, then combined with Hongyi Li to take the mixed doubles title from Jo Shaw and TTNZ Hallf of Famer, Barry Griffiths.  She took silver in the womens doubles for good measure, combining with Natalie Paterson in a finals loss to the experienced English- origin pairing of Sarah Sandley and Jo Shaw.

Top seeded local player Teng Teng Liu took the mens singles title from the ultra-consistent Dean Shu, having despatched Matthew Ball in the semis.  Dean overcame regular adversary Victor Ma, now from Waitemata, in their semi after Victor had upset the second-seeded Yuhan Gao from North Shore.  Earlier Jae Lee had upset Alfred de la Pena 4-1 in the round of 16.

The mens doubles surprisingly saw part-timers Josh Alexandre and Nathan Lowe defeat the young stars, Ma and De la Pena, in a surprisingly weak looking field.

Former National Coach, Stephen Zhu won B Grade singles from Manawatu's Jae Lee, who had a close semi-final battle with Dinyar Irani.

Aucklander, Christina Zhou won the women's singles in a tight contest with Armindeep Singh. 

Young Waitemata player Chris Moon won C mens singles, while Waikato's Ngarangi Mason won the womens event.  

Ratings Manager, Andrew Palmer teamed with Vibas Sofat to win C mens doubles, with Rajitha Samaraweera and Jackson Bray-Taylor proudly winning the B Grade doubles.

Wily Wellingtonian Veteran Paul Solt won D Grade mens singles, while young Northlander, Takaimaania Ngata-Henare won the women's event.   Vivienne was runner-up in this event, and many others.

In the veterans events Nam Hang Lee pipped Chip Eade for over 75 singles, but Waitemata's Eade won the over 70 singles and both doubles (once with Lee). Burim Rakovica from Auckland triumphed in over 60sand Stephen Zhu in over 50s.  Cantabrian, Craig Dye defeated Hoa Ngo 3-2 to win over 40s.

Aidong Li won womens over 40s, while Gina Liu triumphed in over 30s.

The mens over 30s round robin saw Wellingtonian David Buckrell victorious.

Ivan Abbott took another gold for Northland, pairing with Bei Zhang in over 40 mixed doubles.

The under 21, under 15 and under 11 events were all played on Sunday.

Dean Shu defeated Alfred de la Pena 3-1to win the under 21 event.  Beaten semi-finalists Kevin Lin and Jonjon Zhao combined to win the doubles.  Hui-Ling Vong won the under 21 womens event as expected. 

Growing Aucklander Ivan Zhou triumphed over Yu Yang Sun in the under 15 singles, while the pair were surprisingly beaten by Southland's Finn Holden and Thomas Sun from Manawatu in the doubles semis, with Cantabrians Zak McKellar and Daniel Jeffries the losing finalists.

Abbey Webb cleaned up all 3 under 15 titles she entered, combining with Emma Hanson and Finn Holden in her doubles.  Ashleen Lau was singles runner-up.

In the under 11's Novice event, Aucklander Keanu King defeated Jonny Chan to win the singles.  Chan had his revenge in doubles combining with Manawatu's Akshay Aneesh.

In under 11 girls diminutive Waikato player Minette Whitehead won a very close countback in singles from Takai Ngata- Henare and Angela Zhang.

Thank you to Shane Warbrooke and his team for running an enjoyable event.

Day One Summary

The opening day of the North Island Championships saw a few new names making their way to the Dais.  Gillies Avenue provided a welcoming respite to the harsh weather plaguing much of the North Island, and preventing the arrival of Sean Hanson & Michelle McCarthy, stranded in Wellington.

There was a feeling of déjà vu in the knockout stages of the under 13 boys event, with three North Shore boys all falling short in a close fifth set.  The eventual finalists were Blaine Wu of Auckland and Joseph Zhang from Counties.  Blaine showed greater composure through more controlled shot selection, winning 3-1 from the less experienced Zhang.  

The conclusion to the girls under 13 event saw Minette Whitehead take the first set from Kelly Wu.  But, Wu then found her length and her more powerful shots took her through to victory.

The under 18 girls provided a semi-final that went down to the wire, with Tianyu Zhang from Botany Downs College pipping tenacious chopper Jiayi Zhou from Canterbury in the fifth set after some spectacular long rallies.   In the final, international exchange student, Avon Liu, from Burnside High in Christchurch, after an impressive straight sets victory over Hui-Ling Vong in their semi-final, showed amazing control and constant variation of length and spin to defeat Tianyu’s strong attack.  

The boys under 18 semi-finals saw Alfred de la Pena comfortably hold off Jonjon Zhao from Hamilton 3-1, while Dean Shu defeated Victor Ma in the umpteenth match between the pair.   In the final Shu raced out to a two sets lead as Alfred struggled to show consistency in attack and service.  It was then Shu’s turn to falter on his serve allowing de la Pena to go into the fifth set in a position with winning momentum.  But, once again, Shu showed great consistency under extreme pressure and pulled away for a fifth set victory 11-5.

Siblings Alex and Jiayi Zhou from Canterbury displayed considerable skills in the under 18 doubles finals.  Alex, partnered the much younger Sang Yong Park in the under 18 boys final, having pipped the favoured Victor Ma and Alfred de la Pena in a five set semi-finals. Aucklander Kevin Lin, and Waikato’s Jonjon Zhao defeated the Canterbury pair to take gold. Alex and Avon Liu combined to take the mixed doubles in convincing fashion.  Jiayi combined with Avon Liu to take the under 18 girls doubles from Emma Hanson and Abbey Webb.  

In the under 13 boys, Kevin Yin and Leo Mamedov from Auckland defeated the more experienced North Shore pairing of Jack Quested and Thomas Khedir in a close fifth set showdown.