The Hathramani Sports Hall at Accra Sports stadium was the battle ground for the 2012 Table Tennis open Championship. The competition was organized by the Table Tennis Association of Ghana and Sponsored by Stanbic Bank and Cowbell. The event, according to the Vice President of the Table Tennis Association, Mawuko Afadzinu is part of the association’s long term plan to put together a formidable contingent to represent the nation in future tournaments and increase the awareness of the sport among Ghanaians. “This is certainly not going to be a nine day wonder but a start to a very interesting journey to make Table Tennis one of the key Sporting disciplines in the country and a sport that will bring medals to Ghana” said Mawuko Afadzinu. Competitors were drawn from the ten regions of the country and the security Services. As earlier as the preliminary stage of the competition, all the competitors were fired up to win the ultimate prize by displaying impressive performances that kept the spectators on their feet. After a rigorous and very exciting first round, the boys and girls were separated from the men and women. Despite the separation from the main contenders, the young stars who participated exhibited lots of promise for the future. “We are not going to keep our eyes off these young chaps, as you have seen they have a lot of potential for the future [and] we will continue to groom them” said coach Owusu Anash who is the senior national Coach. Noticeable among the young talents for the future included; Benjamin Ofori (Eastern Region), Vera Tetteh (central Region), Emmanuel Ofori (Eastern Region) and Augustina Baido who also hails from the central Region. These young Players showed that with the necessary training and support they can easily fill the vacuum when the older generation lay down their bats and even achieve higher heights. At the business phase of the competition: semi finals of the ladies category, former champion Celia Baah Danso (Greater Accra) was too good for Linda Annor (Greater Accra). Celia won by three (3) sets to Zero (0). Cynthia Kwabi (Immigration) also strolled past Bernice Borquaye (Ghana Navy) by three sets to Zero. The finals of the ladies category was a mouth watering clash between Cynthia Kwabi and Celia Baah Danso. Having lost a similar clash to Cynthia a week ago, Celia looked poised to revenge her defeat by winning the first set. Cynthia’s all round abilities and aggression in subsequent sets was a handful for Celia who was made to defend throughout. Cynthia continued to pile the pressure with a continuous fore hand attack to every service and stroke from cellia. However, Cynthia’s main weapon was her side spins service which Celia had no answers to. Cynthia eventually won the match by three (3) sets to one (1). For her efforts, Cynthia took away a cash prize of 800 cedis, a trophy and products from Cowbell. Bernice Borquaye brushed aside Linda Annor in the third place match by three sets to zero. She was rewarded with a cash prize of 200 cedis and cowbell products. Linda got a consolation of 100 cedis and products from cowbell for placing 4th. In the male division, Emmanuel Commey (Immigration) almost pulled a surprise against the current champion Felix lartey but could not maintain his composure when he served for the match. Aided by his loud supporters, Commey managed to ‘pull a rabbit from the hat’ and turned the tide in his favor. Derrick Abrefa also survived a scare from Adolf Awotwi but eventually won the match by three sets to two. Adolf made amends for his loss to Derrick by winning the third place. He received 300 cedis and products from Cowbell. Emmanuel also received goodies from Cowbell and 200 cedis Derrick Abrefa’s back and fore hand spin on the ball coupled with determination did the trick against his rival Felix Lartey even though they were evenly matched. Felix blew two match points away which Derrick capitalized on to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat to win the 2012 National Open Championship.