Category Archives: General

County Juniors, General, News, Tournaments

Great day , at Essex Junior Closed

January 20, 2015 admin

ESSEX JUNIOR CLOSED 2014 – 2015

The Essex Junior Closed was held at BATTS Harlow on Saturday 10 January 2015. At the Closing Date there were 53 entries and with the acceptance of late entries the final entry figure was 57 as against last year’s 73, with one more accepted on the day. Groups of three players in in most events and even with this we overran by just over an hour.

The opening event was the Under 13 Boys but with only two Girls entering their event they were transferred to the Boys event which thus became on Open event. There were eight Groups (two having four players). One player did not turn up so the only player looking for a scratch entry could be accommodated. Two seeds failed to win their Group, Alexander Bettley (Bra) defeating Daniel Zeffie (Sou) 3-0 and Alana Mansfield defeating William Bettley (Bra), also 3-0, to set up a first round match between the brothers which William won 3-0. Only one match went to a fifth game decider, Zak Norman squeezing through 12-10 over Reece Harris-Griffiths (Sou) to go through to the KO Stage. The top four seeds all got through to the semi finals, Casey Mansfield having the toughest match to overcome Gracie Edwards (Cla) 10, 8, 7.In the semi he met No. 1 seed Rahul Jindal (Mossford). Saving two match points in the third game he went on to a narrow -3, -10, 10, 6, 9 win. In the other semi No. 2 seed Ray Yan (BATTS) met Jaden Aulakh (Mossford) and after a gripping match just managed a -9, 3, -9, 9, 9 win. The final also went the full distance with fortunes going one way, then the other before Ray eventually won 7, -4, 6, -4, 8.

At this stage Gracie withdrew from the U15 and U18 Girls events leaving us with just three girls in the U15 event (Zoe Davies (Sou) first, Alana the runner up and Jaz Harvey third) and Zoe defeating Lauren James (Col) 3, 3, 7 in the U18 event.

There were 9 Groups in the U15 Boys event (7 of three players and 2 of four) but No. 2 seed Jack Stockdale(Havering) failed to arrive (more later). The remaining eight seeds all won their Groups although for Xudong Wang (Eastbury) it was on countback as the players all beat one another and he was the only casualty of round one losing to Jamie Morgan (Col) 9, -11, 7, 11. With some quarter finals having started Jack Stockdale arrived and it transpired that I had given him the same start time for both U15 and U18 events in error (first time that I can remember that I have done this). After discussions and after all it is a closed event and the mistake was mine it was agreed that Jack would be fitted in in his No. 2 position and the event proceed accordingly. In the top half No. 1 seed Sam Hume (Cla) had a 3-0 win over Jamie Morgan with Syed Hussain (Eastbury) defeating Casey Mansfield 10, 3, 4. The semi went to five games with Sam winning –6, 5, -8, 6, 4. Catching up with matches in the bottom half Jack defeated Matthew Stringer (Sou), Ray Yan and Ali Cangir (Eastbury) 3-1 each time to reach the final. In the final, which was played after the Groups of the U18 event were played, Jack won 10, 8, 7.

When Daniel Young failed to qualify from his U15 Group the U11 Open event was commenced earlier than scheduled with two Groups of three in play. William Bettley gained his revenge for his earlier defeat by Alana with a 3-0 win in his Group and with Alexander losing a five game thriller to Daniel Young 9, -10, -9, 6, 7, in the other Group the brothers met again in the semi final, William again the winner, this time 3-1, to reach the final. In the other semi Alana beat Daniel 8, 3, 11. The final was thus a repeat of the Group match and this time William had to come back from 2-1 down to take the U11 title.

For the U18 Boys event there were five Groups and as she only played one match in her U18 event Zoe Davies replaced the absent Adam Hill. Only seed not to win his Group was Jack Stockdale, defeated by Zoe Davies -8, 12, 8, 7 but in the quarter final she lost to Jonathan Ma (Col) 7, 8, 9. The other three quarters were all close, No. 2 seed Luke Jones defeating Matthew Nariel (Sou) 14, 12, 11, Jack defeating Justin Jeffrey (Sou) -3, -4, 10, 3, 8 and saving two match points in the third game, and Sam Hume struggling to beat Casey Mansfield -7, 4, 5, -13, 5. In the semis Sam gained his revenge for his previous defeat by Jack by winning 11, 4, 10 whilst Luke beat Jonathan 4, 10, 9. In the final Luke won 11, 5, 9.

