The Essex Junior Ranking list has been published and can be downloaded and viewed Here.
Sheila Howe
Clacton AGM – Sheila with Chairman Peter White and new President Shirley Rowlen
There was a tinge of sadness at the Clacton and District League’s Annual General Meeting this month when League President Sheila Howe announced she had decided to step down and take a well-deserved rest.
It was sixty years ago – when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister and premium bonds had just been introduced – that a young Sheila Mills burst on to the North East Essex table tennis scene with victories in the Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles at the 1957 Clacton Closed Championships.
Little did anyone realise that Sheila Howe – as she was to become – would dominate women’s table tennis in Clacton for the next four decades.
In 1960 she won the first of her 19 Ladies Singles titles, the last being in 1999. Together with 20 Ladies Doubles and 14 Mixed Doubles, Sheila chalked up 53 major titles, an unparalleled achievement.
Sheila (Mills – as she then was) and Ray Caley after their Mixed Doubles success at the 1957 Closed Championships
Sheila has always been a popular and well-respected member of the local table tennis community. She continued playing in the League until three years ago and, throughout her playing career, win or lose, it was always with a smile on her face.
It was no surprise that, in 2001, Sheila was made League President and, since then, she has undertaken her duties in a conscientious, dependable and friendly manner. Sheila was made a life member of Essex County TTA in 2006.
Thank you, Sheila, for all you’ve done for the Clacton and District League. You’re a genuine star!
The Corti Woodcock Award – Paul Davison
Paul Davison,
A high performance junior who became interested in coaching at the age of 16, helping at various sessions he was attending. He became a qualified coach at the age of 19 in 1996 and then quickly progressed to L3 in 1999 earning in the process the ETTA Young Coach of the Year award. One of the first coaches to do so.
He began his club coaching career at Sudbury TTC and when that venue closed he started a new club, NETTS, in 2000. Initially based at Gosfield School. The club relocated to Earls Colne in 2003 which has been their base ever since. The club had two simple aims; to help young players to reach their potential and provide a place for senior players to play. A European style club was envisaged with the aim for lots of players congregating on the same night, possible with a large venue, the club also experimented with different playing formats including an individual league before coming up with successful Top 12 and 2-a-side formats. The clubs most successful season competition wise was in 09/10. In this year they were Senior British League Champions (Division 3 South), Women’s British League Champions (Division 3) and National Cadet League: Eastern Region Champions. They also took the Junior British League title (Girls Division 2 Champions) in the 2002/2003 Season – not bad for a small rural club taking on the city boys!
The Corti Woodcock Award. – Corti Woodcock was 5’ 1” in height but was a giant among the pioneers of the sport of Table Tennis. He was instrumental in promoting and organising the game locally and internationally. The West Essex League, Essex County TTA, The ETTA and the ITTF all owe their first faltering steps to his drive and vision. He was a winner and a leader. Corti died in 1958.
To honour his life and perpetuate his memory the County set up a board of Trustees to administer an award given annually in recognition of services to Table Tennis in Essex. It is a unique award in as much it cannot be won, it can only be earned. During February of each year the General Secretary invites nominations from Leagues and of course nominations can also be made by any two individuals affiliated to the County. These together with nominations from the previous year are discussed by the board in April.
A quick scan of the internet, what a wonderful device, gives us the following information.
The West Essex League has a Corti Woodcock Cup
The Saint Bride Vase originally presented by C. Corti-Woodcock of the Saint Bride Club in London in 1929 is presented to the Men’s winner of the world championship
We found mention of C. Corti Woodcock as President of the Essex Golf Union
The USA TTA site also mentions C. Corti Woodcock as a former ETTA Chairman.
Chinese web sites once w’d managed to get the translation software to work also made considerable mention of C. Corti-Woodcock.
