Essex Press Office

Reported by Steve Kerns
Press & Publicity Officer
Essex County Table Tennis Association

County Junior Match Secretary Arthur Clark reports from the Essex Junior Assessment Trials held at BATTS, Harlow over the weekend of 19/20 September which attracted a record number of entries, so much so that the Under 18 Girls event had to be switched to the Sunday. With ten tables in play the Playing
Schedules showed no spare table spaces for the whole of both days.

The Saturday was devoted almost wholly to the Under 18 Boys event and the results would form the basis of selection for Essex’s four junior teams. One morning table was used for the U11 Boys Round Robin event which was won by Benjamin Holland (Peniel Acadamy). With 54 entries the players were divided into two groups based roughly on national rankings with possible promotion and relegation between the two groups after the first round of matches and this did happen. Unfortunately the County’s top ranked boy, Reece Tan, had only just had the plaster removed from a broken wrist and was unable to compete. However this did not detract from the intense competition, none more so than the match between the expected top two boys, Oscar Selfridge and Jared Patel (both Peniel Academy) which Jared won 13-11 in the fifth on five deuces.

Sunday saw the remaining Boys events, U13 and U15. With too many entries in both events a decision was taken to restrict entry numbers to avoid an after 10.00pm scheduled finish. The top nationally ranked players were therefore exempted to enable the rest of the entries, some playing in the events for the
first time, to demonstrate their skills. In both events the top seed failed to win the final winners group. In the U13 event Bradley Osborne (Fellows Cranleigh) beat both of the players ranked nationally above him and in the U15 event James Denyer (Clacton) came from an unseeded position in his first round
group to win the final winners group.

All four Girls events were also played on the Sunday and only in the U15 event did the number one seed not win her event. In the U11 event almost half the entries were forced into a late withdrawal with Amaka Okafor (Peniel Academy) winning the round robin and clubmate Ella Patel winning the U13 round robin. In the U15 event the surprise winner was eighth seed Emily Godfrey (Southend), coming through as runner up in her first round group on sets countback after a three way tie for first place and winning the final Group. The U18 Girls event
went very much to form for the top players - only number four seed Estelle Purkis losing fourth place to number five seed Grace Collier (both Peniel Academy).

The issued top Essex Junior Rankings are:

Boys: 1. Reece Tan, 2. Oscar Selfridge, 3. Jared Patel, 4 Matthew Mulley, 5. Luca Mariano, 6. Anthony Kent.

Girls: 1. Nicole Sydorenko, 2. Evangeline Collier, 3. Annabelle Gibson, 4. Grace Collier, 5. Ify Okafor, 6. Estelle Purkis.

Report submitted by Steve Kerns, Press & Publicity Officer, Essex County Table Tennis Association