The last event of the day was the U18 Boys Restricted Singles and seven groups of three. In the semis Casey beat Matthew Stringer (Sou) -9, 8, 9, 7 while in the other semi Louis Jones (Eastbury) beat Daniel Payne (Sou) -5, 9, 5, 6. In the final Louis beat a tired Casey 7, 9, 9

My thanks to Umpire John Jennings for his stalwart duties and Alan Wood for obtaining such nice trophies and Chairman Ken Field presenting the trophies. I think a good day was enjoyed by all

Arthur C. Clark
Junior Match Secretary and Tournament Organiser.

County Juniors, General, News

A GREAT DAY FOR THE ESSEX COUNTY CADET TEAM

December 8, 2014 admin

CADET COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
DIVISION 1B, 29 NOVEMBER 2014

The first round of County Cadet Division 1B matches were played at Cippenham on Saturday 29 November 2014. The Division originally consisted of ten teams but Herts and then Middlesex 2 withdrew. To avoid two teams sitting out on each round of matches and adjacent Counties arranging one match between themselves the Fixture List for the Division matches was completely reconstituted (by me) so that there would be four matches to be played each round and original home and away fixtures maintained. It was agreed that four rounds of matches would be played on the first day. All matches would be played on two tables.

The selected team squad for the day was Sam Hume, Jack Stockdale, Joe Walker, Syed Hussain, Tiana Dennison, Zoe Davies and Gracie Edwards. Tania had to withdraw two days beforehand when she had no transport as dad John was competing in a Vets Tournament at Norwich. Stuart Gibbs was also there and he had persuaded Howard Grant to coach the team.

In the opening round of matches Essex had to play neighbours Suffolk. Jack had to play opposition No. 1 Kian Burgess ranked 68 places above him. They traded the first four games but Kian got off to a good start in the decider to win it 11-3.On the other table Joe played Alex King and won 6, 4, 12. Zoe and Gracie then played Hannah Page and Holly McGerty respectively. It took Gracie a game to wake up and both matches were then won comfortably. Sam then beat Daniel Shelley 3-0 but Jack struggled against Alex before finally winning 4, -8, 9, -9, 5 to put the Essex team 5-1 up. The two girls were then on, Gracie having no troubles against Hannah (3-0) but Zoe never really got going and lost three straight to Holly, who is ranked 66 places below her, a girl she beat 3-1 in the Regional Trials two months ago. In the battle of the number ones Sam, ranked 19 places below Kian, won 11, -6, 3, 9 whilst on the other table Joe lost to Daniel, ranked 179 places above him, 8, -8, -8, 5, -5. A 7-3 win was a good start for the team.

In the next round the East Anglian battle continued with a match against Norfolk. Syed, in his first match for the County, beat Cameron Verney in a very close match 10,6,12 whilst on the other table Jack lost to the Norfolk number one, Louis Moyes, ranked 22, 3-1. The girls matches were also shared, Zoe comfortably over Georgina Sunter 3-0 whilst Gracie had England No. 12 cadet Mollie Patterson to play. She did, however, take a game off her. Essex went 4-2 up when Sam beat Thomas Connelly 3-0 and Jack a comfortable victory against Cameron. With Gracie’s win over Georgina 10, 4, 8 Essex were assured a draw. Zoe had a very close match with Mollie, losing -9, 7, 9, 9. In the last two matches Sam lost 11, 6, -9, 6 to Louis and Syed to Thomas, ranked 53, by a similar 7, 8, -10, 9 games scoreline. Thus a draw it was and both teams dropped to equal third place in the Table

For round three Essex had to play early leaders Surrey 2. With Syed and Joe losing their opening matches 3-1 and 3-0 respectively to Kishal Patel and Matthew Hazell this was not a good start although both opponents were higher ranked. Once again the cavalry girls came to the rescue with easy wins over Federica Tazartes and Medha Verma and did so again later on in their reverse singles. In between Sam won his match with Ajithan Amurtherajan but Syed, after winning the first game, lost to Matthew. Sam gave Essex the win three straight against Kushal but after being 2-1 up Joe lost 11-8 to Ajithan. So the 6-4 win put the Essex team back equal top with three teams one point behind.

For the last round match Essex had to play Kent 2 who had only one girl and thus had to concede two matches to Essex.With it being Sam’s turn to rest and Jack to take on the number one position. In his opening mach he was taken all the way by Hammad Ansari and finally squeezed the last three points to win 11, -7, 7, -6, 8. Joe beat Mahmood Kelani 3-0 after a tight first game 13-11and Gracie, having surprisingly lost the first game to Scarlett O’Neil 11-9, heeded the pep talk and sailed through the next three. Syed although only losing his first game 13-11 with rising star Chamika Weerasinghe, younger brother of Helshan, was no match for him in the next two games. When Joe won his match against Hammad on four 8’s the match was won and with three 3-1 wins for Zoe, Jack over Chamika 10, 9, -5, 9 and Syed 11-9 the 9-1 win would help the sets difference.

