TABLE TENNIS - Cross loves the challenge

It could be said that Northland suffers from its proximity to table tennis' provincial superpowers North Harbour and Auckland but promising Northland player Leon Cross sees it the other way around.
Northland took a beating in almost all of their games in the Northern Districts teams age-group competition in Whangarei on Saturday, but their top junior says getting beaten is the only way to improve one's game.
"Playing in tournaments in Auckland (and against Auckland players) shows me where I'm at and how I can improve," Cross said.
The trainee electrical engineer at Northpower underlined his theory with a rare win over North Harbour No.1 Myles Collins in the teams' competition on Saturday, beating the top-ranked player at the tournament 13-15, 11-9, 11-6. Unfortunately the Northland team fell just short of an even bigger upset, losing the tie 2-3.
In fact, the only Northland team to earn a win during the competition were the under-13 boys - Cameron Johnson, Evan and Jared Jones - who beat Auckland 2 in pool play.
Cross was narrowly defeated in under-18 pool-play yesterday, beaten by Auckland's Brandon Wallace 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 5-11, 9-11.