We have taken this brief time to layout the fact that Corti-Woodcock contact and influence within TT and into other sports goes far beyond Essex. In effect it makes the award of the Corti-Woodcock Trophy just that bit more special. It is the county’s most prestigious award. In the past it has been awarded for exceptional actions as well as rewarding long service to our sport.
This year the award is for exceptional work. Paul knew the lighting at NETTS was not good enough to stage quality TT events. So he set about doing something about it. Money was the key and he managed to extract funding from Table Tennis England, A local Community Grant fund, Eastern Region Table Tennis, Essex County Table Tennis, Braintree Table Tennis League, the Earls Colne Club, NETTS also contributed and ran some fund raising activities. He persuaded some in kind support from De Vere Travel and Richard Edwards & Partners Accounting. Besides doing this he also prepared a detailed Development Plan, needed if you plan to extract funding from Table Tennis England. In total Paul drew in £20,000 of funding for the club. During this time contact was being made with suitable contractors who would quote for new LED lighting. From start to finish the project has taken about 9 months to bring to fruition. Of course now the lights are installed the work is just starting. The next phase of the development plan comes into play. Getting more people playing table tennis, sounds simple but the work will not stop.
So well done to Paul for his efforts in improving and developing NETTS. He is a worthy winner of the Corti Woodcock Award. Paul was presented with his award by Essex County President, Stuart Gibbs.
Essex Junior Closed 2017
The Essex Junior Closed was held at BATTS Harlow on Saturday 6 May 2017. At the Essex Committee Meeting on the evening before the Closing Date for Entries they agreed that the event would not proceed unless an agreed minimum number of Entries were received by the midnight Closing Date. Martyn Green came to the rescue when he delivered six entries to me at teatime next day. By midnight with 32 entries the event would proceed and with three last minute entries we finally had 45 entries on the day but three of these had withdrawn due to imminent exams.
The opening events were the Under 13 Boys and Under 15 Girls events. With a last minute addition there were two Groups of four and two of three. Top seeds Daniel Young (Clacton) and Akash Shah (Mossford) made their way to the final, beating Oliver Rampton (Colchester) 8, 7, 5 and Rio Teplizki (Chelmsford) -9, 9, 8, 9 respectively in the semi-finals. Earlier Jai Choudhari had beaten number 3 seed Toby Zeffie (Southend) in the Group but lost the quarter final to Rio 11, -12, 7, -5, 6. Daniel won the final -8, 7, 3, 6.
The Under 15 Girls event should have been a round robin of six but Sophie Deng withdrew the previous day. Olivia Jones (Southend) was the winner but there was a three way tie for second place. Countback determined that Ellena Hart (Southend) was second, Mia Charles (NETTS) was third and Zara Darcy Willis (NETTS) was fourth.
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There were 7 Groups in the U15 Boys event. Second seed Jared Chelski (Colchester) was not feeling well and although he tried to play he had to withdraw part way through the first match in his Group. Top seed Jaden Aulakh (Mossford) did not drop a game on his way to the final and Diesel Harvey (BATTS) took advantage of Jared’s absence in the bottom half to reach the final having scraped through his quarter final with Daniel Young, 6, -6, 7, -9, 9. A shock in the final looked on the cards when Diesel won the first two games but Jaden came back to win -7, -5, 9, 4, 8. The other two semi Finalists were Andy Huang and Oliver Rampton (both Colchester).
The Under 13 Girls event was almost a repeat of the U15 event, Maliha Baig (Mossford) playing instead of Mia Charles, thus still five girls in the round robin. However Ella Doddington (Colchester) sustained an injury in her second match and had to withdraw. Nine year old Maliha was the winner with Olivia Jones the runner up and Ellena Hart third.