Although equal top with Bucks 1 the Essex team are still behind on sets difference. However they still have Beds and Bucks 2 to play where on the evidence of the first day’s play they should achieve good wins. Before these two matches however they have the crunch match with Bucks 1 to play as the opener to Day 2 at the Ellenborough Table Tennis Club, Enfield on Saturday 21 March.

A great day for the Essex team and many thanks from us all to coach Howard Grant standing in for Stuart Gibbs.

Current Table

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Bucks 1	4	3	1	0	31	9	7
Essex 2	4	3	1	0	27	13	7
Surrey 2	4	3	0	1	28	12	6
Norfolk	4	2	2	0	23	17	5
Suffolk	4	2	0	2	23	17	4
Bucks 2	4	1	0	3	15	25	2
Kent 2	4	0	0	4	12	28	0
Beds	4	0	0	4	1	39	0

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

County Coaching, County Juniors, General

Essex county coaching session continues against the odds !

December 1, 2014 admin

On the 30th November 24 juniors with 4 coaches and 3 sparing partners attended the coaching session lead by Essex Stalwart John Mansfield . The session was without Stuart Gibbs and both National junior league and national cadet league taking place it was thought we would have to cancel the session . But with some hard work from the counties clubs and coaches the session continued .

The players spend 5 hours working on footwork and speed as well as looking at some serve and return options. Players were able to make use of multi-ball training and had the chance to benefit from practice with the adults who kindly gave up their time. The session finished with a competitive team event.

Aside from the coaches (John ,Jason, Graham and Josh) and sparring partners, sincere thanks should go to Batts for hosting as usual and to Neil B , Mel Jones and Paul Jeffery for their assistance on they day.

There was a great atmosphere around the session no doubt to John’s amazing sense of humour and I hope that we can keep this great momentum up .

The other sessions will be by invitation only so keep working hard and I will be looking forward to seeing you at the next session .

Thanks

Josh

County Juniors, General

ESSEX CADET AND JUNIOR INTER LEAGUE 1 NOVEMBER 2014

November 4, 2014 admin

ESSEX CADET AND JUNIOR INTER LEAGUE 1 NOVEMBER 2014

Report from Arthur C. Clark

The Essex Cadet and Junior Inter league competitions for Season 2014/2015 was held at BATTS Harlow on 1 November 2014. Four Essex Leagues took part in the Junior event, Burnham, Chelmsford, Clacton and Southend following the withdrawal of Colchester three days beforehand. Three teams, Harlow 1, Harlow 2 and Southend took part in the Cadet event after Burnham also withdrew three days beforehand. Thus there were three rounds of matches to be played for each event against the original five rounds for the Junior event. All matches were played on two tables. Apologies to the Clacton Team who were unaware that the match start for the junior Teams had been put back from 9.30am to 11.00am as their players did not receive information on the late change. The Junior format was four players with each player to play two singles and one doubles thus giving a ten match format whilst the Cadets format was three players, nine singles.

CADETS

The round one match was between Southend and Harlow 2 which Southend won 9-0, all matches three straight. Reece Griffith-Harris, Daniel Zeffie and James Goddard all conquering against James Crisford, Ben Sivathanu and Diesel Harvey

The two Harlow Teams then met one another in the second round match with George Campbell and Harry Blayney winning all their matches for the first team although Harry had to come back from 2-1 down to beat Diesel Harvey. Jack Crisford was the first team’s other player

Thus the final round match between the two winners would determine the destination of the Title with Southend team holding a three point advantage. Reece, Daniel and Ryan Williams (no not the Essex Junior No. 1 player) all winning two each but none could get the better of Harlow’s George Campbell. The 6-3 win gave Southend the title.

TABLE

P W L Pts

Southend 2 2 0 15

Harlow 1 2 1 1 9

Harlow 2 2 0 2 3

Cadet winning Inter League team , Southend. Players Reece Griffith-Harris,Daniel Zeffie, Ryan Williams and James Goddard.

JUNIORS

Most of the Junior teams seemed to have had problems with the end of the School half term holiday week and players not available resulting in the withdrawal of Colchester and Burnham struggling to find only three players. Southend had brought four cadets with them so they loaned Burnham a player each round for experience at the older level.

