A four-man Table Tennis contingent from the Ghana Table Tennis Association has won this year’s Africa Table Tennis Federation Zone III Championship held in Benin. The team won 3 Gold and 1 Silver to top the medal table. Benin were second with 1 gold, 2 silver and I bronze. Felix Lartey won the men’s single event while Linda Annor captured the women’s single. Linda Annor partnered Cynthia Kwabi to win the women’s team event. Benin however won the men’s team session by beating Ghana 3-1. The annual tournament was put together by the Africa Table Tennis Federation Zone III Championship with the aim of bringing together players of the zone to compete for honours and to improve upon their rankings in the sub zone and in Africa. Togo placed third with 2 bronze medals. Ghana was represented in the three nation tournament by Felix Lartey, Emmanuel Commey, Linda Annor and Cynthia Kwabi all from the Ghana Immigration service. Head of delegation to the tournament and Team Coach, Anthony Owusu-Ansah said the team knew the caliber of players they were going to meet at the tournament as such had prepared well for them. “The Zone III tournament is very competitive and consistently we have seen new talents competing fiercely. A critical observation of the performance of the entire team has revealed remarkable improvement and gradual approach to overcome factors militating against their play. Ghana has been performing well in the tournament as such we came here to uphold the flag of Ghana. This we have been able to achieve well”, he said. The team were sponsored by Asky Airlines, a leading Pan African airline with operations into several African destinations and beyond and according to the National Team Coach the support made a tremendous impact on the performance of the team. “The team arrived safely thus we were spared the undue fatigue as has been the case of having to travel by road for similar competitions. This is what made the difference for us. We see this as the beginning of what promises to be a high impact enduring partnership between ASKY Airlines and the Ghana Table Tennis Association”, he said. Acting President of the Ghana Table Tennis Association, Mawuko Afadzinu said the exposure of the team to more playing time in recent times is paying off. “The Association is determined to raise the image of Ghana Table tennis. In the past few years, we have organized frequent tournament to unearth new talents and also improve on the play of the existing champions. This is paying off now as we have seen in this highly competitive Africa Zone III tournament. We will continue to make Table Tennis a bright star in Ghana’s sports”, he said. Meanwhile, a source at the Ghana Table Tennis Association has hinted that plans are near completion to host a major national championship tournament within a month.