Scott Dowsett made history in the Braintree Table Tennis League open singles final
when he became the first son of a former winner to become league champion.
His dad, six-times champion Terry, was there to watch him.
Thirty-one-year-old Dowsett has had an up and down career since his days as an
Essex-ranked junior.
And it was an up and down performance in the final that brought him the title.
There was a point when it looked as if it might have slipped away from him.
After narrowly losing the first game and then equally narrowly winning the second,
Dowsett was looking good after winning the third before Davison hit his stride to take
the fourth 11-2.
That could have deflated him, but Dowsett stormed back as more and more of his
booming forehands began to trouble his opponent and he hung on to take the final
game 11-8.
Dowsett did not have it his own way in the semi-final either when James Hicks
stretched him to five games before he finally got in the groove to win the final game
11-8.
Davison was also pushed by Luke Burridge in his semi-final, but did just enough in
each game to win 15-13, 11-9, 13-11.
There was double consolation for Davison as he came away with both the veterans\u2019
singles and the men\u2019s doubles trophies.
The veterans\u2019 event against Hicks featured two Netts A teammates who must know
each other\u2019s game backwards and it was one in which Hicks was never overawed,
often matching his opponent in the quick rallies.
It looked all over as Davison led by two games and 8-2 in the third before Hicks
staged an unlikely comeback to lead 10-8. He let two points slip but took the next
two to stretch it to four games, only for Davison to bounce back to win the fourth 11-
5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two of them teamed up to take the men\u2019s doubles, Hicks\u2019 first win in the event,
Davison\u2019s eleventh.
Dowsett was at the other end of the table again, partnered by Ashley Skeggs, and
again there was a surprise comeback.
The Liberal pair trailed by two games and 6-0 but rallied to win 11-9. It was the end
of their challenge, though, Davison and Hicks easing to an 11-3 victory in the fourth
game.
Skeggs was also in action in the division one singles but put in a strangely subdued
performance against Alesha Ellis-Austin, apparently believing that defence was the
best form of attack, hoping that he could induce his younger opponent into mistakes.
There were a few but not enough and Ellis-Austin became only the third female
player \u2013 after Sarah Davison and Lucy Wang – to win the event. She dropped a
game but won comfortably in the end 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4.
One of the most impressive performances of the evening came from 18-year-old JJ
Calisin in the junior boys\u2019 singles.
He gave reigning champion Ethan Collins little chance to settle against his all-out
attack on both wings.
Collins\u2019 probing defensive style could not contain his opponent who won in three
straight games.
There was more probing and more defence in the restricted singles and this time it
was enough as Dave Fiddeman took the title against the more adventurous Peter
Davenport.
Like Collins, Davenport has unorthodox rubbers on his bat, which caused Fiddeman
some problems but he had sufficient control to wear him down in three straight
games.
Results:
Men\u2019s singles final: Scott Dowsett beat Paul Davison 9-11, 15-13, 11-5, 2-11, 11-8.
Semi-finals: Dowsett beat James Hicks 11-4, 11-13, 11-7, 10-12, 11-4; Davison beat
Luke Burridge 15-13, 11-9, 13-11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Men\u2019s doubles: Davison and Hicks beat Dowsett and Ashley Skeggs 11-5, 11-7, 9-
11, 11-3
Veterans\u2019 singles: Davison beat Hicks 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5
Junior boys\u2019 singles: JJ Calisin beat Ethan Collins 11-8, 11-8, 11-4
Division one singles: Alesha Ellis-Austin beat Skeggs 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4
Restricted singles: Dave Fiddeman beat Peter Davenport 11-7, 11-9, 11-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n
.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Report by Ron Fosker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scott Dowsett made history in the Braintree Table Tennis League open singles finalwhen he became the first son of a former winner to become league champion.His dad, six-times champion Terry, was there to watch him.Thirty-one-year-old Dowsett has had an up and down career since his days as anEssex-ranked junior.And it was an up and down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4569,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions\/4569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}