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Press Report #26 The Basingstoke & District Table Tennis League Closed Championship was held on Saturday 20th March at Richard Aldworth Science College and featured a total of 49 junior and senior players from the Basingstoke league. In the Junior Singles Final, highly rated Division 1 rising star, Louis Webb won a closely contested match against the rapidly improving Jamie Cole. Jamie took the first game with some confident attacking table tennis, but the experience that Louis has gained from playing in Div 1 this season started to kick-in, taking control of the match and winning the next 3 games. In the Junior Doubles, Louis Webb teamed up with Matthew Palaczky to win in 4 very close games against Jamie Cole and Tristan Noon. Both junior finals provided great entertainment to the spectators, who appreciated a superb exhibition of table tennis. Championship organiser Ashley Pither congratulated all the juniors who competed, not just for their table tennis skills but also for the way they all conducted themselves and for their great sportsmanship. The Super Veterans title was won by Nigel Cooper, defeating Terry White by the closest possible margin. Terry won the first game 12-10, before Nigel stormed back to win the last 2 games 11-9, 11-9. The remaining events remained to be decided at the grand finals night to be staged later in the week. In Division 1 of the Basingstoke and District Table Tennis League, St Peters A had a fairly routine victory over KG A. The only high point for KG A being a superb win for Patrick Garlick over James Wright as they suffered a 9-1 defeat. The Minitec A side of Jonathan Evans, Andrew Parker and Steve Murgatroyd had a good attempt at slowing down Alpha Cars drive for 2nd place in the Division, beating them 4-6. The Minitec B team of Norman Swift, Gary Livingstone and Louis Conlon edged a little closer to Alpha Cars as they demolished Oakley A 10-0. The only high point of the evening for Oakley was Sarah Whithorn’s valiant effort against Livingstone, with both players playing their defensive game to the max. Eventually something had to give and it was Livingstone who came out on top, winning 14-12 in the decider. Queens B captain Peter Martin propped up his side as they slumped to a 3-7 defeat at the hands of Winklebury, pulling off three spectacular wins over Malcolm Cummins, John Golding and Colin Wilkes. In Division 2, current leaders Basingstoke Hindu Society A stretched their lead a little, beating a two-man AWE side 9-1. AWE’s John McLarty scored the only victory for his side on the night, beating Mohak Dalesh. KG C had a great win over Portals as Jared Binner and Matt Wilson both notched up very convincing trebles. Wilson was also assisted by dad Alan in a close-run doubles win to give his side a 7-3 result. In a local derby, the KG D team of Mike Wood, Steve Ng and Josh Manson took on a KG E team of Dave MacDonald, Peter Millie and Zoe Blagbrough. Millie pulled off a great treble for his team, but these were their only wins as the D team notched up two apiece with Manson and Wood teaming up for another doubles victory and a 3-7 result. Martyn Richards continued his good run as he scored a fine treble over visitors Oakley B. Tristan Noon added a singles victory, but otherwise all the wins were in Oakley’s favour with Ian Warner and Jamie Cole picking up 2 each. Oakley’s Robert Draper scored a singles win over Charlie Morrison and also teamed up with Warner for a doubles win. Sirish Modi saved BHS B from a heavy defeat at the hands of Queens E this week, beating both Mick Buley and Michael Jones. George Hellens scored a maximum for Queens, while Jones, in his second league appearance scored two singles wins as well as a doubles win with Hellens for an 8-2 result. Catch up on all the latest table tennis news in Basingstoke by visiting the league website: www.basingstokett.co.uk |
