GDTTL

There was a good turnout this year with 26 entrants which included all the players from the Hopehill team, many from Meopham, Culverstone, Dartfordians and Traders. Unfortunately there were only two entries into the Juniors which meant that there was no Junior Doubles this season.

Mens Singles

The round robin stage consisted of 16 players in 6 groups. There were no surprises as the top 6 seeds of Brian Lees, Mark Heaton, Wayne Holder, Paul Sidders, John Davison and Dave McAulay all went through without losing. The semi finals were in two groups of three, the first of which was between Lees, Heaton and McAulay which saw McAulay go through after only dropping one leg to Heaton. Lees came second in the group beating Heaton in a close four sets. The second semi final group saw Holder beat Davison in four, Davison beat Sidders in three and Sidders beat Holder in five. So based on the number of games won, Holder went through to the final, with Davison taking second place in the group. The final saw McAulay take the title fairly convincingly in three games.

Mens Doubles

The mens doubles consisted of nine pairs playing in groups of three pairs. McAulay/Lees and Holder/Rushbrook comfortably won their groups, but possibly the tougher group saw Penning/Sidders go through over Davison/Heaton and Mike Sefton/Steve Broad. The final was a very close three pair group which saw McAulay/Lees beat Sidders/Penning in three and Holder/Rushbrook beat McAulay/Lees in three. But the best match saw Penning/Sidders come back from 1-7 down in the fifth to take the game 11-8 against Holder/Rushbrook. Overall, Holder/Rushbrook took the title on games won and McAulay/Lees came second having beaten Sidders/Penning.

Ladies Singles

Seven ladies contested this event in two groups. Brenda Aherne won the first group fairly comfortably only losing one leg to Sue Sullivan. Second place in the group was closely fought between Claire Harvey and Sue Sullivan, but Claire came through to beat Sue in four sets to take the second place. In the other group, Sue Wilders won without dropping a set and Lynne Tovey came through to take second place. The semi finals saw Aherne beat Tovey in three and Wilders beat Harvey also in three. The final was closely fought, but it was Sue Wilders who came through to take the title in three games.

Ladies Doubles

With four pairs, this event was a group final that saw Sue Wilders and Sue Sullivan take the title with only dropping a game to Claire Harvey and Pam Butcher. Claire and Pam also came through in a tight three game match over Brenda Aherne and Lynne Tovey to take the runner up position.

Junior Singles

Unfortunately due to the lack of entries, the Junior singles was a straight final match between Claire Harvey and an unregistered junior from Culverstone, Hadley Parfitt. Hadley played well, but Claire proved too strong as she took the match and the title in straight games.

Veterans Singles

With 17 entrants, the round robin stage was played in six groups. There was a near upset as an in-form Andy Larner took Paul Sidders to deuce in the fifth game, but Paul scraped through 13-11 to go through into the semi final. In the other groups all the top seeds went through, although John Davison dropped a game to Doug Murray, as did Mark Heaton against Sue Sullivan. The semi final stage was in two groups of three. The first group saw Dave McAulay go through to the final after coning back from two games down against Wayne Holder to take the match in the fifth. Dave also beat Paul Sidders in a close four games. In the other semi final group, Brian Lees came through beating Mark Heaton in five games and John Davison in three. The final saw Dave McAulay take an early two game lead, but Brian Lees fought back taking the match and the title in the fifth game.

Veterans Doubles

Nine pairs played the group stage in three groups. McAulay/Lees and Heaton/Davison both won their groups without dropping a game. In the other group, Holder/Rushbrook beat Sidders/Penning in four to take their group. The final group saw a close five games as Lees/McAulay beat Heaton/Davison, but as Holder/Rushbrook beat both Heaton/Davison and Lees/McAulay in three games each, Holder/Rushbrook took the title and Lees/McAulay came second.

Mixed Doubles

The mixed doubles consisted of 8 pairs starting in four groups. Sue Sullivan & John Davison came top of their group only dropping a game to Pam Butcher & Mark Heaton who took second place. The other group saw Claire Harvey & Brian Lees come top with Sue Wilders & Andy Larner take second after a closely fought match against Brenda Aherne and Doug Murray. The semi finals saw Harvey/Lees beat Butcher/Heaton in a very close five games and Sullivan/Davison beat Wilders/Larner in a tight four games. The final saw Harvey/Lees take an early 2-1 lead, but Sullivan/Davison came back to take the fourth game 14-12 and then to take the match at 11-6 in the fifth.

Overall it was a very good day of table tennis. Thanks to Steve Waud and all at the Howard Table Tennis Centre, Peter Rushbrook for organising and running the tournament and all those that helped out umpiring.