Ngwe Emmanuel once more demonstrated his supremacy in table tennis in Cameroon by winning the maiden edition of a tournament dubbed, Sud Cameroon Hevea. In the finals on Saturday May 4th at the council hall in Meyomessala, Ngwe Emmanuel easily disposed of Fomba Elvis in three straight sets in the men's senior category. After dominating the national championship and the University Games, Ngwe Emanuel therefore added a new feather to his cap with the gold medal and trophy won in Meyomessala.
The competition also took place in the women's senior, men's junior and veteran categories. In the women's senior category, Yayim Mercy who has also be exerting her hegemony in that category, equally had an easy walk over her opponent in the final, Tumnian Larette by three sets to zero. In the men's junior category, Ndikum Prosper took the upper hand over Nguepi Dimitri on an identical 3-0 score.
The battle was however hard fought in the veteran category where the matched spanned through all the five sets. Ogen took the lead in the first set 11-8, then Vouffo Paulin equalised in the second set. Ogen took the lead again in the third set but was once more caught up by Vouffo in the fourth. In the fifth and last set, Vouffo narrowly edged Ogen 11-9 in a dramatic turn of events, carrying the day 3 sets to 2.
According to the president of the table tennis federation, Alfred Bagueka, the motive for taking the tournament to Meyomessala was in fulfilment of his electoral promise to take tennis to the hinterlands and detect young talents who will be the champions of tomorrow. He expressed gratitude to the management of Sud Cameroon Hevea for sponsoring the event which saw a large number of youths in the locality initiated to the game of table tennis. He promised sending instructors from the federation to nurture and groom young talents detected in the area.
The General Manager of Sud Cameroon Hevea disclosed that they are going to continue sponsoring the tournament and will in the days ahead distributed table tennis table and rackets to schools in the locality to promote the game due to the great interest manifested by the children. Cash prizes, medals and trophies were awarded to winners in each category. Sud Cameroon Hevea also offered a consignment of table tennis equipment to the federation including tables and rackets.