What an evening of sport we witnessed this week as the Burnham Table Tennis Championships came to a dramatic conclusion at Champions Manor Hall in South Woodham. With 11 of the Championship events already decided over the preceding weekend it was down to the final 5 prestigious events. 7 extremely close encounters with such a variety of styles on show, with no straight sets victories and 4 of the matches going all the way to a deciding 5th set. The seeding committee had done an excellent job so far as barring the Veterans Final all the top seeds had made it through to the final stages – but would they successfully predict the winners, and if so would there be a need for future tournaments to establish who really are the best of the best?
The Mens singles semi-finals opened the show and in the first shock of the night top seed Duncan Taylor was eliminated by the excellent and patient Reece Seddon. Taylor took the first cagey leg but then was unable to dominate the match from behind the table as Seddon controlled everything thrown at him and whipped in plenty of winners to upset the seedings apple cart. Up next was second seed Keith Adams and he got off to an horrendous start as opponent Kevin Read quickly established a 2-0 lead with a series of rolling loops that Adams struggled to control. Adams had a polite word with himself and came out seemingly much more focussed in leg 3. This added steel cut out some of his lazier errors from the opening legs and he began to wear down the Read offence. This pattern continued for the final 3 legs as Adams took control of the match and finished out 6,7,6 to secure his place in the Final.
And so to the first final of the evening – the Mixed Doubles featuring the two top seeded pairings of the holders Duncan Taylor & Andrea Alleyne, and the new kids on the block Lee McHugh & Lin Roff. In a cagey opening both pairs took a leg each and then the fireworks happened as the 4 players started to open up with forehand and backhand smashes that created a much faster game. In the third game it was nip and tuck all the way and despite McHugh & Roff having game point as McHugh hit several forehand winners, it was Taylor & Alleyne that eventually won out 13-11. McHugh & Roff took control of the 4th leg and had a mid-match 3 point cushion that should have seen them take the match to a concluding set. Unfortunately for them a few errors crept in and the top seeds squared up and then had match point at 10-9, before McHugh & Roff had game point at 11-10. 3 points later and Taylor & Alleyne had retained their crown. Worthy Champions.
Next up was the Veterans Singles Final (players over 40) and was featuring top seed Duncan Taylor and his doubles partner Kevin Read who was seeded 3 and had knocked out 2nd seed Keith Adams in the semi-final. This was a really strange match where the power switched from player to player several times. Of course they know each other’s game inside out so we had lots of long technical rallies where each of the apex predators were just waiting to pounce on the slightest error. The Ist leg saw Read leading all the way until crunch time when Taylor dragged his way back into contention and surprisingly took the first leg 11-9. The rollercoaster 2nd leg saw Read take an early 5-1 lead only to see Taylor switch back on and take it to game point at 10-9. Taylor couldn’t kill the game and Read fought back to win out 13-11. The dramatic 3rd set saw Read collapse and Taylor storm into an 8-0 lead that anyone watching thought would be the start of the finish. But oh no, Read fought back and it was time for the Taylor game to fall apart to such a state that Read got to match point at 10-9 and then finished off at 12-10 – a remarkable end of table tennis. That loss seemed to empty the Taylor tank and spur on Read and the 4th set was over pretty quickly with Read taking it 11-5 to secure the Keith Pitt Cup.
After a short interval we were back on court for the Ladies Singles Final (pictured above). The two top seeds had emerged from the pack and were ready to do battle. Top seed Dawn Baldry was looking a bit nervy but got off to a good start and was ahead throughout the first leg until at 9-8 down second seed Lin Roff won a string of points and took the Ist leg at the death. The next two legs went one a-piece for Roff to take a 2-1 lead into the 4th leg. Roff stormed to an early lead giving herself a 5pt advantage that should have been enough to secure the title but Baldry kept going and was forcing some errors but still faced her first match point against at 9-10 down. What should have been the crowning moment was delayed as Roff hit 3 errors on the bounce to take the game into a deciding set. The 5th set was a cagey affair as no-one opened up a lead and the players traded shots. We got to 2-2 and 9-9 in the match with Roff serving to take back her title. The next point saw an exchange of smashes before Baldry hit a forehand cross court winner…. Well normally a ‘winner’ but Roff had taken up a perfect position and hit back using the pace created by Baldry’s smash to counterblock passed her flailing opponent. Appreciative applause all round. Roff took the final point to secure the Ladies Title. What a battle it was.
Our penultimate final this year was the eagerly anticipated Mens Doubles Final featuring top seeds Kevin Read & Duncan Taylor taking on the challenge of second seeds Keith Adams & Lee McHugh. All have featured so far so were warmed up nicely for this hotly contested war of attrition. The first four sets came out at 2-2 and went in sequence per the face off positions. Adams & McHugh were ahead both times but struggled to get anywhere near their opponents in the intervening matches which went 2 & 3. So the final set and the score at the changing point were all important. Adams & McHugh turned at 5-3, perhaps not as big a gap as they wanted but an excellent restart quickly pushed that up to 7-3 with McHugh blasting the last one passed Read. After that it was a cagey pushy affair as Adams & McHugh maintained a lead 8-5, then 10-6, until at 10-8 Read pushed into the net for an Adams & McHugh inaugural victory.
And so to the main event – the Mens Singles Final 2023 betwixt Reece Seddon (pictured below) and Keith Adams – a match up that would grace any Essex Singles tournament final. Boy this one did not disappoint with Adams edging a cagey opening set and then Seddon fighting back in an extraordinary second leg where he raced into a 6-0 lead with some aggressive and accurate loops and punchy backhands but was pegged back again and again by a defiant under the cosh Adams who saved 5 game points before succumbing at the 6th attempt for a Seddon 14-12 leg. Time for Seddon to push on you would think but that proved difficult as he found himself down 0-8 in very quick time and eventually lost out 1-11 to a very determined and more aggressive Adams – and even the 1 Seddon point came from an Adams foul serve! Time to regroup. The 4th leg had Seddon ahead all the way as he played much deeper and forced the tiring Adams, who was playing close to the table, into some uncharacteristic errors. Seddon had 2 game points at 10-8 but it took until 12-10 to tie up the match at 2-2. So into a final set of what had been an enthralling rollercoaster of a Final so far. Adams started off the better establishing a 2 point lead early doors only for Seddon and his oh-so-accurate backhand to fight back and actually turn ends at 5-4 up. After that Seddon was never behind although we did get to 7-7 but then he had 3 Championship points at 10-7 and secured the title at the second attempt for a 3-2 victory (-8,12,-1,10,8). A truly excellent final, and a very worthy winner.
League Chairman and Tournament Organiser Alan Dadswell deserves great credit for all his efforts in putting together both the weekend tournament and the Finals Night.