There were five Groups in the Under 18 Boys event and with Jared still unable to play late entrant Jack Stockdale took his place in the Group and as expected strolled through to the final. For Diesel Harvey it was a much tougher route to the final. In his Group he took five games to beat the seeded Harry Keys (Southend) and in the semi final another five to overcome Daniel Young 5, 9, -10, -5, 10. In the quarter final Daniel took five games to get past Oliver Rampton -9, 9, 6, -8, 8. With Jaz Harvey (BATTS) the only girl entering the U18 Girls event she played in this event and reached the KO stage with a five game win over Toby Deng (Colchester) but then lost in five, -7, 12, 9, -8, 7, to Connor Payne (Chelmsford). Jack won the final 8, -9, 4,6.
For the Under 11 Open event there were six entrants but overnight this increased to seven and increased to eight just before the start. I therefore changed the event from a round robin to two Groups of four, each group played on two tables. Both Group winners Maliha Baig and Toby Zeffie won their semi finals against Sam Taylor (BATTS) 7, 5, 9 and George Davis (Southend) 2, 3, 7, -10, 5 respectively and Maliha went on to win the final 5, 5, -11, -6, 8.
The last event of the day was the U18 Boys Restricted Singles, an event for those players who have never played for any of the Essex teams and no seeding. Five groups and in the top half of the draw Daniel Young reached another final, defeating Daniel Zeffie 5, 11, 9 in the semi. The bottom half of the draw turned out to be much tougher. Matthew Elliott (Brentwood) beat club mate Toby Kelly 11, -9, 6, 5 in the quarter final but then surrendered a 5-3 lead in his deciding game semi final with James Goddard to lose -10, 10, -8, 6, 6. In the quarters James had just managed to scrape past Harry Keys 7, 8, -9, 14 and went on to win the final -9, 6, 8, 5. I think a good day was enjoyed by all.
My thanks to Umpire John Jennings for his stalwart duties again and Alan Wood for obtaining such nice trophies and John Andrews, Ken Field, John Jennings and Sharon for presenting the trophies. Unlike last year when the actual trophies did not arrive in time to be presented on the day, at least the trophies had arrived (only just) and could be presented but not the inscribed plates. These will now be sent through the post so the winners and runners up so they can stick the plates to the trophies.
Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and Tournament Organiser.
Chester Barnes
There is a great article on the Table Tennis England website about Essex and England player Chester Barnes. Of course there is mention of other well known Essex players in the report.
Check out the report here.
Essex Inter League 25 March
The Essex Cadet and Junior Inter league competitions for Season 2016/2017 were held at BATTS Harlow on 25 March. Five Essex Leagues entered the Junior event, Chelmsford, Clacton, Colchester with two teams, Harlow and Southend. Four teams, Clacton, Colchester, Harlow and Southend took part in the Cadet event where last year there were only two. Thus there were five rounds of matches to be played in the Junior event and three rounds for the Cadet event. All matches were played on two tables. 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 plus one doubles. With the Juniors having five rounds of matches to play it was agreed that the first round would be played between adjacent Leagues before the match day. In the event only one match was played beforehand where Colchester sent their A Team to play Clacton instead of their B Team. However Colchester withdrew their B Team late on the Friday evening through lack of available players so that the match actually played was a blessing in disguise.
CADETS
In the first round Southend (James Goddard, Daniel Zeffie and Reece Harris-Griffiths) crushed Harlow 10-0, only one match needing a fourth game. In the other match Colchester were dominant winning 8-2 with Daniel Young winning the two for Clacton, both at 12-10. Jared Chelski unbeaten for Colchester.
In the next round Clacton again lost 8-2, this time to Southend with Daniel Y defeating Daniel Z and James while Reece stayed unbeaten for Southend. In the other match Harlow suffered another crushing defeat losing 9-1 to Colchester, Jake Harvey gaining the sole win over Andy Huang. Only this match and Ethan Willis’s match with Andy Huang needing a fourth game.
