Kane Watson and Keeara Whyte emerged as the respective Men’s and Women’s open singles champions at the 2024 Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Senior and Junior Championships held from September 6-8 at the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston.

Watson returned from retirement to claim his sixth national title by a score of 4-3 in a seven-game thriller over 2023 champion Mark Phillips.

Watson won the first three sets 11-7, 11-3 and 11-8 before Phillips rallied to win the next three sets 11-6, 11-5 and 11-9, setting up a decisive seventh set.

It was a close contest throughout but Watson held his nerve to emerge victorious by a score of 11 points to nine.

In the women’s singles final, Keara Whyte got the better of defending champion Tsenaye Lewis in a 4-0 straight-sets win.

Whyte won the first set comfortable 11-4 before two hard fought sets (11-9, 11-9) in the second and third.

The fourth set proved to be the most competitive with Lewis fighting to prolong proceedings but Whyte eventually prevailed 12-10 to secure the title.

Watson and singles semi-finalist Paulton Madden combined to win the men’s doubles title while sisters Tsenaye and Gianna Lewis took the women’s double crown.

As far as the juniors are concerned, the following were the respective age-group winners: Kaylor Dyer (U-9 and U-11 Girls), Shacoil Bird (U-9 Boys), Malone Bird (U-11 Boys), Kira Scott (U-13 and U-15 Girls), Ajani Spencer (U-13 Boys), Gmarco Smith (U-15 Boys), Keeara Whyte (U-19 Girls), Azizi Johnson (U-19 Boys).

Andrea Wadsworth and Phillip Drummond won the women’s and men’s Over-40 singles titles.

Kingston took the title as the top women’s parish team while St. Andrew took the men’s crown.

From September 6 to September 8, Jamaica’s top table tennis players will descend upon the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston for the 2024 Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Senior and Junior Table Tennis Championships.

In what promises to be an unforgettable weekend of table tennis excitement, players will be competing in categories ranging from Under-9 Girls and Boys all the way up to the Men’s and Women’s Open categories.

“This will be the largest participation in over 20 years,” according to JTTA President Ingrid Graham.

She also noted that this will be the largest number of participants ever in both the Men’s Open and Under-19 sections.

These championships will also see Jamaican citizens overseas coming to the island to compete for the top spot in their respective categories.

“We have over 10 Jamaican citizens living in London, Canada and the USA coming over to participate,” Graham said.

Sponsors for the championships include OSIL, Western Sports, Graham International Consulting, SDF, JOA, Insport, Virginia Deer, Mother’s, Altamont Court Hotel, Auto Channel, Jamaica Post and GEWO Jamaica.

Doors open at 9:00 am Jamaica Time each day.