The Warrnambool junior tournament attracted more than 40 players from as far afield as Orbost and organiser Mark Taylor said the competition was red hot. 

“It’s part of the Table Tennis Victoria junior series,” he said. 

“They are held at clubs across Victoria and give the juniors a chance to earn points that then go towards state side selection.” 

Four south-west juniors were in the winner’s circle. Kieran McDowell claimed the division four title and Joe Sycopoulis and Georgia McDowell took out the boys’ and girls’ south-west singles titles. 

Warrnambool’s Ben Taylor was knocked out of the open singles title, losing to eventual winner Noah Middlemiss-Sun. 

Mark Taylor said all the local competitors played well and gave some of the state’s top ranked players a tough game. 

“What was really impressive was the way the kids represented Warrnambool and showed how close to the mark they were, they did themselves proud,” he said. 

“Hopefully for some of the newer players it shows them that table tennis is an Olympic sport not just a hobby game and they will be inspired to go and have a hit at some of the other junior tournaments and aim for state selection points.” 

Taylor said all eight tables at the table tennis stadium in Cramer Street were full across the day. 

“We had good numbers and, from an organisers point of view, it all went perfectly.”