Going in to the last round Southend held a one point lead over Colchester. Clacton were left with the wooden spoon when they lost 7-3 to Harlow. Daniel won his three while Jake, Ethan and Harry Argent each won twice for Harlow. Liam Harris came closest to another win for Clacton when, after leading 2-0 against Harry he lost the deciding game 12-10. In the Colchester-Southend match Colchester won three of the opening four singles and when they won the next two by 12-10 margins they were almost home as Southend would need to win the next four matches. However Southend were not going to give up without a fight and went on to win the next two matches, Reece -5, 11, 12, 12 over Andy and Daniel Z coming back from 2-0 down to Toby Deng to win the deciding game 11-8. Colchester jitters, none of it but a close final singles match which Jared won 10, 4, 11 against James to secure the title.
Colchester also won the doubles in five games for a 7-3 win.
TABLE
P W D L Pts
Colchester 3 3 0 0 24
Southend 3 2 0 1 21
Harlow 3 1 0 2 8
Clacton 3 1 0 2 7
JUNIORS
The only match to be played before the day was that between Colchester A and Clacton. A match of two halves, Clacton’s Sam Hume and Gracie Edwards winning all the top half matches including the doubles whilst Arran Hutchinson and Toby Deng won the bottom half matches and their doubles but only by a margin of -10, 9, -8, 8, 10 against Ethan Lloyd and Woody Fitzpatrick.
The first round of matches at BATTS saw Chelmsford playing Harlow and Colchester A playing Southend. For Chelmsford, Ryan Gooday, the second highest ranked player in the room who had played well for the County first team a fortnight earlier, surprisingly lost both his singles matches to Diesel Harvey and Finley Cameron-Prior. The two Matthews, Laws and Elliott, had got their team off to a good start by both winning their matches in the deciding game and they followed this up with a 5, 10, -10, 11 doubles win over Jaz Harvey and Sam Flaum. Southend beat Colchester A 8-2, winning all four opening matches and three of the four second half singles. Matthew Stringer and Liam Squirrel were unbeaten in the top half singles but lost their doubles in five games to Ollie Fifield and Leon Huang.
In round Two Southend played Chelmsford and won 9-1, but the match was closer than the score line indicates. Five of the eight singles matches went to a deciding game and Southend won four of them, Ryan the player to win the one for Chelmsford. Southend also won both doubles at deuce. Sam and Gracie were unbeaten in Clacton’s 7-3 win over Harlow as was Jaz Harvey for Harlow. Closest match was Gracie’s 13-11 deciding game win over Finley.
At the halfway stage Southend led the Table by one point but they had a match in hand. The matches in the last two rounds were the closest of the day. In the match between Chelmsford and Clacton it was another match of two halves. The two Matthews winning the four bottom half matches and Sam and Gracie the top half matches. Sam was taken to a decider by Ryan before winning 11-6. Both doubles went the full distance, the two Matthews beating Scott Campbell and Woody 14-12 whilst Ryan and Connor Payne lost their doubles to Sam and Gracie 11-9. After the discovery of an umpire’s scoring error in one of the doubles matches it turned out that Harlow had beaten Colchester A 6-4. Only Diesel Harvey for Harlow and Arran Hutchinson for Colchester were unbeaten.
In the last round of matches Southend played Clacton and eight of the ten matches were won 3-0 with the other two in five games by Clacton. Another tough doubles for Sam and Gracie with a deciding 11-9 win over Matthew Stringer and Liam Squirrell. It was Liam’s 3-0 win over Gracie that provided Southend with a narrow 6-4 win after the two Harry’s, Small and Keys had won all their bottom half singles. Colchester A and Chelmsford produced another draw. Chelmsford’s five points came from two wins from Ryan, both Matthews beating Ollie Rampton 11-8 in a deciding game and a doubles win for Ryan and Connor while Arran’s two singles wins and a doubles win helped Colchester to the draw.
