Press Report

The Handicap KO Cup isn't everyone's idea of top-quality Table Tennis but it remains by far the best supported Cup Competition run by the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Many Clubs use it as an opportunity to enable players from different divisions to play together, and it remains an excellent way of enabling young and less experienced players to match themselves against the League's top performers. Of this year's preliminary and first round matches four clashes were decided by a 5-4 scoreline and another two games resulted in a 5-3 winning margin, so it is also clear that the Handicaps have been judged pretty accurately.

Baddow Village D opted for the "composite" line-up against Writtle B and Gareth Joice (-18), Steve Back (-15) and Hannah Pitt (+3) just came out on top 5-4. Gareth was their "strong-man" taking his three singles which included a decisive 21-16, 21-16 victory over Hector Rogers (-11) in the last game of the night. Joice also disposed of Matthew Brown (-18), a player expected to cause him some trouble 21-11, 21-9, much easier than might have been anticipated. Excalibur A represented by Dave Moles (-17), Richard Hiskey (-21) and Bill Smith (-18) look to have been fairly generously handicapped compared to the ECC B trio of Gary Brignall (-26), Ken James (-25) and Neil Thompson (-18) and the ECC trio did well to make as good a fight of it as they managed. However, there was to be no "fairy-tale ending" because in the last game of the evening Bill Smith made no mistake in disposing of Gary Brignall 21-15, 21-10 to book his side's place in the next round.

ECC E had their work cut out as they saw off Baddow Village E 5-4. Colin Barham (-11) set ECC on their way in the first match of the evening by getting the better of Bob Francis (-12) 12-21, 26-24, 21-18. However, Baddow scored well in the middle exchanges and surged into a 4-2 lead. With the match very much "up for grabs" ECC's Alistair Hill (-20) also came back from a game down to get the better of the luckless Francis 15-21, 21-15, 21-18. The ultra experienced Baddow Village H made their extra know-how count against a young Baddow Village K side. Alex Stone (+8) proved to be unplayable off his handicap but Ron Arthur (-6), Chris High (-6) and Fred Henwood (-2) fared well against Tom Miles (+1) and Ed Miles (+5) and had just enough in hand to build up a lead. Ron Arthur's 17-21, 21-13, 23-21 victory over Tom Miles in the third game eventually played a major part in deciding the final outcome of the match.

Danbury B's line-up of John Skuse (-7), Gordon Gatherall (-26) and James Gatherall (+2) will have raised a few eyebrows as it encompasses three players of such differing standards. Nevertheless, this produced an enthralling match against Baddow Village C where seven consecutive games were decided in a third end. With his side 4-3 ahead James Gatherall came through 21-3, 20-22, 21-6 against Alistair Brown (-17). His father Gordon had also beaten Brown in another game where the scoreline made very unusual reading. Gordon triumphed 21-9, 2-21, 21-19 !.

Baddow Village A represented by Waseem Qureshi (-27), Neil Gooday (-26) and Andrew Orme (+10) eased past Hatfield Peverel C 5-3. The classy Waseem Qureshi who always appears to have time to play his strokes when faced by the fiercest of attackers not surprisingly had too much "control" for his opponents and he took his three singles two straight. Neil Gooday also fared well, although he was no match for Keith Cullen (-14) succumbing 21-13, 21-16.

The other matches played had more clearcut winners. Hatfield Peverel A's clash with Billericay produced an all-first division clash but it was Billericay who ran out decisive 5-1 winners. With the respective handicaps of the players not varying by more than six points this appears to have been a fair reflection of how well Bilericay played. Ray Eldridge (-30) appears to have been on particularly sharp form with crushing 2-0 wins over John Gagg (-32) and Dave Carter (-26). Marilyn Bawden (-27) completed the Billericay victory by getting the better of John Gagg 21-17, 21-13. ECC C were also decisive winners as they hammered Baddow Village B 5-0. Ian Rogers's (-12) clash with Julie Vansertima (-25) was the only game to "catch alight" as ECC dominated. Rogers just saw off Vansertima 19-21, 21-18, 22-20. Likewise E2V Technologies came safely past Baddow Village G 5-1. It wasn't all plain sailing but the ECC trio of Dave Richardson (-29), Paul Richardson (-28) and Ivan Chaplin (-27) managed to win the three games that went into the deciding end.

The Mens KO Cup Preliminary round produced a minor upset as second division leaders Baddow Village A disposed of first division Excalibur A 5-4. Matthew Fasanya won both his singles for Excalibur beating Waseem Qureshi and Neill Gooday but it wasn't quite enough and Qureshi and Adrian Pitt sealed the victory for Baddow by beating Fasnaya and Tim Pang 11-7, 4-11, 12-10, 17-15 in a very hard-fought doubles encounter.

Elmtree Graphics A fielded their best line-up of the season in the 4-Down Knock Out Cup and as such it was no surprise that they were able to beat Danbury A 5-2 in their first round clash. Phil Smith and Tony Vassallo were unbeaten in their singles and Rod Maclennan chipped in with a hard-fought 11-5, 10-12, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6 success against Paul Durrands .