29/03/10

2010 Tournament Review

Saturday

The Burnham & District Closed tournament kicked off on Saturday with the junior events and lower division competitions. The cadet singles (under 14s) attracted a healthy entry with some good quality play. Top seed Sam Lowman (Cold Norton) was surprisingly just edged out at the semi-final stage 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11 by Ryan Sanderson (Maldon) in a very entertaining match. In the final Ryan met Shannon Rolfe who powered her way to an impressive 7-11, 14-12, 11-9, 12-10, in a match that was a credit to both players and probably the best quality cadet final for many a year.

The junior doubles was taken by Mark Richardson and Jake Allsop (both Woodham) in four sets over Sam Lowman and Shannon Rolfe who were undone by Mark’s greater experience.

The junior singles went with the seeding as top seeds Mark Richardson and Jack Cranfield (Woodham)  met in the final, but only after Mark had come through an epic semi-final encounter with Sam Lowman by the narrowest of margins 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8. Mark then had a slightly more comfortable win over Jack in the final, just losing the one set this time 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10.

The Fambridge trophy for division three players was as hard fought as ever, again things went mostly with the seeding with the first real surprise coming in the quarter finals when Ryan Sanderson edged out fourth seed Dawn Baldry (Maldon) in a remarkable five set match 2-11, 1-11,11-8, 11-7, 11-8 he then scored a fine 13-15, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 win over top seed Mike Burton (Woodham) to set up a final encounter with second seed Jack Cranfield. Jack just proved too powerful for Ryan in the final and won in straight sets.

The restricted singles (division 2 down) once again went pretty much as seeded with the only casualty from the seeds being Lee McHugh (Woodham) who was beaten by team-mate Chris Hancox. Number one seed Tom Elder (Maldon) beat Peter Chasmer (Woodham) to reach the final where he met number two seed Graham Briggs (Woodham) who had only just beaten Mick Robinson (Stow Maries) in a really close five setter to reach the final. In a final that never really lived up to expectations Graham came out on top 11-5, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8.

The under 25 singles almost became a contest between number one seed Graham Briggs and the Richardson family as after overcoming Mark in the semi final he met Daniel Richardson ( in what turned out to be a very close final that Graham just one 8-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9.

The handicap events turned out to be a triumph for Trevor Carter (Stow Maries) as first he teamed up with Dawn Baldry to win the handicap doubles beating Hamish Innes (Maldon) and Mark Richardson  21-15, 21-18 in the final, then he worked his way through the handicap singles playing superbly off his -10 handicap. He beat Jack Cranfield in the quarter final then got past the challenge of Matt Rolfe (Mapledene) to set up a final against Peter Mynard (Fambridge). Peter had done well to get past young Ryan Sanderson in his semi-final but found the five points that he had to give the inform Trevor just a little too much as Trevor won 21-16, 18-21, 21-13.

The mixed open singles proved to be a very well contested event with some excellent close matches and surprises throughout, Trevor Carter surprised Babul McLeod  (Mapledene) 11-3, 12-10, 11-8 but then went down to Lin Attridge in the next round. Charles Sweeney (Mapledene) disposed of Hamish Innes (Maldon) early on then came through a great match with Eric Green 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 to progress to a semi-final meeting with Matt Rolfe which he won comfortably. Glen Johnson (Mapledene) came through a five setter against Chris Buer (Fambridge) but then lost out in another five setter to Peter Mynard 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 10-12 who then lost out in the final to Charles Sweeney, so Peter finished as runner-up in two events…. again!

It was a day with many good performances and it was really good to see so many young players doing well, Shannon Rolfe impressed throughout and is certainly the most promising female junior we have seen in a long time, Ryan Sanderson  and Sam Lowman both look to have good futures and it was good to see a junior win the Fambridge trophy, so well done Jack Cranfield. Generally the younger players dominated with Graham Briggs taking the restricted singles and you can include Charles Sweeney and Peter Mynard reaching the mixed open final as they are certainly not old but I have to say that my player of the day was one of the slightly older generation, Trevor Carter for his performances in the handicap events.

Sunday

The mixed doubles got us off to an interesting start on Sunday when third seeds Emma Dadswell (Woodham) and Kevin Read (Mapledene) were beaten in the first round by Dave Bassett and Shirley Carroll (both Maldon) who then saw off the challenge of Peter Ballard and Val Board (both Fambridge) to book their place in the final where they are scheduled to meet Jean Chasmer (Woodham) and Duncan Taylor (Mapledene) who surprisingly saw off the number one seeds Lin Attridge and Stuart Gibbs (both Mapledene) in straight sets in their semi-final.

The ladies singles was eventful to say the least, firstly third seed Shirley Carroll unfortunately pulled up with a bad leg injury (possibly a ruptured tendon) in a group match and had to be taken to hospital and as I write this it looks unlikely that she will be playing any table tennis for a good while (hope you get better soon Shirley) which opened the way for Diane King (Woodham) to win that group. Then second seed Val Board failed to get through her group as she was beaten in five sets by Dawn Baldry (Maldon), a great effort which set up a semi final with Diane  who used her experience to good effect to secure her place in the final where she will meet the top seed Lin Attridge who beat Jean Chasmer in four sets in the other semi-final.

Due to Shirley’s injury the ladies doubles was reduced to just three pairs who played a round robin to decide who would meet in the final and that will be Val Board and Lin Attridge against Janet Panell (Cold Norton) and Diane King.

