The Otago Open has attracted another strong field this year but it could be Canterbury players who dominate the competition.
The tournament is considered one of the better local events in New Zealand and has drawn a field of 108 competitors.
It gets under way early this morning and will conclude tomorrow afternoon.
Otago Table Tennis director of coaching and development Ben Duffy, a former Otago Open champion, said there were "a number of top 10 players coming
down, mainly from Christchurch".
Defending men’s single champion, Jong Eub Han, from Christchurch, is not returning but Canterbury will be well represented with Yi-Sien Lin, Ivo Mikulec and Hongyi Lee.
"It would be just has strong as it has been in other years," Duffy said when asked about the strength of the men’s field.
Yuhan Gao, originally from Mongolia, is making the trip down from Auckland and "will be hard to beat" in the men’s singles as well.
The best local hopes shape as Leon Kong and Bruno Sarson.
The women’s singles will be another hotly contested category.
New Zealand No 3 ranked women Jenny Hung shapes as the favourite.
Her toughest competition will likely come from fellow Cantabrian Jiayi Zhou.
Zhou is a very sharp defensive player and maybe able to push Hung, while Otago’s Jill Liu Gan is the leading local contender.
About 60% of the registered competitors are juniors and a training camp will be held at Kaikorai Valley College on Monday for under-12 and under-15 for players from the Southern region. Around 30 players will attend the camp.
