Colchester & District Table Tennis League News

With the addition of eight new teams and two new clubs, the Colchester & District Table Tennis League looks in rude health for the forthcoming season. There is a warm welcome to the St James Club from Clacton that have added half of those new teams spread over the four divisions as well as a return to the League for the Gilberd School after a thirty year absence! Tollgate and Pegasus have entered two more teams apiece, meaning that most Divisions will have twelve in them. St James’s A include Colin Webber, Gill Locke and James Denyer in their Division One team that should more than hold its own but look no further than current champions H20 Rowhedge A as favourites to retain their Division One title. With reigning Men’s champion Antony Greenwood, previous holder Steve Joslin and Captain Michael Andrews they boast a formidable line-up and providing they are all regularly available will take some beating. Last season’s runner’s-up Tollgate A will be without Gary Young who moves to Gt Horkesley C as the village team boast no fewer than three teams in the top flight. Tollgate will be hoping for more appearances from their Ipswich Veteran champion Andy Warner if they are to mount a serious challenge. Pegasus A are the other newbies and have strengthened their squad with the addition of Rob Bozier from the Essex University, who has lost only once in his last sixty-three games in the lower divisions!

 In Division Two things look far more open with the experience of Walton C looking ominous as well as new boys St James B, featuring the likes of John Hobson, Annabelle Rodriguez and hopefully John Barton and Andy Vincent. Relegated Lawford A will be keen to go back up and the newly formed Tollgate C team, which features former Chinese International Marcia Ma and recently crowned National Under 12 Girls champion Jane Li moving up two Divisions. St Peters will be desperate to lose their ‘boing-boing’ tag following nine seasons of continual promotion and relegation!

 With the reforming of Divisions Three and Four it is impossible to gauge who will be the likely contenders but watch out once again for the new teams, which include four Chelmsford players playing for Tollgate D in Division Four and of course the Gilberd School, that will be looking to make an impact.

 All Colchester League Players are reminded, if they have not already done so, to renew their Membership of the ETTA. For most League players the cost is £6 for Seniors and £3 for Juniors. All players who had membership last year should have received a letter from the ETTA together with a membership card. Players may also have received an email reminder. Renewal is very straightforward either via the ETTA online system or by calling the membership department on 0845 0500 388.

If you have any queries or renewing your membership or do not know your membership number please contact either John Andrews or David Jones.

Colchester Youngster Jane Li seeded number one, won the under-12 category in the national finals held at the Dome, Doncaster over the weekend of the 30th April / 1st May.  In the final Jane was unstoppable winning in 4 sets over Denise Payet, the number 3= seed. This is an excellent achievement! All told Jane had to play 8 matches to secure the title. The full results can be found here.

See below link for picture.

http://etta.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/UNC10-11_Jane_Li_Peter_Bradley_01.jpg

Essex County Table Tennis Association Inter League Report by Ken Field

Men’s Division 1 Saturday 23^rd April 2011 @ Batts

Vet’s Division 1 Sunday 24^th April 2011 @ Batts

Men’s Division 1                Joint Champions Harlow & Southend with 20 points each.

Round 1.              The first match involved Ilford and Clacton. Ilford’s Essex 1^st team player, Matt Spero, proved too strong, winning all his 3 games, whilst Clacton’s Gary Young and Greg Green were almost as strong, winning 2 games each – the match ending in a 5 all draw. In the other match, Southend & Harlow were also evenly matched, with George Reeves and Kevin Read winning a brace each for the ‘Seasiders’ and the very difficult Dave Langham winning 2 for Ilford; Southend just edging it , winning the tie 6-4.

 Round 2.              Harlow made up ground on Southend, with a 7-3 win over Ilford. Matt Spero won his first 2 games but injured his shoulder and lost out in his final game to Maciej Nakieski in 5 sets, 13-11 in the 5^th. Maciej went on to win all his games for Harlow, supported by Dave Langham with 2. Southend had another close encounter beating Clacton 6-4, with consistent George Reeves and Kevin Read both winning 2 games for Southend.

Final Round.      Going into the final round, only one point separated Southend and Harlow. Southend beat Ilford 8-2, with Matt Spero conceding his last 2 matches due to his injured shoulder. This left Harlow requiring a most improbable, 9 or 10 victory. But with Paul Cummings and Maciej Nakieski winning 3 each and Dave Langham 2, it all ended up, depending on the result of the last match of the tournament. This was a doubles and Clacton’s Gary Young and Colin Stallwood took the first 2 sets and Harlow’s chances looked slim; but back came Maciej Nakieski and Paul Cummings to level at 2 sets all and 8 points all, before they took the next 3 points and the match.

