News
19 Team Vic Senior Medals Topped Off By A Pair Of Podium Sweeps in Singles
Published Mon 11 Jul 2022
The Senior portion of the 2022 Table Tennis Australia National Championships wrapped up on Saturday July 9 with Team Vic’s Senior medal tally climbing to 17. The Senior and Youth squads head back to Victoria with six gold medals, six silver and five bronze in a fantastic display from our top Victorian talent.
The Championships were capped off in amazing fashion with a pair of Best Player Awards going to Nicholas Lum for his outstanding performances in the Men’s and Under 21 Men’s competitions.
The 2022 Nationals started with a bang earlier in the week with a Women’s side full of Olympic and Paralympic talent including Milly Tapper, Jian Fang Lay, Li Na Ley and Qian Yang fighting hard to win the silver medal. Whilst in the Men’s competition the Victoria ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides played off against each other in the semi-finals, ensuring at least one team a podium place, in the end both made the top three.
The Victorian ‘A’ team of Sanish Ambekar, Xavier Dixon, Nicholas Lum and Lin Ma defeated the Victorian ‘B’ side of Dillon Chambers, Finn Luu, Sajith Silva and Yugandh Zende in a six-set match.
The ‘B’ team went on to beat Queensland in the bronze medal match 4-2, whilst the ‘A’ team played off in a seven-set thrilling final against New South Wales to eventually be crowned champions and bring the gold home.
Next up for the Senior and Youth teams was the doubles competition where we laid claim to three more gold medals as well as two silver and two bronze.
The future star duo of Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu took out the Men’s gold defeating their fellow Team Vic pairing of Xavier Dixon and Dillon Chambers in the final.
Team Vic and Australian legend Jian Fang Lay teamed up with Queensland’s Min Hyung Jee to defeat New South Wales’ and Senior Player of the Year Yangzi Liu and her partner Tracy Feng. Milly Tapper and young gun Cherry Le performed brilliantly to bring home the bronze.
In the Under 21’s, it was the Finn and Nick show again as the pair defeated teammate Aditya Sareen and his partner from New South Wales’ Alex Lee in the Men’s final, whilst Lucas Lum teamed up with Chulong Nie (NSW) to win bronze.
Heading into the Singles finals on Sunday Team Vic were roaring with confidence, and it showed as Victoria’s Senior and Youth men’s players took up every place on the two podiums. Victoria’s top ranked player Sanish Ambekar came back from 3-1 down against Dillon Chambers in the final to win gold, with Nicholas Lum taking bronze.
Unsurprisingly it was Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu battling it out for the Under 21 Men’s title with Lum taking the gold in a five-set match. Aditya Sareen kept his fine form going with a bronze medal performance. In the Under 21 Women’s, young star Sanaya Buddhadasa represented the blue and teal on the podium with a silver medal going down to Senior Player of the Year Yangzi Liu in an admirable performance against her tough opponent.
Overall, the Senior and Youth teams were phenomenal all week long, new and experienced players alike battled it out and cheered each other on for the entire tournament bringing home close to 20 medals.
