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).

A CHALLENGE

Braintree and District Table Tennis League are holding their Quiz Night at Rayne Village Hall, Gore Lane on Saturday 8 February 2004 at 7.30 p.m. Teams are of 6 people and anyone can come. To enter contact Ron Fosker on 01376 512582.

M&G CHELMSFORD CLOSED TABLE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

STAINES & HOLLAND DOMINATE IN A WEEKEND OF SHOCKS

There were shocks galore in one of the most open Men's Singles events in the M&G Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Closed Tournament for many seasons. Seedings counted for little as both the No.1 and 2 seeds bowed out before the Semi-Finals. The first big shock came in the group stages where the title-holder Keiran Lally was beaten over five fluctuating ends of a fiercely contested encounter by the clearly under-rated Kevin Read. With Keiran therefore not going through as a Group winner the quarter of the draw he found himself in suddenly took on a very strong dimension.

In the Competition proper Keiran fought back in superb style with a swash-buckling 3-0 win over the fancied Fred Dove and a subsequent 3-1 victory over another seeded Junior Tony Halling. Further shocks were taking place with the hard-hitting Barry Mays ousting No.7 seed Steve Kerns 3-1 and in perhaps the biggest surprise of all Veteran Peter Ballard got the better of second seed Dave Cole 3-0. Of the other last sixteen matches Veteran John Holland's lengthy 3-1 victory over Hamish Innes also stood out, the second time these two players had faced each other over the weekend.

With the Quarter-finals featuring four unseeded players it really wasn't clear which players would advance to the Semi-Finals. Using all his experience Veteran Over 60s star John Holland came back from losing the first game against Kevin Read to eventually win quite comprehensively 8-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, and the new star of Essex Table Tennis - Matthew Staines came past Barry Mays 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8. This represented a great effort from Barry who matched his opponent's vicious top-spin with his own fierce flatter forehand. In the third Quarter-Final, and in what was a repeat of last year's Men's Singles Final Vytas Rybakas found himself 2-0 down against a determined Keiran Lally. However this is just the type of situation that Vytas appears to relish. An ice-cool Vytas had to dig really deep to take the third and fourth games and a good start in the fifth end enabled him to ease home 13-15, 11-13, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 in what was arguably the best game of the day. Finally George Reeves also made it through to his second Men's Singles Semi-Final as he saw off the giant-killer Peter Ballard 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 with a very controlled display. This sets up Semi-Final encounters between John Holland and Matt Staines and George Reeves and Vytas Rybakas which will take place on Monday 16 February 2004 at 19.30 hours at the Old Chelmsfordians Club House, Lawford Lane, Chelmsford. Whatever happens there will be a new M&G Men's Singles Champion this year as none of these four players have won the title before. However - Vytas, John and George have all reached the Men's Singles Semi-Finals in the past and Matthew was a Runner-up in the Under 21 Singles final a couple of years ago. John and George have also faced each other in the last two Veterans Singles Finals. All four of these players will benefit from that previous experience as they endeavour to win the main event.

There were less shocks in the Ladies Singles as the four fancied players fought their way through to the Semi-Finals. At this stage both Julie Vansertima and Cathy Eakin booked their Finals appearances although both of them had some anxious moments before securing victory. Julie was totally in control against Jean Chasmer for two games before Jean found her way into the match in the third end. It wasn't quite enough as Julie had enough in hand to win 11-1, 11-5, 13-11. Last year's Champion Cathy Eakin's match against Linda Murray followed a similar pattern. Cathy raced into a 2-0 lead against Linda only to run into problems in the third end. Cathy eventually secured her Final appearance 11-5, 11-5, 13-11. Cathy and Julie found themselves on opposite sides of the net in the Ladies Doubles Final and this time Julie and Jean Chasmer reversed last year's Final result with a 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5 victory over Cathy/Linda. Julie and Cathy had also been tested in their Semi-Final as they had to work hard to overcome Nicola Pippen/Melanie Bonnett 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.

The top two seeded pairs made it through to the Men's Doubles Final with a new combination Dave Cole/Matt Staines remaining fairly untroubled as they hammered three first division pairings - Peter Barrett/Waseem Qureshi, Peter Ballard/Ray Sutton and Kevin Read/George Reeves all by 3-0 margins. Reeves/Read came out on top in the best match of this event as they just saw off Tony Halling/Charles Sweeney 14-16, 11-8, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9 after a marathon encounter. In the bottom half of the draw Hamish Innes/Barry Mays took four games to get the better of leading third division pairing Guy McKenzie/Eric Green but they never really looked like losing against the no. 4 seeds Paul Davison/Steve Kerns where they again won 3-1. They eventually missed out 3-1 against another new pairing - Keiran Lally/Fred Dove in the Semi-Final.