Vets Division 1         Champions Ilford with 23 points

 Round 1.              Favourites Ilford played Colchester, winning 8-1. Ray Lam, Paul Martindill and Phil Walker were all unbeaten for Ilford, although Jimmy Farrow, Kenny Lewis and Roger Warren had several close games and as Roger said, they were very enjoyable matches. Colchester’s Jimmy Farrow and Kenny Lewis prevented the whitewash winning the final doubles against Paul and Phil. In the other match Harlow also proved too strong for Southend, winning 8-1. Paul Cummins, Dave Langham and Carl .Johnson doing the damage, Southend’s only win coming from Richard Brown who beat Dave Langham in a tight 5 setter.

Final Round.      The final round was a bit of an anticlimax with Ilford taking the title with a 9-0 win over Southend: Ray Lam, Paul Martindill and Sal Ahmed doing the damage. Harlow took 2^nd place beating Colchester 7-2; Graham Frankel and Carl Johnson were undefeated, with Dave Lanham losing in the fifth 11-9 to Ken Lewis and Colchester took one of the doubles when Ken & Jimmy Farrow beat Dave and Graham in 4.

Ken thanked the players and leagues for their support in making it a good day; Neil Brierley and Batts for allowing us to use their excellent venue; to the girls at Batts for the tasty food and finally, Jayne Johnson for help run the very enjoyable day.

Ken Field and Jayne Johnson, Organisers

28^th April2011

There are many members of the League who will remember John Fell who was a regular face at Colchester tournaments when they were held at St Helena school. John Fell Table Tennis provided the tables. We are therefore very sad to report that John Fell passed away on Sunday 17th April following a period of illness. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.

Property Street Rowhedge won Division Four South of the British League at their first attempt. The squad comprising of Steve Joslin, Antony Greenwood, Michael Andrews, Andrew Mudie, John Andrews & Alan Burgess pipped Crusaders on countback. Andrew Mudie topped the team averages losing only one whilst Steve Joslin joined Mudie in the top 4 of the Division averages.

Full details can be found at;

http://www.tabletennis365.com/sbl/league/SBL_2010-11/Division_4_South

The following were the recipients of the three prestigious awards at the AGM held on Tuesday 13th April, 2011;

The Myrtle Fisher Award: Steve Noble (Pegasus)

The Len Barton Award: Thomas Lewis (H20 Rowhedge)

The Florence Birbeck Award: Adam Cuthbert (H20 Rowhedge)

Lorrie Austin completed an amazing nights Table Tennis with a straight sets win over Toby Turner to secure the Colchester & District Table Tennis League Intermediate Cup for Gt Horkesley B against Pegasus A. In a pulsating match and with the score at 4-3 to Horkesley, Austin upset the form book with an impressive counter-attacking game that left his Pegasus opponent shaking his head. Earlier both players were involved in titanic struggles, with Austin two sets and 10-5 up against Steve Noble only to lose the next seven points! At two sets all Noble then squandered four match points as Austin clawed back to 10-all! The Pegasus skipper eventually won 10-12, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 13-11! This put Pegasus 3-1 ahead at that stage, a score belying the teams respective positions in the league. In the previous game Turner had fought back to beat Gt Horkesley star player Wudong Liu 9-11,11-5,10-12, 11-7, 12-10. Liu had also come back from two sets down against Clive Forster. The turning point for Gt Horkesley came at 3-1 down and two sets to one down in the doubles where Austin and Lloyd Bennett-Smith fought their way back to win the fourth consecutive five setter. This was the most competitive of matches with every game a cliff-hanger but was ultimately played in an excellent spirit with Gt Horkesley completing a Division Two and Cup ‘double’.

In The Minor Cup Pegasus D and H20 Rowhedge H were involved in an even closer match that went right to the wire as Alistair Woodcock and Nick Murray won 13-11 in the final end of the last game to grab a 5-4 win for Pegasus. Rowhedge were without young star Jane Li, instead playing Ben Jackson and had he converted his game points in the fourth end of the penultimate game against Kevin Turner would have been Rowhedge’s hero but it was not to be, as ultimately Pegasus won all three doubles. Jimin Lee and Oliver Reynolds were unbeaten in their singles.

