South East Regional College Tournament
Friday 18th November 2011

Basingstoke's junior players shone at the South East regional table tennis tournament which was staged as a qualifier for the British Colleges national finals. This is a prestigious event which is held over a weekend at the university of Bath in March/April each year and involves many different sports. Players from each region team up across all the sports to compete at a very high level against the other 7 regions which include Wales and Scotland.
 
Queen Mary's College took 8 players down to Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh to compete in the 5 events. Mens Singles, Mens Doubles, Ladies Singles, Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
 
First up was the Ladies Doubles which QMC's Manorama Ghale and Devi Khala Kandangwa won in a nail biting final where they overcame the home favourites Barton Peveril 12-10 in the 5th. So for the 2nd year running the underdogs caused an upset and will be on their way to Bath next year.
 
Next up was the Mixed Doubles where Louis Webb and Zoe Blagbrough teamed up to defeat the Basingstoke based, Peter Symonds College pair, Jamie Cole and Joanna Osborne in the final 3-0
 
In the Mens Doubles, 3rd seeds Charlie Morrison and Josh Manson made a slow start to the day coming 3rd in their group after convincing losses to top seeds Barton Peveril and 2nd seeds Peter Symonds. With 1 big group of 7 and the top 4 progressing to the semi finals, this meant they would play the 2nd seeds again. This time they upped their game and shocked them in a 5 set thriller to book their place in the final against the top seeds. After dropping the 1st set in the final they began to take control, the awkward style and use of pimples started to frustrate their opponents as Manson/Morrison edged ahead to go 2-1 up. The top seeds came back to force a decider but it seemd QMC were destined to take the title and their place at Bath as they stormed ahead and sealed the victory in the 5th set.
 
Matt Wilson put on a sensational display to defeat the top seed in the Mens Singles final. After going 2-0 up thanks to a couple of decisive nets and edges, his Bexhill College opponent came back to level the match at 2-2 before Wilson stormed ahead in the 5th and held on to make it 4/4 for QMC
 
With QMC's strongest players competing in the other 4 events, the Ladies Singles title was wide open and despite a great effort, Amy Oxford just missed out on a semi final place after coming 3rd in her group. The final was won by Farnborough College's Abigail Gregg.
 
 
So out of the 5 events. A stunning performance from Queen Mary's College gives them 4 great chances of medalling at the British Finals next March.