Alex Lee and Sanaya Buddhadasa top Open Singles at 2022 TTA Tour - Canberra

Alex Lee and Sanaya Buddhadasa have taken top honours in the Open Singles at the first TTA Tour event of 2022, in Canberra on 12-13 March. 

It was an action-packed weekend at Tuggeranong Archery Centre, with players from all age categories descending on the nation’s capital for the return of the TTA Tour, organised to give Australian athletes of all levels an opportunity to compete in a national-level competition.

At just 17-years-old Buddhadasa has made her mark on the national table tennis scene with a perfect run in the Women’s Open. She won all her round robin matches to top her group, including a five game victory over Dual Olympian and Paralympian Melissa Tapper. She then came up against fellow Australian junior Connie Psihogios in the semi-final before meeting 2018 Commonwelath Games representative Tracy Feng in the final. 

It was a close-fought final with Buddhadasa and Feng taking a game each before Buddhadasa put on a dominant display in the third game to re-take the lead. Not much separated the players in the fourth game as they went toe-to-toe but it was Buddhadasa who was able to take a two-point lead which ultimately led her to victory.

Buddhadasa would go on to win three more medals including silver in the Under 21 Women's Singles and Under 19 Girls' Singles as well as bronze in the Under 17 Girls' Singles. Dual Olympian and Paralympian Melissa Tapper took home bronze in the Open Singles.

Over in the Men’s Open, Lee’s run to the final saw wins over youngster Won Bae as well as two-time Commonwealth Games representative Kane Townsend and two-time Olympian Heming Hu. 

Meanwhile, Sam von Einem, who is staking his claim to compete in Australia’s able-bodied table tennis team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, had an impressive win over the 2021 TTA Tour - Sydney gold medallist and dual Olympian Chris Yan to advance to the final. 

It was a fantastic final between von Einem and Lee with the match going to five games. It was hard to split the pair in a close final with both players playing their best shots to try to get the smallest advantage.  

However, in the fifth and final game, Lee’s early lead was enough to keep him out of reach of the two-time Paralympic silver medallist. 

TTA would like to congratulate all the players who participated over the weekend and came away with medals.

The TTA Tour event will next be in Melbourne from 16-17 April.

RESULTS SUMMARY:

Men’s Open: Gold - Alex Lee (NSW), Silver - Sam von Einem (SA), Bronze - Heming Hu (VIC)

Women’s Open: Gold - Sanaya Buddhadasa (NSW), Silver - Tracy Feng (NSW), Bronze - Melissa Tapper (VIC)

U21 Men’s: Gold - Chulong Nie (NSW), Silver - Ray Zhang (NSW), Bronze - Lucas Lum (VIC)

U21 Women’s: Gold - Cherry Le (VIC), Silver - Sanaya Buddhadasa (NSW), Bronze - Connie Psihogios (VIC) 

U19 Boys': Gold - Won Bae (NSW), Silver - Chulong Nie (NSW), Bronze - Clarence Cheng (NSW)

U19 Girls': Connie Psihogios (VIC), Silver - Sanaya Buddhadasa (NSW), Bronze - Chloe Cheng (NSW)

U17 Boys': Gold - Chulong Nie (NSW), Silver - Lucas Lum (VIC), Bronze - Royce Goh (SA)

U17 Girls': Gold - Connie Psihogios (VIC), Silver - Cherry Le (VIC), Bronze - Sanaya Buddhadasa (NSW)

U15 Girls': Gold - Cherry Le (NSW), Silver - Hanna Goh (SA), Bronze - Daisy Xie (NSW)

U15 Boys': Gold - Lucas Lum (VIC), Silver - Rayan Vardinejad (WA), Bronze - Stephen Liu (NSW)

U13 Boys': Gold - Leonard Piyachai (NSW), Silver - Steven So (SA), Bronze - Adeepa Keerthiratne (QLD)

U13 Girls': Gold - Lily Zhang (NSW), Silver - Amy Jang (QLD), Bronze - Zilin Zhang (NSW)

U11 Boys': Gold - Hadrian De Palo (SA), Silver - Craig Kelly (NSW), Bronze - Ian Yixing Lin (NSW)

U11 Girls': Gold - Jennifer Dou (NSW), Silver - Amy Jang (QLD)

Class 1-11: Gold - Yaser Hussaini (ACT), Silver - Connor Holdback (SA), Bronze - Jessy Chen (NSW)

Full details for the TTA Tour - Canberra can be found by clicking here.