In a remarkable achievement, a meisie from Lavender Hill has become the youngest player and the first female to secure double victories at a national table tennis competition.
At just 15 years old, Rochica Sonday, who is part of the Duinefontein Table Tennis Club in Grassy Park, clinched gold in both the SA U19 Girls Championship and the SA Ladies Open.
The talented player, who started her tafel tennis journey in 2018 at nine years old, trains three times a week, and says that her dedication has finally paid off.
She tells the Daily Voice: “A few months before nationals I've been putting in all the hard work to win the women's tournament, which was the one thing I really wanted to win at nationals, so I'm really happy that I was able to win.”
The South African Table Tennis Open 2024 was held from 21 to 29 September 2 at the Brixton Multipurpose Centre in Johannesburg.
In both finals, the Grade 10 student from Lavender Hill High School faced tough competitors; Karen Pillay and Danisha Patel from KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg, respectively.
Rochina grins: “I felt nervous competing against players from different places, but I managed to hold my nerve and surprisingly, I surpassed them.”
Duinefontein Table Tennis Club chairman Wafeeq Domingo says Rochica’s accomplishments are a groot milestone for the club.
He reckons: “As far as I know, she is the youngest in history to do it. Now that Rochica has done it at such an age, she is going to inspire the younger guys.”
She wasn’t the champion from the club, with Waydin Brown coming home with the U13 SA Boys title.
Domingo hopes this will encourage more children from various communities to take up the sport.
The proud chairman adds: “We can just inspire more kids to play and unearth more talent, but funding restrictions make it very difficult to operate in these areas.”
Other Cape Town teams such as Boundary Table Tennis Club from Bonteheuwel took four titles of the 10 that were up for grabs at the nationals.
For parents in the Lavender Hill community, getting their kids involved in this club is a positive way to help them avoid negative influences.
Waydin’s mom, Stacey Brown says supporting her son in sports can be challenging, but they strive to do their best.
She says: “There are tough times when we don't have money supporting him in tournaments, but we push through,” she says.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za