In the opening matches Southend had a 7-3 win over Burnham, Richard Jovic two wins over Robbie Appleton, 12-10 in the fourth game and Botond Mezo 3-0 and Rebecca Lowman an excellent win over Adam Hill 13-11 in the decider. Justin Jeffrey the only player to win both his matches in Southend’s 7-3 win. In the other opener Chelmsford beat Clacton 8-2 , Sam Hume achieving Clacton’s two points with wins over Ryan Gooday and Daniel Berry. The three matches going the full distance all went Chelmsford’s way, both doubles and Gracie Edwards’ defeat by Daniel. Chris Denyer and Peter Windley won their matches against Kevin Olano and Tom Wilkin fairly comfortably.

The second round of matches saw comfortable wins for Clacton over Southend , 9-1 and a whitewash 10-0, 3-0 wins for Chelmsford against Burnham. Southend’s sole win was for Justin Jeffrey over Gracie.

In the last round of matches Chelmsford quickly won the four matches against Southend by 3-0 margins that they needed to take the title although Justin fought hard in going down 11, 6, 10 to Daniel. Chelmsford went on to win 10-0 as did Clacton in their 10-0 win over Burnham to give them the runners up position.

Sam Hume, Chris Denyer and Peter Windley the three players to remain unbeaten.

TABLE

P W L Pts

Chelmsford 3 3 0 28

Clacton 3 2 1 21

Southend 3 1 2 8

Burnham 3 0 3 3

Junior Winning Inter League Team, Chelmsford. Players Ryan Gooday, Daniel
Berry, Chris Denyer and Peter Windley.

The winners and runners up trophies were presented on the day by Eric Todd..

Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary

General, News

November Table Tennis Action – in Essex and nearby!!!

November 2, 2011 nbrierley

Hannah Hicks selected for Senior Six Nations at Basildon

Senior Six Nations – 11^th – 13^th November – Basildon Sporting Village, Basildon – FREE ENTRY

English Cadet and Junior National Championships – 19^th – 20^th November – Hertfordshire Sports Village, Hatfield – FREE ENTRY

ITTF Pro Tour – 24^th – 27^th November – Excel Centre, London

There is a very full calendar if you looking to watch some live Table Tennis in November. It all kicks off on the 11^th/12^th/13^th November at Basildon Sporting Village, Gloucester Park North, Cranes Farm Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 3GR. The event starts on Friday evening, 6pm – 9pm, then Saturday 9am-8pm and Sunday 9am – 4pm. All the teams have been announced with the exception of Isle of Man.

The players selected for England are:-

Men: Darius Knight and Chris Doran
Women: Hannah Hicks and Emily Bates
Coaches: Jia Yi Liu and Alan Cooke

See a full preview here.

The following weekend it’s the turn of our younger players with the English Cadet and Junior National Championships taking place in Hatfield at the Hertfordshire Sports Village, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9EU. It is a full two days of play on the 19^th and 20^th November with many up and coming cadets and juniors from the East Region taking part. Once again free entry to this event so please come along enjoy some great table tennis and support our local players.

THIS, is the big one. The ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals.

Watch the world’s top table tennis players in the London 2012 venue of ExCeL, from Thursday 24th until Sunday 27th November 2011. Run as a test event prior to next year’s Olympics, the players will be competing for the largest ever prize fund pot in English table tennis history, $325,000.

The English Table Tennis Association is managing the event on behalf of the ITTF.

Running alongside the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals will also be a Team GB v World All Stars match for both the men and women, to help mirror the set up of next year’s Olympics.

Men	Women
Paul Drinkhall	Joanna Parker
Andrew Baggaley	Kelly Sibley
Liam Pitchford	Liu Na

Riding on a crest of a wave, Kelly Sibley and Joanna Parker were part of the undefeated European Championships team which gained promotion to the top division. Liam Pitchford will also be hoping to continue his run of form after outstanding wins against the World number 9 and 20 in the championships.

Be sure not to miss out on your chance to watch World and Olympic champions competing in London prior to London 2012.

Schedule & Ticket Prices
Day	Adult	Concession
Thursday	£15	£10
Friday	£20 £12 after 17:00	£15
Saturday	£25	£20
Sunday	£25	£20
Thursday & Friday	£25	£20
Saturday & Sunday	£40	£30
All four days	£55	£40

View the schedule for a full order of play.

Find out more about the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals at etta.co.uk/grandfinals

Essex County Table Tennis Association