Palomi Mutti, Press Officer Latin American Table Tennis Union

Proceedings were held from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th February in the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince; the Vincent de Port-au-Prince Gymnasium being the venue.

Notably, the event in addition to being a competition in its own right, was very much for both organisations part of the preparations for the Central American and Caribbean Games to be held later in the year in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Winner of the Men’s Singles event was Donika St. Fleur from the local Prestige Club. At the semi-final stage he beat the Dominican Republic’s Osvaldo Almonte in a closely fought full distance five games contest (12-14, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 11-4), prior to securing the title at the final expense of colleague Sebastien Muzeau in an even closer contest (8-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9). In the counterpart semi-final, Sebastien Muzeau had beaten Carlos Guzman, also from the Prestige Club in an equally tense contest (15-13, 4-11, 11-3, 7-11, 12-10).

Success for Haiti in the Men’s Singles event, it was the same in the Men’s Team where a three-two win was recorded against the Dominican Republic.

Hard fought matches but the important fact was that there was clear improvement in the level of play amongst the Haitian players. Also and importantly as Haiti progresses, a relationship for future such tournaments was established.