David Cole/Julie Vansertima were fairly untroubled as they booked their Finals Night appearance in the Mixed Doubles. Their Semi-final opponents were Ian Whiteside/Nicola Pippen who had recorded an excellent 3-1 win over fourth seeds Fred Dove/Melanie Bonnett. David and Julie will face Ray Sutton/Cathy Eakin in the Final after the unseeded Maldon B pairing had scored two excellent wins. First they edged out George Reeves/Linda Murray 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6 and then they had to save three match points in the fourth end before getting the better of third seeds Paul Davison/Jean Chasmer 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5 in an epic Semi-Final.

John Holland dominated the Veterans events on the Friday night carrying off the Over 50s and Over 60s titles as well as booking his appearance in the Over 40s Final on Finals Night. Despite his busy schedule he only dropped one game, when Peter Ballard extended him to four games in the Over 60s Final. His opponent in the Over 50s Final Hamish Innes looked to be in contention in the first end as he only just succumbed 11-9 but Holland eventually won quite convincingly, taking the next two games 11-1, 11-7. Holland will face Hamish Innes in the Over 40s Final as well. It took Hamish four ends to get the better of both Trevor Collin and then Eric Green but in his Semi-Final he produced a top-class performance to beat second seed George Reeves 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6. Holland was expected to struggle against Fred Dove who he had lost to in a recent League match but in a complete reversal of form Holland ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner. Dove was always having to play "catch-up" and he could never get on terms. Game : 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 to John Holland. Other players to catch the eye were third division star Eric Green, a 3-0 winner over last year's two-down Champion Nigel Lamb and fourth division player Michael Rostoft, a victor over ECC 's second division performer Keith Spicer.

Matt Staines had the toughest draw in the Under 21 Singles as he had to face Tony Halling in the Semi-Final and after the closest of encounters he just prevailed 13-11, 12-10, 12-10. He will face last year's winner on Finals Night - Vytas Rybakas. Vytas had to work harder than he might have anticipated as John Patman pushed him all the way before losing 14-12, 11-5, 14-12. Vytas faced Tony Halling in the Junior Boys Final and after a superb match Vytas came back from 2-0 down to win 9-11, 10-12, 12-10, 16-14, 11-1. A brilliant match with numerous loop to loop rallies and fantastic away from the table play. The Under 15 Singles saw Vytas given a bye into the Final, with the intention of enabling the players in the other half of the draw the opportunity to compete for the Runners-Up position. This decision did in fact produce some great Table Tennis with the much-improved Tom Hill edging past Laura Pyman 11-8 in the decider and then newcomer Greg Green by the same margin in the Semi-Final. Tom gave an excellent showing against Vytas pushing the "Champion-elect" quite hard before losing 11-7, 11-4, 11-8. However you surely have to question the wisdom of giving a player a bye into the Final. Wouldn't the other players in the event have liked the opportunity to have played against such a talented opponent ?.

County players Laura Pyman and Lorna Staff dominated the Junior Girls event and it was Laura who came out on top in the Group decider. Laura lost the first end but fought back really well to win 9-11, 11-1, 11-7, 11-7. Laura also had a hard battle with Hannah Pitt eventually edging home in four games 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 13-11.

Rykki Vansertima, another player who has shown a tremendous improvement in recent months came out on top from an even field in the Under 13 Singles with an excellent 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 Final victory over team-mate Haydn Upson. Rykki had also done well to win his Semi-Final 11-9, 11-4, 11-5 against Adam Pitt. Haydn had seen off the very promising Stevie Pell 11-3, 11-7, 11-2 in the penultimate round. With the two top Junior players (Vytas and Tony) giving the Junior Doubles a miss this event produced some very evenly match Table Tennis. Tom Hill and Lorna Staff fought their way through to the Final with a very hard-fought if somewhat peculiar 11-4, 11-2, 9-11, 1-11, 11-7 victory over Matthew Cheaveau and Adam Pitt. The Final also produced an excellent encounter and this time Simon Webber/Greg Green came out on top 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4.

Fast improving newcomer James Gatheral (playing of plus 3) did well to take the Junior Handicap Singles from another evenly matched field. He had the honour of beating two players who featured in finals over the weekend - Tom Hill and Rykki Vansertima and he took the title with a 14-12, 11-9, 11-8 Final success against another newcomer a battling Tommy O'Donnell. In the other half of the draw O'Donnell had come past the more experienced Lorna Staff (3-1) and Steve Clift (again 3-1).

A report on Sunday's play which included the Divisional and Handicap events, together with tournament pictures will follow next week.