It’s that time of year again. The Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Annual Championships are taking place. It’s slightly earlier in the Season this year and it’s back at the plush Anglia Ruskin University, Mildmay Hall, Alan Cherry Drive, Chelmsford, CM1 1QT from Friday 06 January 2022 to Sunday 08 January 2022. Admission is free and it is hoped that former players will pop in over the weekend to watch. Tea and coffee will be sold but please bring your own mugs as disposable cups will not be available. The good news is that entries are considerably up this year, at 136 players, which is largely due to the League’s thriving Bat & Chat initiative. Bat & Chat have their own set of competitions.
Finals Night takes place on Monday 16 January 2023 at Old Chelmsfordians TTC, Lawford Lane, Roxwell Road, Chelmsford, CM1 2NS at 19.30 hours.
Here is a look at some of the events that will be taking place. The blue riband event as always is the Mens Singles and the 2022 Winner – Dan Young and the 2022 runner – up Harry Buckle haven’t entered this year. Former winner – vastly experienced ace defender – Duncan Taylor is top seed whilst last year’s Chelmsford Veterans Champion Keith Adams is seeded second. You certainly can’t discount third seeded Kevin Read or no. four seed Lee McHugh and indeed the next four seeds – 5 – Ian Wall, 6 – Paul Davison, 7 – Babul McLeod or 8 – Eric Green. If you suspect that the younger fast improving players are the ones to watch then the lower seeded players -14 – Toby McLewin, 16 – Harry Chivers and 17 -Saul Chivers could be the ones to look out for.
The holder Dawn Baldry is favourite to win the Ladies Singles with Andrea Alleyne seeded second. Melanie Bonnett and Frances Hutt are seeded third and fourth whilst fast-improving Alesha Ellis-Austin looks to be the most likely non seeded player to make an impact.
The Mens Doubles remains one of the most open events, and it is being played on Saturday morning this year instead of late on the Saturday evening. Holders Bruce Kettle / Trevor Lloyd will face stern opposition from a whole host of pairings – Duncan Taylor / Kevin Read, Keith Adams / Lee McHugh, Babul McLeod / Eric Green, Paul Davison / Toby McLewin, Saul Chivers / Harry Chivers, Simon Jarvis / Ian Wall and Dan Anderson / Sam Lowman.
Last year’s Ladies Champions Frances Hutt and Ella Sach won’t be able to defend their title as Ella is skiing. Frances is joined by fellow Buttsbury player Lucy Elliott whilst another new pairing Andrea Alleyne / Dawn Baldry will be very hard to beat. Nicola Pippen / Melanie Bonnett, winners in 2016 are seeded third with Annabel Sweeney / Jackie Treacy seeded fourth.
The Mixed Doubles is also open and Dawn Baldry will be bidding to win the title with Adi Kamma. They are the top seeds and other pairs to look out for include second seeds Frances Hutt / Paul Sturton, third seeds Andrea Alleyne and James Donald and fourth seeds Deborah Ginn and Dan Anderson. Don’t discount Allesha Ellis-Austin / Harrison Hill either.
The Veterans Singles is restricted to 24 players on what looks like being a busy Friday night. Action commences at 18.00 hours. The quality of the eight seeded players speaks for itself – (1) Keith Adams (2) Duncan Taylor (3) Kevin Read (4) Paul Davison (5) Babul McLeod (6) Eric Green (7) Bruce Kettle (8) Simon Jarvis.
The quality in the Over 50s Singles is equally high. Keith Adams (who looks like being one of the busiest players this weekend), is the holder and the top seed. and he faces stiff competition from (2) Trevor Lloyd (3) Babul McLeod (4) Bruce Kettle (5) Eric Green (6) Ian Whiteside (7) Simon Jarvis (8) Sanjay Saptarshi.
The holder – Trevor Lloyd is the favourite to win the Over 60s Singles and the number of entrants is up considerably in this event. Babul McLeod is seeded no. two whilst the other seeds – (3) Eric Green (4) Bruce Kettle (5) Ian Whiteside (6) John Tendler (7) Trevor Collin (8) John Parodi (9) Gary Copsey will also be bidding for honours.
John Holland will be disappointed that he can’t defend his Over 70 Singles title and in his absence Ian Whiteside and John Tendler are the top two seeded players.
The Junior Boys Singles will see Chelmsford’s impressive Chivers bothers – top seed Harry and second seed Saul go head-to-head with Colchester prospect Toby McLewin. Fourth seeded Josh Bickles and fifth seeded James Donald shouldn’t be discounted either, whilst Charles Donald and Harrison Hill will also be out to make their mark. A point of prestige to the players involved – the Final will again be played on Finals Night.
The Junior Girls Singles is back on the agenda after a two-year absence and credit must go to the Buttsbury Club who have provided three of the five entrants. The event will be played as a Group and Annabel Sweeney, Alesha Ellis-Austin, Francesca Hutt, Lucy Elliott and Freya Hart will all be out to make their mark.
The standard in the other Junior events is refreshingly high. England no. 53 Cadet Charlie Donald and England no. 71 Cadet – Harrison Hill are the top seeded players at Under 15 and 13 level whilst England no. 82 Cadet Aidan Lees will be a tough nut to crack as well at Under 15 level.
The Junior Doubles should be between the Chivers brothers – Harry and Saul and Toby McLewin and James Donald who play together for Tollsbury A in the Colchester League.
The Under 40 Singles is on the agenda for a second time. It is restricted to players aged between 19 and 39 and the holder Lee McHugh is the favourite. The other seeds are Ian Wall (2), Sam Lowman (3) and Dan Anderson (4) whilst Robert Shrimpton, Paul Sturton, Daniel Piggott, Richard Storey, Wiktor Delimat and Sam Phillips all look capable of making their mark in a competitive field.
The Divisional Singles have retained their Sunday morning berth. Division two sees Sanjay Saptarshi seeded at no. one with Ian Whiteside seeded no. two. Third seed – Chris Buer, the holder should certainly not be underestimated whilst the other seeds – (4) Rob Shrimpton (5) Paul Sturton (6) Daniel Piggott and (7) Mark Allaway are also capable of making their presence felt.
Chris Buer is the favourite in the division three singles with team-mate John Tendler seeded second. Neil Freeman (3), Richard Baxter (4), Ken Sheard (5) and Malcolm Henstock (6) make up the seeds in this event.
The four seeded players in the division four singles are Farooq Ahmed (1), Alan Dadswell (2). Jamie Elliott (3) and Alex Ware (4) whilst there are five seeds in the division five singles. These are (1) Martin Goddard (2) Alex Ware (3) Graham Naggs (4) Jaqueline Smith and (5) Philp West.
,John Wickins – Obituary
Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Life Member Chris Hibbitt has reported –
“The Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League were saddened to learn of the death of John Wickins over the Christmas period.
John was a member of the Writtle Tennis Club for over 50 years and both Wendy and I have been friends with him for all that time and we have played with him in many matches.
He also played in the Chelmsford Table Tennis League for the same period. He did not play for Writtle but for the Chelmsford Table Tennis Club. Many of us, including Brian Cook and Barry Lummis regularly played against him for many years. Norman Hayes, played with him in the 1970s and 1980s and John was still playing this season with his last match being on 29 November 2022.
He was one of the longest serving players currently registered in the League”.
Steve Kerns Press Officer Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League