Annual Championships A Roaring Success

With over 60 players contesting 16 different competitions the Annual Championships were always going to be a long day and so it proved to be with a finish time of 7.20pm!
The day kicked off with the Open Doubles and it was a great sight to see 48 players across 12 tables playing some cracking table tennis.
The pre-tournament favourites for the Open Doubles Richard Element and John Davies made progress through the early rounds without too many issues winning their games in straight sets but when they reached the semi-final stage it was a different matter altogether. Farrell Anthony and Chris Cattell gave them a real scare before Element and Davies finally made it through to the final but had to do it the hard way by winning the deciding set in a 3-2 victory.
In the other half of the draw Rick Harris and Ernest Mpundu were mirroring Element and Davies’s progression as they too made it through to the semis without dropping a game before Steve Fox and Peter Cowburn managed to nick a game off of them in a 3-1 loss to Harris and Mpundu.
The Open Singles saw some fabulous games of the highest standard and any one of the eight quarter-finalists could have graced the final. In the quarter-finals John Davies defeated Martynas Riauba 3-0, Ernest Mpundu beat Terry Emmerson 3-1, Orestas Riauba overcame Chris Cattell 3-1 and in the last quarter final Richard Element beat Peter Cowburn in straight sets.
The semi-finals promised to be of the highest quality and they more than lived up to that with Mpundu beating Orestas Riauba 3-0 and in a very tight match John Davies managed to edge out Richard Element 3-1.
The Handicap Singles competition which was one game up to 21 saw some quick matches, especially as some Division Three players were given a 15 point start and we were rapidly at the semi-final stage of the competition. Mark Bloomer and Mark Sansom had a terrific tussle in the first semi with Sansom eventually winning it by the narrowest of margins 21-20. The second semi was nearly as close with Dilip Malkan just losing out to Dave Marsh 21-19 in a great contest.
The Division Two singles didn’t throw up any surprises as both of the pre-tournament favourites in George Makrakis and Mark Sansom safely navigated their way through to the final. Makrakis won his semi-final 3-1 against Perry Bradford who played well to get to the semis with Mark Sansom coming from 2-0 down against Simon Hooley to eventually win the other semi-final 3-2.
In contrast to the singles, the Division Two Doubles threw up a surprise as the much fancied pairing of Mitchell Radford and George Makrakis lost their semi-final and their heads against Mark Bloomer and Simon Hooley and managed to bicker between themselves to a 3-0 defeat.
In the other semi Andy Kirkland and Mark Sansom made it through to the final on much better terms and comfortably beat Alan Wilson and Paul Linfield 3-0.
In the Division Three singles the much improved Paul Wendon had a great competition. He overcame Roman Rosser 3-2 in a tough encounter in his first match before beating Harrison Holland 3-0 in the quarters before again enjoying another 3-0 win in the semi-finals, this time over Derek Piper.
In the final Paul will meet Lewis Linacre who had enjoyed two 3-0 victories on his way to his semi-final match with Kathy McIntyre who herself had a great first ever Championships in Worksop. The match ebbed and flowed throughout in a tight match but Linacre just managed to edge it in the deciding game to win it 3-2.
Linacre was at it again in the Third Division Doubles as he and his partner Derek Piper had little trouble making it through to the final beating Harrison Holland and Mark Fisher 3-1 and Glen Gillgrass and Tom Ogley 3-0. In the final they will meet Adam Pinches and Rosser who had straight sets wins over Jerry Collins and Michael Candy and Paul and Tom Wendon on their way to the final.
The Cadet Singles had a low number of entries and because of it started at the semi-final stage. There were no surprises as both the favourites made it through to the final. Adam Pinches beat Harrison Holland 3-0 and Roman Rosser beat Isabell Saul 3-1. Special mention must go to Isabell who played really well to take a game off of Rosser ad continues to improve all the time.
Before the Junior Singles competition started the top two seeds Martynas Riauba and Orestas Riauba were odds on favourites to make the final and so it proved to be as Martynas defeated Tom Wendon 3-0 and his brother Orestas beat Tom Ogley by the same score to set up a mouth-watering final.
The 18-40 Singles went the way it was expected to as Richard Element and Peter Cowburn made it through their respective half of the draw unscathed with Element beating George Makrakis 3-0 in his semi-final and Cowburn beating Erland Skels by the same score in his.
The Veterans Singles competitions were some of the last competitions to finish and some really close games added to the length of time they took to complete but the Over 70’s wasn’t one of them as there was only one semi-final match to complete as Mick Bell had received a bye into the final. The semi that was played saw Alan Wilson beat Derek Piper 3-0 to set up a repeat of last year’s final.
The Over 60’s singles defending champion Steve Lyon had a long day and fatigue started to catch up with him and he finally bowed out at the quarter final stage to Peter Hodgson. Hodgson then went on to meet Helmuth Osborne in the semi-finals but couldn’t repeat his win over Lyon and went out of the competition losing 3-0. Osborne will meet Dave Marsh in the final as he beat Jim Westwood 3-0 who’d had a good run to the semis but found Marsh a step too far to overcome.
Because of other commitments the Over 50’s singles saw two players having to forfeit their matches towards the end. Joe Zygadlo conceded his quarter final match against Dilip Malkan who went on to lose to Chris Cattell in the semi-finals and then in the other semi-final Steve Fox conceded to Kalpesh Bhatt leaving Bhatt and Cattell to play in the final.
The Over 40’s singles had a large number of entries which meant that the competition took some time to get through but once it reached the semi-final stage it saw Ernest Mpundu defeat Helmuth Osborne in straight sets and Chris Cattell defeat Steve Lyon 3-1 to set up a great looking final.
Probably the most unpredictable competition is the Draw Doubles with the pairings in each round drawn out of a hat. Kalpesh Bhatt always does well in the competition and this year was no different as he made it through to the semi-finals to be paired up with James Wormwell. Their opponents were Mark Sansom and Rick Harris and in an even contest it was Bhatt and Wormwell who ran out the winners by 3 games to 1.
The other semi-final had four top players in it with Peter Cowburn being drawn with Orestas Riauba playing against Richard Element and Terry Emmerson and although Element and Cowburn won it 3-0 it was a lot closer than the score line suggests.
The last competition to finish on the day was the Plate Singles which consists of players that lost their first match in the Open Singles. Ben Swain had some good wins beating Ben Crapper and Mark Bloomer before dispatching Andrew Dolby 3-0 in the semi-finals.
Swain will meet Mark Sansom in the final who didn’t drop a single game on his way to his semi-final match with Steve Lyon which indecently was the last game of the day. Sansom carried his earlier good form through to the semis and duly beat Lyon 3-0 to bring the curtain down on a great day for table tennis in our league.
League Results
Division One: Stanley Street ‘A’ 3 DTH Redlands Monsters 7, Clowne ‘A’ 8 Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ 2
Division Two: Sparken Hill Eagles 4 Manton Tigers 6, Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ 9 Carlton X-Youth 1, Sparken Hill Falcons 5 Worksop Welfare Cannon 5, Manton Sports 3 Stanley Street ‘B’ 7.
Division Three: Sparken Hill Nightingales 0 DTH Redlands Rookies 10, Sparken Hill Hawks 10 Worksop Welfare Real Deal 0.