More than forty people turned
out to watch the Finals Night of the Basingstoke Closed Tournament
on Monday evening at Cannons Social Club. We were treated to some
exciting and highly competitive table tennis, with a number of
matches going to a 5th and deciding set.
The Junior Final, the Ladies
Final, the Division 3 Final and the Final of the Plate Competition
all took place on Saturday:
The Junior Final was won England
top 20 ranked Jonathan Evans against Jared Binner:
Junior Final
1
2
3
4
5
Jared Binner
4
1
7
Jonathan Evans
11
11
11
Sarah Whithorn took the honours
in the Ladies Final against Lorraine Mortimer:
Ladies Final
1
2
3
4
5
Sarah Whithorn
11
11
15
Lorraine Mortimer
5
1
13
The Division 3 Final was a very
close match, with Phil Ware eventually victorious over Lorraine
Mortimer:
Division 3 Final
1
2
3
4
5
Lorraine Mortimer
4
12
6
11
4
Phil Ware
11
10
11
8
11
The Plate Competition was won by
promising Junior Jonathan Evans with a 4 set win against experienced
campaigner Duncan Sibbick.
Finals Night kicked off with 3
outstanding Veteran Singles Quarter Finals:
Division 3 star Phil Ware did
amazingly well to reach the final stages, but found Tony Palaczky
too strong, going down in 3 sets.
An upset looked possible when
Terry White took the 1st set against Pete Matthews, but
he eventually lost by 3 sets to 1.
Paul Rattue then took on Cannon
team mate Ron Powell, Paul proving to be too strong for Ron, winning
in 3 sets.
The first of the Men’s Singles
Semi-Finals saw Tony Palaczky make a fast start against Sean Pickin,
taking the first 2 sets. Sean fought back hard, grabbing the
initiative and playing more aggressively, levelling the match at 2
sets all. The deciding set could have gone either way but Tony
eventually took it running out a 3 sets to 2 victory.
In the second Men’s Singles
Semi-Final, Pete Matthews, maintaining his outstanding League form
this season, beat James Wright by 3 sets to 0. Pete’s superb
all-round game preventing James from using his best attacking shots
throughout the three sets.
Pete Matthews was back on the
table again to play Paul Rattue in the first Veteran Singles
Semi-Final. Paul was quick off the mark and took the first set. Pete
immediately struck back and went on to lead 2 sets to 1. With both
players playing similar styles and being tremendous on the counter
attack, Pete finally clinched the third set after some thrilling
rallies, taking the match by 3 sets to 1.
The second Veteran Singles
Semi-Final was between the League Chairman George White and the
already warmed-up Tony Palaczky. It was an interesting combination
of styles with George managing to take some of the pace out of
Tony’s lightning fast attacking strokes, yet George was still
capable of upping the pace when required. Tony, already high in
confidence after two earlier matches, took the match by 3 sets to 0,
but only after two very close deuce sets which George had chances to
win.
The Division 1 Singles Final was
between Paul Rattue and Sean Pickin. Sean was first out of the
blocks, always looking for the early initiative, and raced into a 2
sets to 0 lead. Paul then dug into all of his resources and managed
to contain Sean’s fire-power with fantastically controlled counter
hitting. However, in the 4th set Sean re-established his
authority and went on to win by 3 sets to 1:
Division 1 Final
1
2
3
4
5
Paul Rattue
5
9
11
6
Sean Pickin
11
11
7
11
The Division 2 Singles Final was
a contrast in styles between the quick footed Steve Morris and the
experienced Roger Bielby. Both players looked nervous early on as
Steve seemed to have the measure of Roger, stretching him from side
to side with consistent attacks. A big turning point looked to be
the 3rd set with Steve already leading by 2 sets to 0.
Roger, with clever use of his combination bat, finally appeared to
find the recipe to contain and frustrate Steve and took a close 3rd
set. The balance of power had swung Roger’s way and he took the 4th
set comfortably. The deciding factor in the final set was a 6 points
to 1 lead that Steve raced into and finally took the match by 3 sets
to 2:
Division 2 Final
1
2
3
4
5
Roger Bielby
7
6
11
11
5
Steve Morris
11
11
9
6
11
Pete Matthews and Tony Palaczky
then played out the first of their two matches in the Veteran
Singles Final. With both players having fine tuned their games in
earlier matches, there was never going to be much between the two
players on top of the Division 1 averages this season. As has been
seen so often, the 11 point game can produce such narrow margins for
victory, which are often decided by either one piece of brilliance
or small slice of good fortune. As such, this match was clinched by
3 tense sets, Pete winning all 3 by the smallest margin possible:
Veteran Singles Final
1
2
3
4
5
Pete Matthews
11
13
12
Tony Palaczky
9
11
10
The Open Doubles Final was
between Sean Pickin/Steve Murgatroyd and Alex Garlick/Tony Palaczky
(the latter having beaten the Paul Rattue/Terry White partnership
earlier in the evening in an outstanding Semi-Final). Tony, backed
by Alex’s quick-fire attack, looked unstoppable in the 1st
set. Sean and Steve rallied in the 2nd and had they been
able to clinch the crucial points, could have turned the game round.
However they narrowly lost the set and then lost the 3rd:
Open Doubles Final
1
2
3
4
5
Steve Murgatroyd/Sean
Pickin
6
9
7
Tony Palaczky/Alex
Garlick
11
11
11
The last match of the evening,
the Men’s Singles Final, was a repeat of an earlier match between
Tony Palaczky and Pete Matthews. Tony look determined to make up for
his previous defeat by Pete and looked to have moved up a gear,
increasing the speed and ferocity of his already scorching backhand
and forehand attacking shots. Tony took a 2 sets to 0 lead and
looked to have the measure of Pete. But with both players cheered on
by friends and family, Pete took the third set, somehow able to
return everything that Tony had to throw at him. With the match on a
knife edge and applause ringing out after almost every point, Tony
finally moved to match point. As the young Palaczky family
supporters held their breath, Pete saved the first then a second
match point. But with one final throw of the dice, a ripping
top-spin finally clinched the match for Tony:
Men’s Singles Final
1
2
3
4
5
Pete Matthews
9
8
11
11
Tony Palaczky
11
11
7
13
A fantastic evening of table
tennis came to a close at around 11pm, when Sean Pickin presented
the trophies to the winners and runners-up. It was a great
advertisement for the sport locally; highly competitive but played
in the best possible spirit.
George White, Chairman and
Tournament Organiser, thanked everyone who supported this year’s
event by either playing or watching on Saturday and at the Finals
Night. Particular thanks went to Sean and Steve for ensuring the
playing schedule was well maintained throughout.
