CHAMPIONSHIPS

2009-10

2008-9

For Earlier years go to Archives

COUNTY VETERANS TOURNAMENT 7^th February 2010

Report by Andrew Dosher

The Suffolk Closed veteran table tennis championships took place this Sunday at the Britannia club in Ipswich. Although numbers were down having been cancelled once already this season, this didn't detract from the amount of exciting and close games between the players.

The main singles event was the over 40's singles and in group one the number one seed Andrew Warner faced the fifth seed Wayne Shaw, in their meeting in the top 12 earlier this season it was the hard bat player Shaw that emerged the winner, on this occasion it again went to a decider, this time Warner was victor, both players qualified for the final draw.

In group two number two seed and title holder Charles Fulcher overcame Phil Sinclair 3-0 who last year led 2-0 and had match points against him in the same event, seventh seed Andrew Dosher found Sinclair much tougher and trailed 0-2 to some superb hitting before turning the game around to win 3-2.

The game to decide the group winner and runner up saw a fluctuating game as Dosher won the first two sets but was pegged back to 2-2 and at 4-2 up Fulcher looked to have the upper hand; however some smart serving by Dosher and a few cheap points saw Dosher through in a seeding upset.

Group three was disappointing as with Kevin James unable to make it there were just two players in the group, this was won by Andrew Holmes who beat Kenny Lewis as both players qualified

Group four saw Tony West through as the winner in another seeding upset, as he won both games against fourth seed Nigel Hodder and David Halliday, Hodder was the other qualifier.

With Dosher and West causing seeding upsets the top half of the draw featured the top four seeds.

At the same stage last year Warner had played Fulcher and lost in five sets, the game again went to distance this time Warner edged it in a thrilling encounter of blocking and hitting.

In the other quarter final in this half Holmes and Hodder also fought out a five setter and having lost to him during the week it was Holmes that emerged the winner.

Yet another five setter in the third quarter saw West lead Shaw 2-0 before Shaw responded to tie the match however West eventually came through 3-2.

The final quarter was a 3-0 win for Dosher over Lewis

Warner against Holmes was a routine win in the semi’s, while Dosher and West played a very long five setter in which one game was won 20-18 west eventually came through in the longest match of the day.

The final had twists and turns as Warner let slip a 10-7 lead in the second set having won the first and then trailed 6-2 in the third before hitting back to take another title in a 3-1 win

Other highlights were Shaw and Hodder's excellent win over Dosher and West in the doubles final 3-2 with Shaw’s power telling in the end and golden oldie Dave Halliday wining two events, the restricted singles over Brian Amos, and the over 60's final over Ken Lewis

SCORES FROM THE DOME

Over 40's semi finals   Warner beat Holmes 5  6  8

West beat Dosher 7 -13 6 -18 6

Final:   Warner beat West 7 -11 11 7

Over 50's          Final:   Holmes beat Lewis 6 9 13

Over 60's          Final:   Halliday beat Lewis 3 6 5

Restricted         Final:  Halliday beat Brian Amos 5 11 - 8 - 8 7

Doubles            Final:  Hodder/Shaw beat Dosher/West  - 8 6 - 6 9 6

Handicap         Final: Hodder beat Warner 31 - 28 (one game up to 21)

Hodder started on + 5

COUNTY SENIOR TOURNAMENT 4/10/09

Report by Andrew Dosher

With 26 entries this year and seven trophies to play for there were many exciting matches at this season’s event.

In the men's doubles event both top seeds were knocked out at the first hurdle, number one seeds Andrew Warner and Charles Fulcher lost surprisingly easily to Jimmy Farrow and Richard Goodhand 3-0 while father and son combination Malcolm and Ryan Collins lost in three very close games to Kevin James and Michael Wright.

In the end It was Nigel Hodder and Gary Young that overcame Ian Brown and Paul Broxton in the final.

In the final of the womens doubles Aimee Sparkes and Claire Emmerson overcame Vicky Gray and Sonja Talbot 11-4 in the final set.

Hodder took out another title with partner Talbot in the final of the Mixed doubles beating the fancied favourites Ryan Collins and Sparkes 3-1 which was well deserved as they had also beaten the number two seeds in the semi's Warner and Gray.

Hodder had a fantastic day and in the handicap singles carried all before him, unfortunately his final opponent James conceded due to illness, after doing so well to get there having beaten Warner and Sparkes on the way.

Former mens's singles runner up Hodder showed a rich vein of form winning three titles on the day. 

One of the talking points on Sunday was the improved form of Portuguese player Rui Campos who has always had the potential but not delivered when it mattered, however in the restricted singles he took out a number of higher ranked players in Broxton, Sparkes and James on route, and it looked like he would beat defending champion Richard Goodhand in the final as he powered his way to a 2-0 lead, however Goodhand's defensive web eventually stifled the flow of his opponent and despite a spirited effort at the death it was the holder that retained his title.

In the womens singles all five entrants played a round robin event.

Claire Emmerson with two hard fought five set victories over former champion Vicky Gray and Sonja Talbot saw her take the runner up spot, while defending champion Aimee Sparkes beat all her group opponents to retain her title.

In the men's singles Hodder continued his good form through to the semi's with wins over Michael Wright and Gary Young, however there he couldn’t contain the number one seed and top England 100 player Ryan Collins losing 3-0

In the other half Wayne Shaw using a hard bat had powered through against Andrew Dosher and Ian Brown, there he met Andrew Warner who had seen off Paul Broxton and Malcolm Collins.

