Annual Championships Prove To Be A Big Hit

Over 50 players from the Worksop & District Table Tennis League turned out for a terrific day at the League’s Annual Championships held at the Worksop Leisure Centre.
Matches started at 9.00am with the last ball being hit at just before 6.00pm with players battling it out all day earn the right to play on Finals Nights to be played out across two nights in March.
The Open Singles proved to be a competition of few surprises with Ernest Mpundu and Richard Element making it through to the final after they had semi final wins over Terry Emmerson and Chris Cattell respectively.
If the Open Singles looked straight forward enough, the same cannot be said about the Open Doubles with probably the performance of the day going to Division Three’s Luke Barraclough and Connor Bettley who battled their way through to the semi finals with a fabulous 3-1 win over the Division One pairing of Steve Lyon and James Wormwell before going out to Joe Zygadlo and Roy Bowes. Zygadlo and Bowes will be up against Richard Element and Andy Lee who came through a tough semi final match before eventually beating Terry Emmerson and Peter Eyre 3-2 in what turned out to be a real battle.
Steve Elkin and Simon Hooley will contest the final of the Division Two Singles after they both came through tough semi final games. Elkin defeated Rob Vaughan 3-1 before Hooley came through a terrific match with Dilip Malkan, eventually beating him 3-2 in a tight match.
Hooley then did battle again with Malkan, this time in the semi finals of the Division Two Doubles. Hooley teamed up with Mark Bloomer to beat Malkan and Mark Cooper 3-1 to make it through to the final where they will be up against two veterans in Ian Henderson and Alan Wilson who came through a real cat and mouse battle with Rob Vaughan and Steve Elkin before eventually winning 12-10 in the deciding set.
Division Three’s Luke Hyde had an excellent Championships making it through to no less than three finals. In the Division Three Singles he had some excellent wins beating Mark Fisher in the second round, Ethan Shevill in the quarter finals before beating Connor Bettley in the semis. In the final he will be up against Adam Pinches who also recorded some good wins beating Charlie Shepherd, Lewis Linacre before putting Luke Barraclough out at the semi final stage.
Hyde also made it through to the final of the Cadet Singles with a 3-1 semi-final victory over Evan Bownes who had beaten Reece Carnall in the quarter finals. Hyde will meet Ethan Shevill in the final after he came through his semi final with a fine 3-0 win against Harrison Holland.
The last of Hyde’s three finals will be in the Handicap Singles after he defeated Kartik Lakhani, Tom Ogley, Charlie Shepherd, Mark Bloomer to make it through to the semi final stage where he then defeated Ethan Shevill to secure his spot in the final. He will meet Farrel Anthony in the final who himself had a good run overcoming Dan Saul, Andy Vinson, Connor Bettley before dispatching Mitchell Radford in the semi-finals.
The Third Division Doubles was a very good competition but the number one and number two seeds in the competition eventually made it through to finals night. Connor Bettley and Luke Barraclough didn’t drop a set on their way to the final enjoying 3-0 wins over both Harrison Holland & Charlie Shepherd and Luke Hyde & Evan Bownes. In the final they will meet Paul Wendon and Lewis Linacre after they beat Adam Pinches & Jerry Collins 3-1 and then Ethan Shevill & Glen Gillgrass by the same score in the semi-finals.
Ethan Shevill put the disappointment of losing in the semi-finals of the Division Three Doubles to make it through to the final of the Junior Singles defeating Charlie Shepherd in the quarter finals and then Adam Pinches in the semi-final. On the opposite end of the table in the final will be Harrison Holland who had a bye into the semi-finals before beating Isabella Saul 3-0 to make it through to finals night.
The final of the 18-40 Singles will be contested between Mitchell Radford and Erlands Skels who both made it through without too much trouble. Skels defeated Connor Bettley 3-0 in his semi final match with Radford beating Tom Ogley by the same score in his semi-final match.
Now to the ‘Overs’ competitions and Steve Fox had a terrific run in the Over 40’s Singles as he recorded good wins over Kartik Lakhani, Paul Wendon, James Wormwell before a great 3-1 win over Chris Cattell in the semi-finals.
Fox will meet Ernest Mpundu who had a slightly easier path to the final in the earlier rounds as he beat Glen Gillgrass, Andy Vinson before a tough win over Roy Bowes in the quarters before sweeping aside Steve Lyon 3-0 in the semis.
In the Over 50’s Singles competition, Jim Westwood played really well to get through to the semi finals as he dispatched Kartik Lakhani and Steve Fox along the way before eventually losing to Roy Bowes in their semi final match. Bowes will meet Chris Cattell in the final after he beat Dean Marsh, Alan Wilson and Farrel Anthony on the way to the final.
Roy Bowes also fought his way through to the final of the Over 60’s Singles competition after he had a bye in the second round before defeating Alan Wilson in the quarter finals and then Steve Fox in the semis. Bowes will meet Kartik Lakhani in the final after he came though some real tough encounters against Peter Eyre in the quarters and then Ian Henderson in the semi-final, eventually beating Henderson 3-2 in a real tussle.
Henderson carried his good form through to the Over 70’s Singles competition beating Mick Bell 3-0 in the semi final to earn a place in the final against Steve Lyon who beat Alan Wilson 3-1 in the other semi final match.
The last competition to be decided is the Draw Doubles where players names get put into the hat and drawn out at random each round to decide doubles partners. It’s not very often that anyone outside of Division One makes it through it the final but this year proved to one of those rare occasions as Division Three’s Mark Fisher played excellently and it was no fluke that he made it through to the final. He will be joined by three Division One players in Richard Element, Orestas Riauba and Ernest Mpundu with the draw to made on the night.
Thank you to everyone who gave their time and help towards a very successful Annual Championships.