'Electric' Element Takes Open Singles Title

In the first Championship Finals Nights held at Stanley Street Club Richard Element put on a scintillating display of attacking table tennis to reclaim the Worksop & District Open Singles title he last won 2 years ago. His opponent in the final was Ernest Mpundu who was attempting to defend the title he won last year but in the first two games Element hit the ground running, raining down a barrage of attacking shots that left Mpundu looking a bit shell shocked and before he knew it Mpundu was 2 games to nil down. Mpundu upped his game in the third set and started to hit the ball with much more purpose and power but Element held firm and with some incredible touch and feel around the table took the set 11-8 and with it the kudos of being crowned Open Singles Champion.
Element wasn't content with winning just the one final though and he made it a double celebration by winning the Open Doubles with his partner Steve Johnson. Element & Johnson were up against Peter Eyre and Jack Kirkland who in previous rounds had played some great table tennis to get through to the final but found winning the title a bridge too far on this occasion. Although on paper it looked like Element & Johnson won the final with ease 3-0 it was anything but as all three games were tight affairs with the victors running out winners 11-9, 11-7, 13-11.
Nigel Stent comfortably took the Handicap Singles title against Mark Sansom but take nothing away from Sansom as he had to start 15-0 down so had very little margin for error. Stent who is playing left handed in Worksop this season due to an earlier operation on his right arm executed his tactic of keeping the ball on the table and waiting for his opponent to make a mistake to perfection in the first game winning it 21-11. In the second game Sansom hit form and started to eat away at the 15 point deficit in the early stages but Stent eventually got back on track and pulled away again to eventually win it 21-12 to take the title.
The Draw Doubles proved to be the closest match of the night going to the deciding set before the winners were determined. The four players names were drawn out and Peter Eyre and Chris Cattell were paired together and were up against Rick Harris and Orestas Riauba. Eyre & Cattell took the first 11-8 but Harris and Riauba hit back to take the next two to lead 2-1 and put themselves in the driving seat. Eyre & Cattell bounced back to comfortably take the 4th game 11-5 with ease to take the match into a deciding game which was nip and tuck throughout before Eyre & Cattell won it by the narrowest of margins 11-9 to be crowned Draw Doubles Champions.
Another close match was the game between Kieran Tutter and Mark Bloomer who were contesting the final of the 2nd Division Singles. Tutter started slight favourite as he had beaten most of the main contenders on route to the final and started the match strongly not allowing Bloomer to get his hitting game going and comfortably won the first game 11-5. The second game was much closer with Tutter taking it 13-11 before Bloomer hit back to take the third 11-8 but any thoughts of a comeback were short lived as Tutter took the fourth game 11-7 to claim the title.
In the final of the Over 40's Singles Ernest Mpundu made up for losing his Open Singles title by beating Chris Cattell in another great match. Once again Mpundu was a bit slow out of the starting blocks and soon found himself a game to nil behind as Cattell played some quality table tennis to take it 11-6 but Mpundu was not going to be denied and he hit back to take the next three games 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 to eventually run out the winner.
With this week being a blank week for league games due to the Finals Night it gave some teams a chance to catch up on their postponed games. One such team was DTH Redlands Red Devils who must take the performance of the week award as they finally won their first ever league match at the twelfth time of asking! It was a real team effort as all three Red Devils players contributed to their sides victory over Real North Notts 'B'. Cliff Briggs registered a hat trick, Phil Daly a double and Jacob Hodkinson chipped in with a solo win with Briggs and Daly taking the doubles game to register a deserved 7-3 victory.
David Hooton Trophy Result: Sparken Hill Starlings 468 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 493
MBE Trophy Result: DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 557 Sparken Hill Hawks 487