Closed Championship 2009 Report
This year had a good turnout with a total of twenty five entrants, representing five of our seven clubs, contesting the nine events at the Howard Table Tennis Centre.
Click here for an in-depth list of scores and results
Mixed Doubles
Six pairs played in two groups with the winning pair from each group going through to the final:Maurice Butler and Emma Tovey won the first group comfortably without dropping a game. The match for second place in the group between Liu Yun Guo & Zhong Jiao Tan and Arie Van Der Leer & Chris Brett was a closely fought going to five games, but Chris and Arie came through to win it in the fifth.
In group two, Roger Morley and Clair Harvey came through the victors despite losing a game to Dan Broad and Ling Ling. Dan Broad and Ling Ling beat Dan Fraser and Helene Spence to take second place in the group.
The final between Roger & Clair and Maurice & Emma saw Maurice & Emma take the event in three games.
Ladies' Doubles
The ladies doubles was a single group contest between four pairs of Clair Harvey & Chris Brett, Helene Spence and Louise Clarke, Lynne Tovey and Emma Tovey and Ling Ling Guo and Zhong Jiao Tan.Clair and Chris had a tough match against Lynne and Emma, which Clair and Chris came through to win 11-9 in the fifth. Clair and Chris also had a tough match against Ling Ling and Tan which also went to a fifth game, with Clair and Chris taking it 11-9 which secured them the winning spot in the event. Despite coming close against Ling Ling and Tan, Helene and Louise didn't take a game, which gave them fourth place in the group. In the battle for the runner up place, Ling Ling and Tan took one game, but Lynne and Emma came through to take it in the fourth to take the runner up spot.
Men's Doubles
The mens doubles consisted of two groups of four pairs, with the winner from each group progressing to the final. In the first group, Brian Lees & Dave McAuley won all their games without dropping a set, with Michael Sefton and John Dodd winning their two other matches to take second place in the group. In the second group, John Davison and Mark Heaton won all their matches to go through, despite losing a game to Dan and Steve Broad. Dan and Steve took second place in the group with two very tight wins against the other two pairs.The final was very closely fought with John and Mark taking the first two games. Brian and Dave came back to take the third game, but John and Mark came through to take the fourth and the event.
Junior Singles
This event was played by five players over two groups with the winner of each group contesting the final.The first group consisted of Emma Tovey, Louise Clarke and Clair Harvey. Emma came through to win both her group matches without losing a game, despite Clair nearly taking one from her. Clair came through to beat Louise and take second place in the group.
The second group was Roger Morley and Ling Ling Guo. This was a very close match, with Ling Ling taking the first two games, but Roger came back to take the last three games and to progress to the final.
The final between Emma and Roger saw Emma take the event in three games.
Junior Doubles
The junior doubles was a straight final match with Clair and Roger against Emma and Ling Ling. This was a very closely fought game with Emma and Ling Ling fighting back from 2-1 down to take it to a final game, but Clair and Roger came through to take the final game 11-7.Mens Singles
This event had the biggest turnout, with four groups of four players, with the top two players from each group going through to the quarter final knockout stage.In group one, Brian Lees won all his three group matches without losing a game. Nick Rogers came through in a tough match against Dan Broad, taking the match in the fourth at 15-13 to take the second spot in the group.
In what was arguably the toughest group, Dave McAuley came through on top winning all three matches despite being four match points down against Roger Morley in the fourth game. Dave fought back to take that game 13-11 and then went on to take the fifth game as well. John Dodd and Maurice Butler had a very close match, with it going to a fifth game, but John came through to take the fifth 11-7 and to take the second place in the group.
In the third group, John Davison came through in first place having only dropped one game to Michael Sefton, while second place went to Mark Heaton having beaten Arie Van Der Leer and Michael Sefton in straight sets.
Steve Broad came through on top in group four despite having some close matches with Mark Foxwell and Dan Fraser. Mark took Steve to deuce in two games out of three and Dan took Steve to five games. Dan also had a tough match with Mark which saw Mark come back from 2-0 down to take the match in the fifth. But it was Andy Larner who took the second spot beating both Mark and Dan in four games each.
The Quater Finals saw all the winners of the groups go through above the group runner ups. In the Semi Finals, Brian Lees came back from 10-6 down against John Davisonin the fourth to win that game and take his place in the final. Meanwhile, a very tight match saw Dave McAuley come back from two games down to take the match to a decider against Steve Broad, but Steve came through to take the game 11-9.
In the final against Brian Lees, Steve Broad started a come-back to take the third game after losing the first two, but Brian came through strong in the fourth to take the match and the title.
Ladies' Singles
The Ladies' Singles was staged between seven players in two groups, with the winner from each group going through to the final. In the first group, the Mother-Daughter match of Zhong Jiao Tan and Ling Ling Guo saw Tan take the first two games and Ling Ling fighting back to take the third, but Tan came through to take the match in the fourth. Emma Tovey came out on top of the group, beating both Tan and Ling Ling in straight sets.
In the second group, their was a tough five setter between Grandmother Helene Spence and Granddaughter Louise Clarke, with Louise coming through to take the match in the fifth. The group was comfortably won by Clair Harvey, with Lynne Tovey taking second place.
The final between Emma and Clair was a close run affair, with Emma taking the first game and Clair taking the second 14-12, but Emma came through to take the third and fourth games 11-8.
Veteran's Doubles
This event was contested between seven pairs in two groups, with the top two pairs progressing to the final.In the first group, Brian Lees and Dave McAuley went through winning each match in straight sets, while Mark Heaton and Peter Rushbrook took the second group. The final saw Brian and Dave take the title in straight sets.
Veteran's Singles
This was contested between twelve players over four groups, with the winners going through to the semi finals. In each group, the top seeded players went through, although Steve Broad had a tough match against Maurice Butler with Steve triumphing in the fifth. The semi finals saw Dave McAuley beat Brian Lees in four games, while Steve Broad and Mark Heaton fought out a very close five setter, with Mark taking the decider 15-13.
The final was between Dave McAuley and Mark Heaton, with Dave winning the first two games. Mark fought back to take the third game at deuce, but Dave proved too strong and took the match and the event.
Overall, a great day of competition was had by all and big thanks go out to Peter Rushbrook for organising the day, to all those who helped umpire throughout the day and of course to all at the Howard Centre.