This was highly entertaining as Shaw blocked and hit with Warner trying to play his control game, in the end a very tight first game which could have gone either way proved decisive as Warner edged through in four close games.

Ryan Collins and Andrew Warner have played in the last three Ipswich finals, and they have all been memorable and won by the favourite Collins.

This final was no different as it saw Collins at times throw the kitchen sink at Warner who still managed to get most balls back from all areas of the court.

In a tight first set Collins just got home at nine, however a good start in the second set for Warner get even better as he ran away with it. Would Collins regain his composure in the third set?

Another bad start saw desperation set in for the favourite and he started to pull his shots missing by his standards some straight forward shots, amid growing confidence from Warner who was now beggeing to believe that he could take the Suffolk crown, the third set to Warner at 5.

Not surprisingly Collins focused and played some breathtaking power shots to win the fourth and set up a decider.

Both players remained calm in the final set and stuck to the task and at 6-6 it was hard to call a winner, however as so often he does Collins went for it and with greater overall power got home at 11-8 for his second singles title.

Andrew Warner deserves a lot or credit for his performance coming so close, while Ryan Collins is still only 19, and if he stays fit and continues to play he could get somewhere near the record amount of singles titles won by Suffolk’s best two players Stuart Palmer and John Kitchener.

SUFFOLK COUNTY TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008/9 Held on 14^th February 2009.

Stowupland High School Sports Centre hosted the Suffolk County Junior table tennis championships with this years entries being at the highest level for some years. This is a reflection of increased participation both within schools and local clubs and bodes well for the future of the sport. Star of the show was Jake Collins (Ipswich), in his last year as a junior, fully justifying his No. 1 seeding position and cruising through to the final to meet No. 2 seed Martin West from Mildenhall – in similar fashion, Martin carried all before him in 5 straight sets victories to set up an intriguing final. Following a tight first set Jake produced some magical aggressive shot making on both wings to clinch victory (13-11, 11-8,11-3) to take the junior title for the first time. Jake’s loss to the Suffolk junior team is a significant gain to the Suffolk Seniors as he has already made a huge impact at senior level being currently ranked at No. 2 behind his brother, Ryan.

There were no real shocks in the Boys U13 group matches with all 8 seeds coming through to contest the quarter-finals. Pick of these matches was Connor Laird(Stowmarket) playing Callum Wilkinson(Bury) with Connor coming out on top with a 12-10, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 win with the more consistent winners. Again the seeding went to plan with the top 4 seeds coming through to the semi-finals. William Hall (Rougham) had a comfortable win over Max Boulter (Bury) 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 but Connor Laird had a much tougher match against a fired up Ruairidh Penman (Ipswich), but with the match level at 2 sets all Connor tired to a rampant Ruairidh who clinched victory with an emphatic 11-4 deciding set. An entertaining final saw the match finely balanced at 1 set all but with William Hall being just the more consistent with his winners deservedly secured the Boys U13 championship with the next 2 closely fought sets – 12-10, 12-10.

In the girls U13 event, Nos 1 & 2 seeds, Rachel West (Mildenhall) and newcomer Lucy Zhu (Stowmarket) topped their respective groups with the runners-up spots being secured by Megan Bollen (Stowmarket) who showed real determination in her 3 group wins along with Natalie Wills (Ipswich) who made a positive start with 2 wins. Both semi-finals saw comfortable wins for both county players, Rachel and Lucy. In an attractive 4 set final Rachel ran out a worthy champion 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6 but later on Lucy was to have her revenge in the U15 event – this was played on a round robin basis with 5 girls contesting this final. With both girls winning 3 games each this championship was settled by a more consistent performance from Lucy who defeated a shocked Rachel in 3 straight sets 12-10, 11-9, 11-8. There will no doubt be some great battles ahead.

In the boys U15 event, 31 players started out in 8 groups. Of the 16 players who went through to contest the 1st round knock-out all 8 of the top seeds came through, 7 as group winners and 1 as a group runner-up. There was some excellent play in all of these matches, most notably Alex Holmes (Stowmarket) overcoming group 7 winner William Woods (Rougham) 11-8,14-12, 11-7 and Jack Anthony (Bury) defeating the on form Ruairidh Penman (Ipswich) 12-10,11-5, 12-10. In the quarter-finals No 1 seed George Kizis (Bury) came through a testing time against Alex Holmes 11-8, 14-12, 11-7, William Hall (Rougham) again excelled to knock-out Group 5 winner Kieran Perez (Ipswich) and playing with some consistency and flair, Joe Easdown (Bury) claimed the scalp of Jack Anthony with a comfortable 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 win. The final semi-final berth was secured by last seasons U13 winner, defender, Rhys Davies (Haverhill) with backhand push and chop came through an attractive encounter with Ipswich promising youngster Elliot Branton 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4. Both semi-finals produced fine matches with George Kizis (Bury) maintaining his winning streak by defeating U13 champion William Hall (Rougham) 7-11, 11-4, 11-4 11-4 and Joe Easdown (Bury) breaking down the huge defensive qualities of Rhys Davies 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4 in a 5 set thriller. In a see-saw outstanding final with both players set for attack, George came back from 1-2 sets down to clinch the Boys u15 title 8-11, 11-6, 12-14, 11-3, 11-8.

Results.

Boys U18 Champion Jake Collins (Ipswich).

Boys U15 Champion George Kizis (Bury St. Edmunds).

Girls U15 Champion Lucy Zhu (Stowmarket)

Boys U13 Champion William Hall (Rougham).

Girls U13 Champion Rachel West (Mildenhall).

Doubles Champions Jake Collins/Lucy Zhu.