McIntosh And Hodgson's Grand Day Out!

Tom McIntosh and Pete Hodgson both had a successful day at the Worksop & District Annual Championships which were held at Sparken Hill Academy. McIntosh amazingly managed to reach five finals out of the six competitions he entered albeit one of them, the Cadet Singles, he didn't have to play a shot as he received a bye from the semi final straight into the final. In the final he will play Martynas Riauba who beat his twin brother Orestas 3-2 in the one semi final match that took place.
McIntosh also reached the final of the Junior Singles after dispatching Lee Banton and then Martynas Riauba in the semi final, all without dropping a set. He will play Orestas Riauba in the final after he came through against Adam Hamilton in the quarters and his brother Martynas in the semi final.
McIntosh will be hot favourite to win both the Cadet and Junior Singles finals when they are played later on in the season but the other three finals he has managed to reach will be less straightforward. McIntosh who reached the final of the Open Singles last year repeated that feat again enjoying a trouble free run to the final with straight sets wins over Neil Fisher, Pete Hodgson, Malcolm Manuel before defeating Kalpesh Bhatt in the semi final. In the final he will be up against  Ernest Mpundu who had made short work of all his opponents up until the semi final stage where he came up against Richard Element the current Open Singles Champion and their match was by far the Match Of The Day. Both players were treating the people watching to some incredible attacking table tennis with Mpundu taking the first two games before Element hit back to level the contest at 2-2 with Mpundu just managing to edge the deciding set 11-9 to make it through to the final.
Element made up for his disappointment of not making it though to the Open Singles final by once again making it through to the final of the Handicap Singles where in a repeat of last year's final he will meet Tom McIntosh but by far the performance of the competition went to Ben Swain who knocked out Ernest Mpundu in the second round with Mpundu being one of the hot favourites to reach the final.
Another surprise result came in the Open Doubles with the defending champions Richard Element and Dave Marsh of Division One getting knocked out in the quarter finals to Pete Hodgson and Nigel Stent from Division Two. The match was one of the best of the day with Hodgson and Stent deservingly going through by 3 sets to 1 but their amazing run came to an end in the semi finals as they narrowly lost 3-2 to Ernest Mpundu and Rick Harris where they will meet McIntosh and Steve Johnson who overcame Kartik Lakhani and Andy Lee in their semi final.
Pete Hodgson's day was a long one as he was one of the first players on the tables at 9.00am and he was also in the last game to finish at 7.10pm! Hodgson had a great run in the Draw Doubles making it all the way to the final where he was joined by Richard Element, Kalpesh Bhatt and Ben Swain and when the draw for partners is made on the night of the final Hodgson will be hoping for a favourable draw!
Hodgson also enjoyed more success by reaching both the 2nd Division Singles and the 2nd Division Doubles finals. Hodgson partnered Nigel Stent in the doubles and made short work of defeating Clive Eden and Mark Bloomer in the quarter finals before beating Tony Swain and Jim Westwood in the semi final. They will meet Jeff Reay and Valentinas Riauba in the final who themselves had some good wins along the way, none more so than when they defeated Orestas and Martynas Riauba 3-1 in the semi final.
Hodgson's journey to the final of the 2nd Division Singles was made a little easier by having a bye in the second round before enjoying good wins over Jeff Reay and Adam Hamilton. His opponent in the final will be Martynas Riauba who had some tricky looking opponents standing in his way but managed to negotiate his way past Clive Eden, Orestas Riauba and Nigel Stent on his way to the final.
Another surprise result came in the 3rd Division Singles as the favourite for the title Derek Piper went out to Neil Houghton who played some solid table tennis to beat him to make it into the final. His opponent in the final will be Chris Clemson who had a good win over Jonno Blood in the other semi and it will be a close encounter in the final.
Clemson and Houghton will also meet in the final of the 3rd Division Doubles with their respective partners. Clemson and Derek Piper defeated Jack Tarr and Adam Pinches to reach the final whilst Houghton and Blood enjoyed a bye into the final due to another players injury.
The Plate Singles competition for losers in the first round of the Open Singles threw up some interesting games with the final being between Helmuth Osborne and Steve Lyon who both surprisingly got knocked out in the first round of the Open Singles to players a division below them. Osborne lost to Mark Bloomer whilst Lyon was comfortably beaten by Martynas Riauba.
Pete Hodgson rounded off the day's proceedings by beating Kartik Lakhani in the semi final of the 40+ Singles and Lakhani was the third player from Division One that he'd beaten on the way to the final after knocking out both Malcolm Manuel and Steve Lyon. Hodgson will meet Ernest Mpundu in the final after he knocked out Clive Eden, Jim Westwood, Dave Marsh and Rick Harris.
David Hooton Trophy Results: Manton Nomads 476Worksop Miners Welfare 'B' 478, Stanley Street 'A' 438 DTH Redlands Roosters 424, Ryton Park Adders 417 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 480, Ryton Park Eagles 461 Manton Misfits 431 
Reg Wilcox Trophy Results: DTH Redlands Monster 378, Manton Tigers 0 (Conceded), Worksop Miners Welfare 'B' 363 Stanley Street Cypriots 342, DTH Redlands X-Youth 474 Manton Sports 480. MBE Trophy Results: Stanley Street 'E' 378 DTH Redlands Liver Birds 0 (Match Awarded), Ryton Park Cougars 326 DTH Redlands Rookies 386, On-Line Elks 468 Ryton Park Falcons 488.