By Firmin Nanol, Port Moresby 2015 Games News Service
PORT MORESBY, July 13 – Tahiti dominated table tennis at the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games winning seven out of the 11 gold medals.
Tahiti won top honours in team, mixed doubles, men’s and women’s doubles and both singles events after eight days of competition at the Caritas Technical Secondary School.
One of the highlights was the women’s singles where Tahiti’s Melveen Richmond caused an upset by defeating the defending champion New Caledonia’s Cathy Gauthier to take the gold medal.
Richmond said she was proud of her win.
“It’s my first time to win gold and I am very happy,” Richmond said.
“It’s my first time to beat Cathy Gauthier in Papua New Guinea. I thank my Tahiti teammates for their support.”
It was a moment of a lifetime for the Belrose brothers, Alize and Ocean, who won the doubles title while Alize took the gold in the singles and Ocean the bronze.
Elder brother Alize Belrose (TAH) defeated Vanuatu’s hot favourite Yoshua Jordan Shing 4-1 to capture the gold.
Belrose said he was very happy with his win.
“I played very hard and served hard and fast to win my game.”
Tahiti’s coach, Mathieu Darrou, said he was thrilled for Tahiti’s overall performance.
“It’s a moment of happiness,” Darrou said.
“In all, seven gold medals in table tennis. We are the champions in table tennis in the fifteenth Pacific Games in Port Moresby.”
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