At the Dutch national senior championships in the weekend of 21-22 March, Rémi was among the participants in the men's singles and men's doubles. After Rémi's convincing 3rd place at the NTTB Cup/Masters six months ago, this most prestigious Dutch tournament was the next national stage where he could show himself. On Sunday, when there was played for the titles, Ronald was present to coach Rémi.
In the doubles, together with Brent Ronde, who is also regularly active with the TTSD, the couple managed to reach the semi-finals. It was a fifth game against the later winners Camara/Kahn, so there were chances of a final place. Only those opportunities were not seized and the semi-final became the final stop. Of course, there was joy with a nice third place in the doubles.
In the singles, Rémi managed to win his matches on Saturday, being coached by Flip, Brent's regular coach. Among other things, against the strong A. Huiden, he kept his head cool in the round of the last 16 (4-2). So Rémi, who was seeded 8th, was also allowed to play on Sunday, when the real prizes were to be won.
In the quarterfinals, he had to face the 3rd-4th placed Kas van Oost, which seemed like an insurmountable hill for a long time (0-3). But Rémi set his teeth in the match and started a strong overtaking race, dragging a 7th game out of the fire.
Rémi had such a focus that he also managed to win the 7th game. After almost 50 minutes of table tennis at a very high level, he knew he had qualified for the semi-final.
Unfortunately, the engine did not get going in the semi-final, which was due both to Gabi Camara's strong play and to Rémi himself. Unfortunately, he was unable to continue his stunt in the quarterfinals. Gabi went on to win the title.
Rémi went home with two bronzes after the Dutch Championships, which marked a nice next step for him.
