Press Report

This year's M&G Investments Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Annual Closed Championships take place from Friday 3 February 2006 to Sunday 5 February 2006 at a new venue - Anglia Ruskin University, Mildmay Sports Hall, Bishops Hall Lane, Rivermead Campus, Chelmsford. Admission is free and it will be great to see as many former players as possible looking in over the course of the weekend.

As always it is the Mens Singles Crown that holds the blue riband status and this year's event looks to be between three outstanding candidates - former Champions David Cole (1986 and 2005), Rik James (1998) and Vytas Rybakas (2004). All three of these players are well capable of taking the title on their day. Having performed so well at the Essex Closed event last weekend where he was Runner-Up in the Mens Singles, Vytas appears to be the inform player and could well be the one to beat.

Throw into the mix such other accomplished performers as Tony Halling, Paul Davison, John Holland, Peter Hayden, Kevin Read, George Reeves, Hamish Innes, Peter Ballard, Steve Joslin, Jon Hill and Ian Whiteside and there should be some really top-class play to look forward to.

Every year there is one group in the Mens Singles that stands out above all others and this year group thirteen looks to be the one to watch. Paul Davison is the favourite to progress as the Winner but he will face really tough challenges from John Cleasby, Simon Webber and Paul Grant who will all be looking to claim the Runners-Up spot.

Julie Vansertima will be bidding to win an incredible fifteenth Ladies Singles title, and she will be odds-on favourite to succeed. Her closest challenges could this year come from members of the County's Junior teams and Holly Stubbings, Laura Pyman, Lorna Staff and Hannah Pitt will all be out to make their presence felt. Last year's runner-up Linda Murray cannot be discounted either and she has the enviable advantage that she always plays well in this event.

It is difficult to look beyond former Champions Rik James and David Cole when looking at likely winners in the Mens Doubles. However, in an evenly contested event second seeds George Reeves and Kevin Read look to have been fortunate that the other pairing capable of winning - Steve Joslin and Paul Davison are in the other half of the draw. In the Mixed Doubles David Cole and Julie Vansertima are head and shoulders above the opposition although there are plenty of other reasonably evenly matched pairs who will be looking to make their mark. These include second seeds Kevin Read and Linda Murray, last year's Runners-Up Paul Davison and Jean Chasmer, Rik James and Holly Stubbings, Jon Hill and Vicki Stredder and father/daughter combination Adrian and Hannah Pitt.

Vytas Rybakas should have another busy weekend. He will have to be at his best in the Under 21 Singles if he is going to get the better of Tony
Halling but he is an odds-on Favourite to win the Junior Boys Singles title. So much so that he has somewhat controversially been seeded straight into the Final !.

The Divisional Singles invariably produces some of the most hotly contested play of the weekend and this year's Two Down Singles event has attracted a very large entry. Eric Green is top seed but in an event with many top players taking part he will face a tough challenge as early as the second round when he faces the winner of the Steve Northcott versus Barry Pritchard clash. Eric's team-mate Andrew Halling is seeded second and he too will be very difficult to beat. The fast improving Simon Webber could be a good outside bet whilst others capable of making their mark include Adrian Pitt and Julie Vansertima.

ECC team-mates Gary Copsey and Russell Forde are the top two seeds in the Four Down Singles and it will be a surprise if they don't progress to the Final. Out to spoil their day will be very promising Junior Bradley Hudgell and the canny Norman Hayes, whose angled blocking can still be very hard to handle. Similarly, the standard in the Six Down Singles is also very high this year and the two leading candidates Peter Sun and David Gatherall will both be very hard to beat.

It is with deep regret that the League has learned of the death of Hudson Hoste, aged 60, who played for many years in the middle divisions of the League. He played for two Clubs, first of all - Chelmer Table Tennis Club and subsequently ECC. A popular and well respected player he also played for many years in the Braintree League.