Southport table tennis player Aldwyn Altuney has made a comeback after not playing for five years to win the Women’s Open event in the Gold Coast Open Table Tennis Championships on June 3.
Aldwyn beat Queensland’s number three seed Ivette Weininger in the decider of a three-match round robin to take the title (11-9, 11-3, 11-3, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5).
She also beat Queensland’s number four seed Ikue Maeda (12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-13, 11-5) and fellow Brisbane player Andrea Payne. (11-3, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4).
Many people in the audience said they had not seen Aldwyn play so well this year, since she began playing in the A Grade pennant on Thursday nights.
She won by pulling out her trademark killer forehand smash and consistent blocks.
“I’m thrilled to win this event,” Aldwyn said.
“It puts me in a good position to meet my goal of winning the Pan Pacific Masters Games this year.”
The 32-year-old said she had a break from table tennis for five years to focus on her work commitments. She worked at the Gold Coast Bulletin as a News Sub Editor for a year in 2000 before moving over to the Sun Newspapers, where she worked as a Journalist for the next five years, responsible mainly for the Leisure section.
She left that position last July to focus on her business AA Xposé Media & Photography and thus, freeing up her time to play table tennis.
Aldwyn is a former national junior and youth table tennis champion. She represented Australia in table tennis across Europe and Asia from 1990 to 1996, with her biggest achievement being beating the world’s number 32 seed in the Italian Open Championships in 1990 as a 16-year-old.