These results left Southend needing to win three matches to take the title and Harlow to win six matches to become runners up. They played the match on four tables, and after the four singles Southend were 3-1 up, Diesel scoring Harlow’s point in the deciding game 14-12 after being 2-0 down to Matthew Stringer. Southend only won two of the other four singles Harry Keys and Lim Squirrell both getting deciding game wins over Sam Flaum and Diesel respectively. The doubles matches were shared to give Southend a 6-4 win and the Title with Harlow having to settle for third place.
TABLE
P W D L Pts
Southend 4 4 0 0 29
Clacton 4 1 2 1 21
Harlow 4 2 0 2 20
Colchester A 4 0 2 2 16
Chelmsford 4 0 2 2 14
Colchester W/D
It is hoped to present the winners trophies at the Essex Junior Closed on Saturday 6 May at BATTS.
Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary
Essex Juniors Glamorgan take the title but Essex 1 oh so Close!
CIPPENHAM TTC were the hosts to County Champs Junior Division 1B matches on Saturday 11 March 2017.
Current TTE Ranking positions are shown brackets after the player name. Note that the Glamorgan players have no TTE Rankings.
This was the final round of Junior Division 1B matches. The first rounds of matches were played at Cardiff and Cippenham to reduce travelling for the County Teams. Glamorgan, Devon 2, Dorset and Berkshire played at Cardiff and Essex 1, Herts, Surrey and Sussex 2 played at Cippenham, both on Saturday 3 December 2016. After these first rounds Glamorgan and Essex shared the top of the table with 6 points each although Glamorgan held a slight advantage on Sets difference. Each match was played on two tables. The Essex team was Sam Hume, Jack Stockdale, Ryan Gooday, (Joe Walker was unable to play due to studies for exams) Tiana Dennison and Stephanie Cross.
In the first round of matches Essex 1 played Berkshire. They opened up with a 4-0 lead but for the boys oh so close. Sam (52) went 2-0 up against Yonaton Slobodskoy but was then pulled back to a deciding game which he eventually won 11-9 having failed to convert match points in the loss of the third game 15-13. On the adjacent table Ryan (200) squeezed home 12, -9, 11, 9 against Felix Thomas (221). Tiana (15) and Stephanie (21) both won 3-0 against Anaya Patel (33) and Katie Shepard respectively. Later on in the alternating matches Stephanie was to lose to Anaya in the fifth game of a fluctuating match with Tiana winning 3-1. Jack (57) was involved in two fluctuating deciding matches, firstly losing to Josh Gallen (67) and just beating Felix 11-9 in the final game to give Essex a 7-3 win after Sam had sealed victory with a 3-0 win over Josh. A good start but Glamorgan had beaten the eventual third placed team Surrey 9-1
In the second round Essex played Devon 2 and won the two opening matches, Jack coming back from 2-0 down to beat Daniel Kerr (70) 11-6 in the fifth game and Ryan, coming back from 2-1 down to win his deciding game 12-10 with Ben Edmunds. Tiana won her match with Zoe Bennett 3-0but Stephani lost three straight to Mari Baldwin (42). Sam, after winning the first two games easily against Leon Zackarkiw (105) surprisingly lost the third game but in the fourth everything went his way for a 11-0 game win and he followed this up with a deciding game win over Daniel after being 2-0 down. Like Stephanie Tiana struggled against Mari and went 2-0 down and three match points down before saving those and coming through to win the last three games 12-10, 11-7, 11-8. Stephanie only gave away nine points in her match with Zoe. With the match won Ryan lost to Leon after being 2-1 up. An 8-2 win but Glamorgan won 10-0 against the bottom team Sussex 2.
