Table tennis: Schoolboy seizes table tennis title

Photo / The Aucklander

At just 13 years of age, Roger Rao might have been forgiven for being daunted by the opposition when he squared up to grown men at the national table tennis championships.

But the Year 9 Auckland Grammar School student yesterday became the youngest person to win the men's open singles title, bettering the effort of Wellington's Richard Lee, who won the men's title as a 16-year-old in 1971.

Rao beat Kong Lingnan, 17, from Mount Roskill Grammar School in the championship game, in Newmarket.

On his way to the final, he also beat most of the New Zealand men's table tennis team - who did not qualify for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

In the championship final, the teenager beat Kong Lingnan 11-3, 11-8, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, after beating top seed Peter Craven from the Waikato in the group stage.

Rao said the win was exciting and "unbelievable".

"I couldn't believe that I'd won it. It was shocking."

He has been playing table tennis since he was 10 and trains four times a week for one to two hours at a time, but he plays just for fun and does not want to play professionally.

He found the first part of the competition, which began on Friday, more difficult because he was not highly ranked.

"I found them much harder than this game. They were quite difficult for me."

Rao is yet to celebrate his victory, but said his parents were just as thrilled and surprised as he was.

Not only is he New Zealand's youngest winner of the national championship - but he is also the highest qualifier in Oceania for 2010 Global Cadet Challenge, held in India at the end of the month. Each continent has a representative team and Rao will play for the team and individual events for Oceania.

Shane Warbrook, chief executive of the Auckland Table Tennis Association, said Rao has a fantastic future in table tennis.

"He's a credit to the Auckland Table Tennis Association and New Zealand."