REPORT ON THE JUNIOR DIVISION 2D MATCHES PLAYED ON SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2014 

The first round of Junior Division 2D matches were played at Cippenham TTC on 15 November. With only seven teams in the Division, two of whom, Surrey 2 and Essex 2, were relegated from Division 1B last season. One team would have a bye each round. For the opening round of matches this would be the Surrey team and unfortunately Bedfordshire would be a girl short in their matches. Close matches ensued with two thirds either 6-4 wins or draws. All matches were played on two tables.

The Essex second team for the day was Sidney Dorn, Ryan Gooday, Justin Jeffery, Stephanie Cross and Zoe Davies. Original selection Luke Jones played for the first team the week before and stood down for this day.

Essex’s first match was against Oxfordshire. Sid came back from 2-0 down to number two Simon Price, ranked 226, but finally lost 11-9 in the decider whilst on the other table Justin lost to the opposition number three Fabian Avdifferen 10, -9, 10, 2, an encouraging start for him in his first match for the County. With the girls next on Zoe (ranked 75) had to come back from 2-0 and a match point down to Vicky Coll (87) to win -7, -8, 10, 2, 9 and Stephanie (the highest ranked girl on the day at 22) beat former school colleague Kristelle Brook (47) 3-1. Oxon won the next two matches, Ryan losing to No. 1 Erik Wahlgren 3-0 and Justin to Simon 3-1. Stephanie beat Vicky 3-0 comfortably but Zoe lost to the higher ranked Kristelle by three 8’s. Sidney lost to Erik 3-0 but Ryan (295) beat Fabian 3-0 so the team lost 6-4.

In the second round Essex had Bedfordshire to play, whose top two boys were ranked 63 and 186. Ryan and Justin were outplayed by the opposition 1 and 3, Matthew Evans and Owen Hewett respectively, both losing 3-0. Stephanie and Zoe both had easy 3-0 victories over Rebekah Barry. Ryan had a good win over Owen after losing the first game to 3 he came back strongly to take the next three games 10, 8, 9. Sidney lost 3-0 to Ed Simms and by three 8’s to Matthew. While in the last match Justin lost to Ed 5, -13, 5, -11, 6 to leave the match a 5-5 draw.

In the last round of matches Essex 2 had Sussex 3 to play, a similar scenario to the previous Saturday when it was Essex 1 v Sussex 2. Essex won the first four matches, Sidney beating Will Goodstone (153) 9, 11, 2, an excellent win since Will had played for Sussex 2 the previous week beating Luke Jones and narrowly losing to Ryan Williams, Justin a nice 3-0 victory over Ellis Crockford. Stephanie had to work hard for her 3-0 win over Evie Quiroga (94) and Zoe even harder for her excellent 10, -3, 8, -8, 8 win over Bethany Pemberton-Hill (40). Ryan then lost to Dexter Sherin 3-1, the third game 12-10 loss appearing pivotal, whilst Justin lost to Will 3-0, just not able to take the match to a fourth game. Zoe then lost to Evie, ranked 19 places below her, 9, -3, 10, 8, outpaced and unable to slow the match down. Stephanie, won the first game 11-9 but lost the second game to Bethany 14-12, then won the next two 4 and 3 to ensure that Essex at let got a draw. With Sidney losing to Dexter after taking the first game 12-10 it was left to Ryan to beat Ellis 3-0 for the Essex win.

An encouraging day for the four players playing at Junior level for the first time, Ryan having played for the second team at the end of last season and I am sure that they all benefitted from the advice from Coach Stuart Gibbs.

The next round of matches will be at BATTS on Saturday 7 February with four rounds of matches to be played but Essex will have a bye in the third round of matches.

Current Table after the first round of matches is:

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and
Junior Division 2D Organiser.

The 2015 Essex Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships is taking place this season on Saturday 10th January at BATTS, Old Harlow.

An entry form for this event is available for download using the following link –  Essex_Closed_2015-Junior

Players should note that an entry form must be completed for each player and is to reach the  Referee:-

Arthur Clark, 2 Top Road, Woodham Walter, Nr. Maldon, Essex, CM9 6RQ.

Not later than Wednesday 17th December 2014.

Entries can also be made via email and information on how to do this is included on the entry form.

REPORT ON THE JUNIOR DIVISION 1B MATCHES PLAYED ON SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2014

 With the Junior Division 1B again spread across the Country from Essex to Cornwall it was originally proposed to split the Division in half as last season to reduce travelling for the first round of matches. However as Table Tennis England had taken both London area venues for Premier County matches no other venue could be found for the eastern half so Hampshire offered their new Winchester venue. Some two weeks beforehand the Middlesex second team withdrew from the Division as they now had no one to organise and look after their team so there were now only seven teams in the Division. The Westgate venue was a nightmare to find, even for those with sat-navs, through the town centre one way streets and a lack of direction signs and street nameplates. With Jermaine Fearon not answering to the invite to play for the first team, Luke Jones accepted the promotion invite.

Essex’s first match was against a Kent team who had been relegated from the Premier Division last season and with the team of boys they had a clear intention to get back into the Premier Division. Tom Windram, James Smith and Ben Foster won all six matches against Ryan Williams, Sam Hume and Luke Jones with Sam the only one to take a game off their opponents. In the Girls matches Jane Li beat Becky Hancock 3, 5, 3 whilst Tiana Dennison defeated her 6, 3, 18 from 10-8 up and at least ten match points before clinching the match. Against Evie Foster Tiana lost 9, -9, 9, 9 whilst Jane, 27 points below Evie in the Ranking List held a match point in the fourth game before losing 10, -7, -8, 10 , 9. An 8-2 defeat.

Essex had a bye in the second round, they should have been playing the Middlesex team.

In the last round of matches Essex 1 had Sussex 2 to play, a must win if Essex were to avoid relegation. Not a good start with Sam losing to the Sussex No. 1 George Hazell 13, 4, 10. On the other table in the contest of the No. 3’s Luke had a comfortable victory over Scott Covey 6, 7, 9. Jane and Tiana then won their matches to put Essex 3-1 up against Alice Hazell (three 5,s) and Emma Sheen (11, 9, -10, 9) respectively. Ryan then squeezed home against William Goodstone 11, 9, -10, 9 and Sam a more dramatic win over Scott. At two games all Sam found himself 10-6 down in the decider. But Sam is a fighter and four points later the match had swung and Sam quickly took the next two points for a great win. Then with two easy wins for the girls the match was won. Ryan beat George 3-0 but Luke lost the last match of the day 5, 9, 9, to William.

Current Table after the first round of matches is:

P          W         D         L          F          A          Pts

Hampshire                  3          3          0          0          27          3        6

Dorset 1                      3          2          0          1          17        13        4

Kent                             2          2          0          0          16          4        4

Essex 1                       2          1          0          1          10        10        2

Devon 2                      3          0          1          2            8        22        1

Cornwall 1                   3          0          1          2            8        22        1

Sussex 2                     2          0          0          2            4        16        0

The final round of matches will be held at Cippenham on 7 March 2015 when Essex will play, Hampshire, Dorset 1, Devon 2 and Cornwall 1.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and
Junior Division 1B Organiser.

The Essex Junior ranking List has been published for this season and can be viewed via the following link.

Essex Junior Ranking List Revision 2014-2015-V2.