Report of the third tournament held in South Africa

Lights, action and goals!!!!!!

Friday the 24th of August saw the third World Amateur Subbuteo Players Association (WASPA) Tournament take place in South Africa and the second WASPA event to be held at Randburg Sports Club.
The tournament also broke the record for the number of entrants when 24 enthusiasts flicked off to an evening of exciting table football fun.

There were four different sections namely: Ladies, Under 14, Under 18 and seniors.

In the Under 14 section,  we had 2 groups of 4 players each, Tristan Berry, the junior champion from the previous Randburg Tournament easily won  Group  A with Aiden Regiens finishing runner-up. Group B saw Marcello Figuerro run out easy winner with Fraser Killian securing the runner-up spot.

In the semi-finals Fraser caused a shock by eliminating current champion Tristan by 6 goals to 4 after the match ended deadlocked at 2 goals apiece. Marcello secured his final spot by defeating Aiden by the odd goal in the other semi-final.

The final proved to be a really tense game and Fraser recorded his first victory by winning the title after a marathon penalty shoot-out (8-7) after a goalless final. Congratulations are in order for the new champion who proudly lifted the trophy and will definitely be back in the near future to defend his title.

The Under 18 section included 2 ladies along with 4 boys and was played on a round robin basis with the top two players contesting the final.  Newcomers Slade Daniels and Ronaldo Figuerro ended top of this section (Slade secured top spot with his superior goal difference).

The under 18 final proved to be an exciting encounter with Ronaldo equalizing in the last few minutes to send the game to a penalty shoot-out. However, Slade held his nerve and won the shoot-out by 3 goals to 2.

The 2 lady participants contested a Ladies Final which ended goalless.  It was decided by the tournament organizer to share the trophy as both games between Claire Figuerro and Danni Williams ended in a draw.

The senior section saw 10 players divided into 2 groups. In Section A current champion, Clifford Graaff achieved top spot with Bryan Shenkyl securing the runner-up spot.  Group B saw Richard Graaff, son of Clifford, winning the group on goal difference from Fernando Rodrigues after both ended on 10 points.

In the semi-finals Clifford accounted for Fernando by the odd goal while Richard insured a family final by beating Bryan by 3 goals to 1.

The final saw Clifford retain his title by edging out his son by 2 goals to nil. Richard however did have a chance late in the game to equalize which was missed and resulted in a counter attack from Clifford to score his second goal.

The evening was a tremendous success and thanks must go to Randburg Sports Club, especially Bryan Shenkyl ,  in affording the South African Table Football Association the opportunity to host  the tournament at their club. Talk is already underway for the following Randburg Challenge!!!!!

See you soon at Randburg Sports Club!!!!!!

(Report by Clifford Graaff)