Antony Greenwood capped a tremendous season adding a league and cup ‘double’ to his Men’s Singles and Doubles titles as his H20 Rowhedge A team beat Tollgate A 5-1 to win the Kiltie Cup. The match was closer than the score line suggested none more so than Tollgate’s only game winner Greg Green when he beat Michael Andrews 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 14-16. 11-9. Steve Joslin came back from two sets down to beat Nigel Hodder and Greenwood beat Gary Young in four. Once again the doubles proved decisive with Rowhedge winning both to regain the title.

In the Team Handicap Cup Final Pegasus D beat H20 Rowhedge G 8-1 with Paul Woolnough, Alistair Woodcock and Kevin Turner victorious. Alastair Woodcock won all four games he was involved in, including a tight match sealing game 21-10, 19-21, 22-20 against Tom Lewis.

There was a marathon match played between H20 Rowhedge F and Pegasus E in the Team Handicap Doubles Cup that eventually went the way of the Rowhedge side, 5-4. No fewer than eleven of the twenty-three sets played were decided by just two points in an attritional match that saw Colin Powell, Nigel Claydon and David Sacker eventually come out on top!

H20 Rowhedge were finally crowned Division Four champions, thanks to father and daughter, Jimin and Jane Li and Oliver Reynolds. Pegasus D join them in promotion to Division Three.

Gt Horkesley C won their final two games by convincing margins to secure the Colchester & District Table Tennis League Division Two title. The team, consisting of Wudong Liu, Lloyd Bennett-Smith and Lorrie Austin had not led the Division at any point up until last week, sealed the title with a 7-3 win over H20 Rowhedge D despite Alan Burgess’s best efforts. He beat all three Horkesley players, exacting revenge on Wudong Liu for his defeat in the first half of the season. They celebrated in style with a 10-0 whitewash of Clairmont who were without the prolific Paul Tracey, it must be said. Walton D join them in promotion and in the words of a somewhat pessimistic Gt Horkesley C captain Bennett-Smith “A thumping win… our team looks forward to receiving many such thumping’s next year!!” Their success is a true team effort as Austin missed all but one of the first half of the season’s games, Steve Holland, Phil Wolski and Mike Emerson all doing their bit when ‘playing up’. At the bottom Walton E avoided the ‘wooden spoon’ but not the drop, just edging out Tollesbury A by a point, who finish bottom.

Pegasus B join Division Three champions St Peters in Division Two next season as they won the requisite four points against their ‘C’ team in a 7-3 victory. Tony Eversden and Paul Woolnough won three apiece with David Haslam and Mike Sant being the other team members during their successful campaign.

In the Intermediate Cup Gt Horkesley C have their eyes fixed on a ‘Double’ as they accounted for Walton B 5-0 with their usual personnel to join Pegasus A in the final. They must start as favourites but maybe not if Toby Turner continues his fine form, that has helped the University win the regional cup competition and finish as runner’s up in the league that means they compete in next season’s National University League. Pegasus D accounted for their ‘E’ team 6-3 to reach the Minor Cup Final where they will meet H20 Rowhedge H who beat their ‘I’ team 9-0.

There was a bizarre finish in the semi-final of the Handicap Cup between University of Essex and H20 Rowhedge G which, when poised at 4-4 was conceded by the University as they had overrun their finishing time of 10:00pm having won the first end of the deciding doubles! H20 Rowhedge Captain Darryl Lott had won both his singles and it was a shame match had to end in such circumstances! In another close semi-final Pegasus D edged out Dedham A 5-4 with neither side ever leading by more than one game. The Handicap Doubles semi-final between Gt Horkesley D and Pegasus E was just as close with the Pegasus team again coming out on top 5-4. Barry Steggles, Paul Weston and Vic Little were the triumphant Pegasus players. H20 Rowhedge F had a more comfortable passage beating their ‘E’ team 5-1 thanks to Colin Powell, Nigel Claydon and David Sacker.

Both Handicap finals are to be played on Wednesday 30^th March at the Tollgate Table Tennis Club, Holmwood House School starting at 7:30pm. The Knockout Cup Finals are the following night at the Rowhedge Table Tennis Club, Rectory Road starting at 8:00pm. Spectators are welcome at both venues.