For round 3 the team would rely heavily on the girls winning their four matches against Dorset as both Sam and Jack had to play the highest ranked player on the day, Zac Dowling (33). Jack went 2-0 up against him but eventually lost 11-6 in the decider whilst a battling Sam was even closer, 11-7, 11-13, 11-9, 11-13, 8-8 before losing the last three points. Both opening matches went to five games, Sam saving match points in the fourth against Ali Malloch (82) before winning it 14-12 and the decider 11-2 whilst Ryan had two match point against Jamie Blair but eventually lost the game 13-11 but Ryan did win a very tight match against Ali 3-1 coming from behind in each of the three games he won. As hoped for Stephanie and Tiana won their four matches, three of them very easily, but Tiana struggled against ten year old Sophie Barcsai and was 2-1 down before finally winning the decider 11-8. Jack’s final match win over Jamie made the match score 7-3 but Glamorgan had beaten Herts 10-0.
With the last round of matches to come there was still interest in promotion and relegation issues. For the match between Essex 1 and Glamorgan, Glamorgan only needed a draw to win the League on Sets difference while Essex needed to win the match to take the title. Sussex 2 were already relegated (even if they were to win their last match) and the match between Herts and Dorset would determine the other relegation position. Whichever team lost the match would be relegated and if it was a draw it would be Herts on Sets difference.
Not a good start for Essex, Jack and Ryan both lost their opening matches 3-0 to Joshua Stacy and Joseph Roberts respectively. There was hope when Tiana went 2-0 up against Lara Whitton but in the end she lost 11-9 in a decider. Stephanie also won her first game against Lydia John but having lost the second she went on to win the next two games 13-11, 11-3 to give the Essex team an element of hope. Things were looking up further when Sam beat Benedict Watson 3-1 but with Jack losing 12-10 in the fourth game with Joseph Glamorgan only needed to win one more match to win the Division title. This came when Tiana lost 9, 8, 9 to Lydia after winning the first game. On the other table Stephanie and Lara were involved in the girls match of the day. With both girls bent on attacking games there were many fast and furious, yet long rallies to excite the spectators, before Stephanie came back from 14, 9, down to win 2, 9, 9. The score in the last game does not reflect the dramatic swings. Stephanie 5-0 up at the change round inched to 8-2 up before Lara hit back with winner after winner to bring the match score to 9-9. A calm but relieved Stephanie won the next two points, with a winning rally and an error from her opponent. After this two 3-0 defeats by Sam and Ryan left Glamorgan winning the match 7-3.
Disappointment for the Essex team but they were probably playing the core of the Welsh Junior team. Overall a good season for the Essex teams with the two Junior teams and the Cadet Team all finishing as Runners Up in their respective Divisions. There will be TTE Runner Up trophies for all the players in the three teams.
Sam 6 out of 8, Jack 4 out of 8, reserve Ryan 3 out of 8, Tiana 6 out of 8 and Stephanie 6 out of 8
Final Table
P W D L F A Pts
Glamorgan 7 7 0 0 61 9 14
Essex 2 7 6 0 1 49 21 12
Surrey 7 5 0 2 42 28 10
Berkshire 7 4 0 3 35 35 8
Devon 2 7 3 0 4 33 37 6
Dorset 7 2 0 5 29 41 4
Hertfordshire 7 1 0 6 20 50 2
Sussex 2 7 0 0 7 11 59 0
Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and
Junior Division 1B Organiser.
Essex Junior Closed
Entries are invited for the Essex Closed Junior Championships. These are scheduled for Saturday 6th May at BATTS, Harlow. Entry should be received no later than Wednesday April 19th with the draw taking place on Friday April 21st.
You may enter by email, sending your completed form to: arthurcclark@btinternet.com
Brian Parish
“The man with the funny shaped bat”
On the 22nd December 2016 we heard the sad news that Brian had passed away following a short illness. He had celebrated his birthday two days earlier on the 20th.
Brian was a top class table tennis player who represented both Dagenham and Essex as well as running a highly rated table tennis club called Milestone, in the East End of London from which many players benefited and reached a high standard.
I personally first met Brian when I was eight years old when he used to take me to West Ham United along with his close friend Eddie Sawyer and he ensured I was passed down the front to see the match; something I will never forget.
