Mathenge wins in table tennis event

By Erick Ochieng’

With the table tennis Olympic qualifiers only a month away, the scramble for Kenya team slots continues in earnest.

Nairobi based Anthony Mathenge proved his efficiency when he emerged the winner of the Kenyan championships in Kisumu over the weekend.

The win put Mathenge ahead in the national standings with 6300 points, this being one of the events that Kenya Table Tennis Association is using to select players for the London Olympics qualifiers slated for Doha, Qatar, between May 10 and 13. Kenya has never competed in the Olympics in Table Tennis.

Mathenge rallied from a set down to see-off Ugandan national team player Ronald Nyaika 3-2 (11-5, 14-16, 11-2, 8-11, 4-11) and win the men’s singles.

"I was only playing a waiting game which my opponent didn’t realise from the onset," Mathenge said.

The women’s singles ended up being an all-Ugandan affair after Kenya’s Sejal Chandarana lost 1-3 (12-13, 14-16, 3-11, 11-9, 11-6 ) to Amina Lukacya in the first semi-final, while Janita Shah from Mombasa lost 1-3 to another Ugandan Ludia Magdalina in the other semi-final encounter.

Uganda’s Ludia won the ladies singles after defeating her compatriot Lukacya 3-2 (13-12, 16-16, 11-3, 9-11, 6-11) in the final.

DMK from Uganda won the team event after chalking up a 3-0 win against Mbale Tigers.

In the juniors class, Peter Theuri of Makini School won the under 15 class in fashion to finish second in the under 19 class.

Points accrued by players from April 2011 through to April 2012 will count towards the Qatar trip but the system continues th