Mark Dowell gave testimony of his fitness and perseverance to win the third edition of the Scouters Top 16 table tennis tournament at the Table Tennis Centre, Nursery Drive, recently.
Dowell won the competitive final beating Trevor Farley 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5.
It was the third meeting in the final of this tournament for the two national players but on this occasion Dowell got the better of the former Caribbean champion to win the top cash award. Dowell did well to take out right-hander Farley in six games after tough quarter-final and semi-final contests.
Dowell seemed to have his quarter-final duel against left-hander Junior Evelyn under control after winning the first three games at six, nine and eight. Then Evelyn came storming back to win the next three at eight, nine and six before Dowell restablished his dominance to run away with the final game at three.
He again had to dig deep into his resources to overcome Abbie “Playboy” Clarke in a six game thriller 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-8. Trevor Farley recovered from an intial setback to win his quarter final encounter against Dale Rudder 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 and then took out Aaron Barker without too many alarms in the semi-final 11-1, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9.
Barker won the third place play-off against Clarke 11-8, 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10, having earlier beaten Shannon Doughlin in the quarter-final. Clarke narrowly avoided an upset in the quarter-final when he won a compelling seven game contest against 14-year-old chopper Tyrese Knight 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-9. (PH)