In later years I played against him on a number of occasions in table tennis matches in the East London League and these were all very competitive particularly when I lost to him in the Milestone match room (called the art room) when I was at the peak of my playing days.
In later years Brian ran and helped organise the Dagenham FC Table Tennis Club in the British League and along with Jimmy Cleeves and Peter Cranmer made playing such a special occasion with coaches of supporters travelling to away matches throughout the country.
Brian was an avid supporter of Dagenham and Redbridge FC and attended weekly with his grandchildren and was subsequently made Vice Chairman for his services.
In closing how will I remember Brian? Yes, he was competitive, but along with that came a thoroughly special human being who would always have a smile and would help anyone who asked.
Brian you will be sadly missed by many, many people especially your wonderful family.
Rest in Peace
Stuart Gibbs
PRESIDENT OF ESSEX TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION
Essex Vice-President, Neil Brierley added:-
“Brian was a fine player, who represented the Dagenham League many times during its heyday in the 60s and 70s. The talent pool at the time was very deep and Bob Potton, Les Eadie, Kevin Caldon, Sky Andrew, Dave Randall and Brian Mailey (and countless more) were all competing for places. Brian had a warm and ready smile and friendly handshake and he was truly a gentleman and a very popular guy in the world of Table Tennis. In more recent years, he had moved to Clacton and played in the Local League.”
Brian’s Funeral is this Thursday,12th January – 13.20 at the South Essex Crematorium in Upminster. The address is – Ockendon Road, Corbets Tey, Upminster, RM14 2UY (Telephone Number 01708 434433)
Essex Closed – What a success
Ken Field and Jayne Johnson report on the Essex County Table Tennis Association 2016 Closed Championships held over the 27th_29th August 2016
After a gap of some 8 years, the ECTTA Annual Closed Championships for Seniors, Vets and U21s returned. It was held at the Rayleigh Leisure Centre, in Rawreth, home of Southend’s Annual Closed Championships.
A good Entry of 68 Players, combined to produce a very good Championships. Our thanks go to the Staff of the Rayleigh Leisure Centre for making us so welcome and always being on hand, should any problems arise. Thanks also to Jayne Johnson for producing the various Result and Match Sheets & for organising the Control Desk for the 3 days. Running the Desk for Saturday & Monday along with Jayne and Barrie Delf was Arthur Clark. Jayne & Ken looked after the Desk on the Sunday which was the Vets O40’s day. Our thanks to Anthon Ranjit-Singh for the helping setting up and taking down the Match Room and helping throughout the Tournament. Finally a big thank you to all of the Players & their families who supported these Championships.
On Saturday we enjoyed the Men’s, Ladies & Under 21 Events.
In the Men’s Singles Semis, we saw two five setters, with both going to the wire. In the first, Tony Halling just edged out Lukasz Lewandowski -8, -6, 6, 4, 10, but not before he had a Match Point. A similar story in the other Semi with Josh Dye just beating Ben Warner -7, 5, 9, -9, 6. In the Final it again it went all the way with Josh just taking the Title from Tony –6, 8, 3, -9, 8.
In the Ladies Singles, we had a Round Robin, with Lin Roff, Gracie Edwards & Rebecca Lowman each winning two matches. In the count back the Title went to Lin who won 7 Sets, losing 3, with the Runner up position going to Gracie 7-4 and Rebecca 6-4.
The Men’s Doubles saw a good Final with Doubles specialists Gary Young & Glenn Johnson just losing out to Father and Son combination, Andrew and Tony Halling -9, 7, 5, -7, 3.
The Ladies Doubles was won by County Juniors Gracie Edwards & Rebecca Lowman, who beat Lin Roff & Tina Hutchinson 5, 5, 11.
The Mixed Doubles was also won by two of the County’s leading Juniors. Jack Stockdale and Gracie Edwards beating Norbert Fullerton & Lin Roff 8, 7, 6.
