THE result looked lopsided, 4-1, but New Caledonia's table tennis aces shone in Thursday's play at the Oceania championships at Bendigo Stadium.
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A highlight on day two of the titles was the four-set victory for Cathy Gauthier in New Caledonia's women's teams match against Australia.
The Australians chalked up their third straight victory, but there were many closely-fought sets in the group A match.
After an 11-9 loss in game one, Gauthier beat Vy Bui, 11-7 12-10 11-6.
The Australian team won the contest, 4-1.
Melissa Tapper achieved straight-sets victories in her matches against Gauthier and Ornella Bouthielle.
A legend of Australian table tennis, Miao Miao beat Lea Lai Van, 11-5 11-3 11-5.
Bui won her first match of the day against Bouthielle, 11-2 11-4 11-8.
Going into the night session, New Caledonia was second in its group.
New Zealand was unbeaten in group B following a 4-1 win against Vanuatu and 5-0 wins against Fiji and Tuvalu.
The match between Natalie Paterson and Vanuatu's Stephanie Qwea went into a fifth set. Paterson won 10-12 11-5 14-12 8-11 11-9.
Sophie Shu conceded just seven points in her first match, but was then pushed by Anolyn Lulu in a 13-11 12-10 11-2 win.