League and Cup double for Danbury F

Danbury F, runaway winners of division three of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League added the division three Knock Out Cup to their trophy haul with a 5-0 win over division three runners-up Danbury K. Chris Buer, Gus Heath and Steve Buer carried all before them. The opening doubles went to five ends but Gus Heath and Steve Buer prevailed (8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6) against Mervyn Perriman and Denis Crapnell. Danbury F established a 2-0 win when Chris Buer defeated Denis Balic (6-11, 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4) and thereafter they cruised to victory.  

Writtle B (Paul Sturton, Matthew Brown and Trevor Collin) excelled to win the division two Knock-Out Cup, beating a composite Galleywood B team 5-3 in the final featuring James Hicks of Galleywood A and John Holland and Mark Glenister of Galleywood B. Paul Sturton led the way with a five game win over John Holland (8-11, 11-5,10-12, 11-5, 11-6) and with his side leading 4-3 he produced a superb performance to beat James Hicks (11-9, 11-5, 11-9). Trevor Collin played his part with a vital (11-6, 13-11, 6-11, 2-11, 11-9) victory over Mark Glenister.

Favourites Chelmsford A (Harry Chivers, Saul Chivers and James Donald) annexed the Junior Knock Out Cup, beating Chelmsford B (Nikita Tkachuk, Harrison Hill and Omar Mohammad) 7-1 in the Final. Nikita Tkachuk scored an excellent (14-12, 11-7, 11-4) win over Saul Chivers and he also extended Harry Chivers to five ends before succumbing (11-13, 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 5-11).

The Handicap Knock Out Cup final was another all Chelmsford affair and Chelmsford F emerged as 5-2 winners over Chelmsford C (Alesha Ellis-Austin, Emilie Guilloux and Todd Martin). Dion Fernandes (handicap of 37), Alex Tkachuk (51) and Cleon Fernandes (40) all played a part in this win with Chelmsford F taking the two three setters. Alex Tkachuk beat Todd Martin (41) (16-21, 22-20, 21-14) and he also beat Emilie Guilloux (40) (22-20, 13-21, 21-19) which turned out to be the match-clinching win. Cleon Fernandes powered to wins over Todd Martin (21-10, 21-16) and Emilie Guilloux (21-10, 21-11).   

With division four still undecided Buttsbury A were crowned as Champions by beating Hatfield Peverel D 7-3. With 133 points they finished four points clear of Danbury L. Jamie Elliott who has enjoyed a magnificent season with an 89 % record led the way with three singles wins and Kevin Willis (71 %) won twice. Jamie Elliott showed his class by beating Neil Wood, the best of the Hatfield Peverel players (11-2,11-7, 11-9).

Buttsbury  B (Ben Brown, Lucy Elliott and Oscar Hutt) completed their division five campaign with a 10-0 win over Galleywood D. The last game of the night looks to have been a roller-coaster encounter with Ben Brown defeating Paul Cockrell (8-11, 11-1, 11-6, 13-15, 11-5).

Buttsbury Bees beat Chelmsford Lions 3-2 in Junior division 2A. Grace Liu was undefeated for the Lions beating Thomas Lewis (11-3, 11-6, 11-5) and Charlie Ware (11-4, 11-3, 11-6).

Buttsbury Bats concluded their season in style, beating the higher placed Chelmsford Antelopes 5-0. Will Fullerton gave his side a winning start with a hard fought (11-7, 12-10, 11-13, 12-10) victory over Hugo Read.

The Chelmsford League Annual General General meeting takes place on Thursday 25 May 2023 at 19.30 hours at Old Chelmsfordians Association. Trophies will be presented. Copies of Officer’s reports will be available on the League Web-Site but printed copies will not be available on the night. Vacancies exist on the Chelmsford Committee for two Committee members plus a Press Officer. Steve Kerns is standing down as Press Officer after 31 years. Looking back at his stint in the role Steve recalls “the early years when Ken Cracknell helped him to write his reports with his extensive and well-informed notes”. Steve also commented on another immensely enjoyable spell in the job where he used to travel into London to work with Graham Turner, and they were able to swap score cards and details of notable performances on the journeys. Steve went onto say that “the Annual Championships were easily the highlight of each year with every single Championships throwing up it’s own head line making stories”.  

Steve Kerns Press Officer Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League