Next was the Under 21s, which saw Josh Dye repeat his victory in the Men’s Singles, beating County Junior, Sam Hume in the Final. He didn’t have it all his own way and a tight Final saw Josh just take the Title -5, 10, -5, 8, 6.
The final match on Saturday was the Level 2 Open Singles and this was won by John Cleasby, who beat Paul Pells 12, 8, -8, 7.
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- John Cleasby
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- Paul Pells
Day 2 of the Championships saw the Over 40s take centre stage and we enjoyed plenty of good matches.
In the Men’s Over 40s Singles, there were shocks as un-seeded Django Fung took the Title. Django, who is more renowned as the Manager of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump, turned his attention to Table Tennis. In the top half of the draw, No. 1 Seed Rik James lost a close five setter to Mark Wicker, only for Mark to lose in the Semi-Final to No. 4 seed, Gary Young. In the bottom half of the draw, there was an early shock when No. 3 seed Kevin Read, lost in straight sets to unseeded Django Fung. Django then beat Southend Premier Player, Babul McLeod, again in straight sets. The Final was a very tight match poised at two sets all and 9 all in the decisive fifth Set, before Django took the Title 9, -12, -5, 6, 9. This was the shock of Championships, great effort by Django.
Is this a Yellow Card moment!!
The Ladies Over 40s Singles title went to Jan Fuller who beat Tina Hutchinson 9, 6, 7. Both players have returned to our sport after many years out: having both been leading juniors in the County.
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- Jan Fuller
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- Tina Hutchinson
The Over 40s Doubles was played as an Open Event. Favourites Mark Wicker and Paul Davison justified their Seeding and took the Title, beating Gary Young and Glenn Johnson 8, 8, 6.
Final Event of the day was the Level 2 Over 40s Open Singles, which saw Southend Premier Players Norbert Fullerton and Richard Brown face each other in the Final. It was a very good match with Norbert just edging it 5, 11, -3, 11.
On to Day 3 we enjoyed watching the Over 50s, Over 60s and Over 70s.
There were plenty of exciting tussles and it was a great demonstration of how Table Tennis is a sport for life. Each event was played as an Open event: with the Over 50s in Groups and the Over 60s and 70s as straight knockouts.
In the O50’s Alex Abbott and Rick James met in the Final and we enjoyed watching a close five setter, with Alex just beating his long term rival and friend Rik 9, -9, 9, -2, 6.
n the O60’s, after reaching both the Men’s and Over 40s Doubles Finals, but just losing out in each, Glenn Johnson went one better this time to take the Over 60s Title, beating Peter Cranmer in the Final 7, 8, 8.
In the O70’s Peter Cranmer made up for his disappointment in the Over 60s beating Bill Smith in the Final -6, 7, 4, 9. It was great to see these two stalwarts of our game still maintaining a high standard of play.
This concluded the 2016 Essex Closed Table Tennis Championships and several of us enjoyed a final beverage in the Canteen at the Rayleigh Leisure Centre, which had been a great meeting place the whole weekend. Throughout, the staff had been so helpful and accommodating. John Dennison of Topspin Sports arrived to collect the tables and equipment and those left helped load up the Van: including the legendary Joe Kennedy who called in on Sunday.
There has been some good feedback about these Championships which will be fed back to the Essex Management Committee and it will be up to them to decide if this event can continue. The running of this event has to receive funding from the County due to the cost of Venues and Equipment hire. The funds of the County are a combination of our current Funds plus the Annual Team Fees of £9.00, paid by every Local League Team that plays in our County. This means that every registered player in Essex contributed a small part towards the running of these Championships. So our thanks go to every player, playing in the Local Leagues of the Essex County.
We enjoyed setting up these Championships and thank all of you in what ever way it was that helped make the return of these Championships such an enjoyable weekend.
Ken Field, Chairman & Jayne Johnson General Secretary
Essex County Table Tennis Association
Organisers of the 2016 Essex County Closed Championships