Press Report

Come to Melbourne Athletic Stadium, Salerno Way, Chelmsford - courtesy of Baddow Village Table Tennis Club - on Friday evenings. Anyone can come and "Pay & Play" for a fee, payable on the night to the Club, of just £3. Play is from 7 - 10 p.m. and will be on up to 10 tables, 18 tables after 9.15. Enquiries to Adrian or Diane Pitt (01245 250710).

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

DANBURY BIDDING FOR 10th SUCCESSIVE VETERANS TITLE

The Danbury Club who are bidding for their tenth successive win in the Veterans KO Cup saw two of their teams drawn against each other in the first round. Not surprisingly the A side of Stuart Gibbs, Dave Bowles and David Jacobs came out on top 5-1 against their C team. However this was no vintage performance from Danbury A who were pushed rather harder that they might have anticipated. Herbie Smith scored a superb 3-1 win over regular Essex Veteran County player Dave Bowles whilst Dave Jacobs only scraped home 11-9 in the decider against Stan Owen. Danbury A took both doubles, but each time they were pushed to five ends with Gibbs/Jacobs just sneaking home 11-9 in the decider against Herbie and Norman Smith. Incidentally even if the Danbury Club do go on and take this title they will still have some way to go to equal the record for the number of successive wins in a League KO Cup Competition. This belongs to the all-conquering Marconi side who won the Men's event a record 15 times between 1945 and 1960.

Elsewhere results went pretty much to form. First division Billericay overcame Baddow Village A 5-1, although the Baddow side also put up a magnificent fight. Julie Vansertima pushed Keith Ashton to five ends and Julie paired with Alistair Brown sensationally got the better of the Ray Eldridge/Keith Ashton combination in a five-end doubles encounter. Baddow Village C were despatched 8-0 by Danbury B, but again the under-dogs gave an excellent account of themselves. Nicky Reece-Ford was pushed all the way to 11-9 in the decider by Robin Armstrong, whilst Frank Neill only succumbed to Gordon Gatheral at 11-6 in the fifth end and to Reece-Ford at a tantalising 12-10 in the decider. Division two leaders E2V Technologies had rather less trouble in disposing of Baddow Village B as their tried and tested line-up of Pip French, Paul Richardson and Ivan Chaplin cruised through 9-0.

Writtle A produced a strong performance to dispose of Danbury B 5-1 in the 4-Down KO Cup. Matthew Brown and Chris Hibbitt were both undefeated as the only game that escaped them was Brian Ellis's victory over Barry Lummis. Excalibur (Michael Rostoft, Ian Butler and Craig McGarrigle) also advanced to the next round by a 5-1 margin as they beat Danbury D. John Knights' win over McGarrigle was the one that got away on this occasion. Joining them in the draw for the next round are Hatfield Peverel C who overcame Writtle B 5-2. Keith Cullen and Dave Fillery who were both undefeated in their singles sealed the Baddow victory.

A very strong Writtle side of Gary Ward, Trevor Carter and Kevin Worthington made it past OCs 5-3 in the 2-Down KO Cup. But they didn't have it all their own way as ace-defender Robert Burton showed up well with a five game win over Carter. With OCs taking both doubles Writtle had to rely on Worthington's important victory over John Watts and the not unexpected two wins gained by their leading player Gary Ward.

There were no upsets in the 6-Down KO Cup as the two leading sides in League play both transferred their form into the Cup arena. Hatfield Peverel (Andy Simmonds, Colin Powell and Petra Oehler) ran out 8-1 winners against Baddow Village D with only Steve Clift's five game win over Petra escaping their clutches, whilst Maldon Borough (Ray Wisbey, Tony Ford and Roy Cole) took no prisoners as they disposed of the young Baddow Village B side 9-0.

The top match in the Handicap KO Cup saw Hatfield Peverel A take an early departure. Neil Thompson (-16) became ECC B's hero in game no. eight when he got the better of the previously undefeated John Gagg (-30) 14-21, 21-15, 21-9 and this set it up for Russell Forde (-21) to get the better of John Parodi (-26) 21-18, 21-19 in a thrilling finale. Elsewhere Excalibur A made their greater experience count as they eased past the young Baddow Village L team 5-2 and on this showing the Excalibur side of Steve Cheesman, Mike Rostoft and Ian Butler should also do well. Another side who could feature are Baddow Village E and they impressed with a 5-3 victory against Maldon Borough. However, none of the Baddow players were able to get the better of the inform Graham Pryke (-12) who played quite superbly to take all three of his singles. ECC C also booked their appearance in the next round as Mick Storey (-11), nephew Richard Storey (-10) and Ian Rogers (-8) ran out 5-2 winners against Hatfield Peverel D. Julie Hawley (-8) showed up really well for Peverel with a storming 21-1, 21-15 victory over Rogers (-8), off scratch.