The over 50’s singles produced some excellent table tennis but it was no real surprise that the final featured the top two seeds Peter Ballard and Dave Bowles (Mapledene). Peter had a bit of a scare against Eric Green (Stow Maries) and the saw off the challenge of Glen Johnson (Mapledene) in the semi-final while Dave beat his Mapledene team-mate Andrew Halling in his semi final. The final was a high quality affair that Dave came through to win in four sets.

The veterans doubles produced some more excellent table tennis with a few surprises along the way. In the quarter-finals Andrew Halling and Dave Calleja (Mapledene) scored an excellent win over the holders Stuart Gibbs and Bill Smith (Mapledene) and then put on another impressive performance to topple the top seeds Dave Bowles and Glen Johnson where they finally met their match in yet another Mapledene pairing of George Reeves and Gary Baker.

The veterans singles was another event with a high quality field and a good few surprises along the way. Nigel Lamb (Mapledene) would have been pleased to beat John Cleasby (Maldon) but was then beaten in five sets by Dave Calleja whose reward for that was a meeting in the quarter finals with second seed Stuart Gibbs who went on to meet  Eric Green in the semi-final after Eric had defeated Peter Ballard in the previous round. Stuart proved too strong for Eric and recorded a straight sets win to book his place in the final. In the other half of the draw the action did not really hot up until the quarter-finals, with Marko Jovic (Fambridge) edging out Glen Johnson in one and Dave Bowles just going down to George Reeves (Mapledene) in the other, Marko then just got the better of George at deuce in the fifth set in a match that could truly have gone either way. The final will be held a the finals night, Thursday 25^th March at Fambridge.

The mens doubles event saw several partner changes from the original entries due to injuries and withdrawls which made the event less predictable than usual. Having said that the top seeds George Reeves and Mindus Sinkus (Mapledene) did make it to the final but had to come through a tough semi against the scratch pair of  Charles Sweeney and Marko Jovic 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-3. The other half of the draw was nowhere near as simple with second seeds Duncan Taylor and Dave Bowles going out in the quarter-finals to Glen Johnson and Gary Baker who were then beaten in straight sets by Andrew Halling and Kevin Read to set up an all Mapledene final.

And so to the main event, the mens singles, even the groups here were tough with yet more surprises. Dave Calleja upset Peter Ballard to win group three and Dave Bassett edged out Duncan Taylor to take group six as it turned out this did not have much bearing on the progress of the seeds as unfortunately for the two Dave’s the winner of group three played the runner up of group six and vice versa so they both still met the seed they thought they might avoid! Group four had always looked tough and so it proved as George Reeves won the group and Glen Johnson edged Charles Sweeney, who had spurned chances at 2 sets to 1 up on George Reeves, out of the tournament. Eventually the eight seeds all made it to the quarter-finals although not in the expected places, first to fall was top seed Marko Jovic whose lack of match fitness seemed to tell as he went down in straight sets to Dave Bowles 10-12, 5-11, 4-11. then Peter Ballard just got the better of George Reeves 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10 to set up a semi final with Dave. Second seed Stuart Gibbs saw off the challenge of Mindus Sinkus in four sets 8-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4. Then came a real classic worthy of any event as the attacking prowess of Kevin Read met the defensive ability of Duncan Taylor who at times really tried to take the game to Kevin but eventually came up short by the narrowest of margins 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10 in a match that will live long in the memory of those fortunate enough to see it.

The day was full of super quality of table tennis and hopefully (nearly) everyone enjoyed the event but such an event does not just happen by itself and to borrow a quote never in the field of table tennis conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few – the few were :-  Keith Mays (Tournament organiser who did the draws, seeding, order of play, timing, wrote all match tickets and called every match), Jan Dadswell (refreshments), Val Board (raffle), Brian Ellis, Dave Goody, Alan Dadswell, Peter Ballard, Martin Knights, John Knights (tables and lighting) with thanks to Craig Foster for scaffolding equipment and Kevin Briggs for sound equipment.

Finals Night

The mens singles semi-semi finals got the night off to a good start with an excellent encounter between Kevin Read and Stuart Gibbs which started with Kevin in the ascendancy but gradually Stuart got into the match and then just edged ahead at the vital times to win 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 16-14. The other semi saw Dave Bowles end up a fairly comfortable winner against an out of sorts Peter Ballard 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6.

The ladies doubles then followed the same pattern as Diane King and Janet Pannell controlled the first set but once Lin Attridge and Val Board sorted out their tactics and attacked more they ran out comfortable winners 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-1.

The mens doubles was an unusual game as although the scores were fairly close it would be fair to say that at no time did George Reeves and Minda Sinkus ever look like winning as Minda in particular was unable to work out how to play Andrew Halling’s pimpled rubber and that allowed Kevin Read to dominate the attacking play which he did to good effect as he and Andrew won in straight sets 14-12, 11-4, 13-11.

The veterans singles was one of the best matches of the evening with Marko Jovic and Stuart Gibbs both trying to dominate with their attacking play, in the end Marko’s lack of match fitness due to his recent injury seemed to be the difference as he just ran out of steam in the fifth set and Stuart won 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 6-11.

Lin Attridge comfortably won the ladies singles in straight sets against Diane King with the gulf in class evident.

The final match was the mens singles final and whilst it had its moments Stuart Gibbs was generally in control against Dave Bowles although Dave did manage to talk his way to one set which was pretty impressive when you consider how many times these two have played and practiced together! Stuart won in four sets 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6.

Thanks to the Fambridge club for the use of the venue and Val Board for the refreshments, you may have noted that the mixed doubles was not mentioned this was due to the fact that Shirley Carroll and Dave Bassett had to withdraw due to Shirley’s unfortunate injury at the tournament so the mixed doubles champions are Duncan Taylor and Jean Chasmer.