Closed Tournament report 27 February 2022

Published 09/03/2022 at 23:55:40 by Michael Howard.


 The Closed Tournament attracted 39 entries, from all divisions, including many who entered for the first time or after a gap of several years. 32 players entered the Championship Singles, including 13 from the Premier division, which conveniently meant that there were 8 initial groups of 4 players.

Championship Singles-A fine competition with a Cherry on top…at last! (report by Nick Howard)
With 2 people going through from each group, there didn’t look to be any major upsets as we headed into the knockout stages. Alan Cherry’s path to the final was a comfortable one (based on results!), taking down Sarah Hudson in the last 16 and Mervyn Phillips in the Quarters, although Super Merv almost took the first end with a sumptuous mix of attacking and defending! The dream was short lived, as Alan ran out a 3-0 winner. Mervyn himself had caused an upset in beating William Liang in the last 16 - the latter opting for a defensive “fishing” game plan, which didn’t pay off this time.

Matching Alan in the Semi’s was his teammate Jecu Aurelian. Jecu cruised through his group (with a little wobble against a blistering Chris Belton), before taking down Dave Beddall and Darren Ward in quick succession. Darren had previously beaten Andy Smith to get himself into the Quarters.
However, after a fine first season in MK, Jecu faltered in the semi's as Alan proved too much on this occasion.

In the other half, it was a more open affair. Guy Sparrow continued his excellent run of form by beating Michael Wilkins and then taking down number 2 seed Ricky Taiwo. Ricky had beaten John Stamp to get to that position. Facing Guy in the Semi’s was young Nicolas Wong, who produced a fine performance all day, beating Martin Hall in the last 16 and then Nick Howard in the Quarters.
Nick had overcome Chris Belton in the last 16. Nicolas’s dream would have to wait though, as Guy was one step too far in their encounter, with it proving comfortable in the end for the mercurial Kings player.

The final was played late in the day, which is usually unavoidable, but disappointing as a large percentage of players had left the venue already. In an epic tussle, Guy clawed it back to 2-2 with some excellent patient attacking play, and certainly had chances in the 5th, in which he was ahead for most of the leg. But it wasn’t to be this year, as Cherry ground out one of his trademark wins to take it 13-11 in the 5th. Amazingly, this was Alan’s first ever win in the Championship Singles.

A fitting end, to an excellent competition.

Championship Doubles-Howard Retains Doubles Title with Super Sparrow! (report by Nick Howard)
The path to the final was not a straightforward one for the Kings pairing in a competition involving 16 pairs. They saw off John Taylor and John Bradbury in the opener, before a tense tussle saw them overcome Andy Smith and Chris Belton (who had previously beaten the ageless Jim Brogan and Charity Wong). It was in this match that Chris reminded them that they were reigning champions…… However, with Guy having never played the MK Championship, Howard remembered carrying Matt Haynes all the way to the title during the last tournament in 2020 😉 (wink).

Meeting them in the semis were Nicolas Wong and Michael Wilkins, who beat Orrin Edwards and Muhammad Hamza followed by William Liang and Patrick Wong, the younger Wong showing Dad Patrick no mercy in a close 5 setter. William and Patrick had earlier had an even closer match, finally overcoming Charles Tien and Saravana Kumar both of division 3 in 5 legs. Michael and Nicolas were in prime position to take their final spot, leading 8-4 in the 5th over Howard and Guy. They could smell victory, but just 1 point from the next 8 meant that it was Howard and Sparrow who advanced to the showpiece final!

Top seeds Jecu and Alan had little trouble advancing to their first finals as a pairing. Taking down Dave Donovan and Varsha Tijare before cruising through John Stamp and Scott Dixon (who had beaten Mervyn Phillips and Martin Johnson previously). Their semi-final opponents were Martin Hall and Dave Beddall, who rolled through Bill Tyler and Abhay Tijare before fending off Ricky Taiwo and Darren Ward (who had beaten Bernard and Simon Green in the opening round).

The final wasn’t a spectacle unfortunately, and the duo of Alan and Jecu never really got going.
Credit to Howard and Sparrow for applying the pressure as they earned a fine 3-0 victory, to avenge the 3-2 loss they suffered in the league the last time they met.

Ladies Singles
As has been the case for several years, only a few ladies entered the tournament. 4 of them contested the Singles in a round-robin group, won by Charity Wong, who was undefeated. Each of Liz Dreyer, Chitra Balakrishna and Varsha Tijare won one of their singles sets. Liz and Chitra had each won 4 legs and the runner-up position went to Liz on points difference.

Under 18s Singles
There were only 3 entries for this event, played in a group. Nicolas Wong, now doing well in the Premier division for the MK club, unsurprisingly beat Daniel and James Carter of Greenleys, with Daniel beating his younger brother. All 3 have a family table tennis pedigree, so we can expect to see them continue to do well in the next few years. Nicolas is already out-performing his parents Patrick and Charity. Daniel and James can call on support, coaching and guidance from their mother Esther (nee Baggaley) and uncles Stephen and Andrew!

Mixed Doubles
There were only 4 pairs this time, with a number of male entrants disappointed as they had no partners. Mother and son Charity and Nicolas Wong beat the husband and wife team of Abhay and Varsha Tijare in 3 legs. The ageless Muriel Hooker teamed up with Mervyn Phillips to beat Chitra Balakrishna and Saravana Kumar, also in 3 legs. Perhaps surprisingly, Muriel and Mervyn had a comfortable win in the final, beating Charity and Nicolas in 3 legs.

Veterans Singles (Ladies)
This was a limited event, with only 3 participants. Charity Wong won both her sets and Chitra Balakrishna beat Varsha Tijare to take the runner-up position. It would be good if there were more lady entrants generally at future tournaments, even if those from lower divisions did not wish to play in all events for which they are eligible.

Ladies Doubles
Muriel Hooker, who had initially only entered the Mixed Doubles, agreed a few days prior to the tournament to enter the Ladies Doubles as well. This meant that a single set could be played, with Muriel partnering Chitra Balakrishna against Charity Wong and Varsha Tijare. This was a close affair, with Muriel/Chitra winning the 4th and 5th legs to give Muriel her second doubles title of the day.

Plate event (for those who lost in the group phase of the Championship Singles)
This was played on a knockout basis involving 15 players. Muhammad Hamza of Greenleys Moghuls in division 5 caused perhaps the shock of the day, beating Abhay Tijare of division 2 in 3 legs. That was as far as Muhammad managed, although he provided a scare in the quarter final to Martin Johnson, also of division 2, who won the final leg 11-8 to go through to the semis.
There were no surprises in the remaining quarter final sets. In the semis, Patrick Wong beat Martin Johnson in 3 legs and Scott Dixon also won in 3 legs, beating Saravana Kumar, after earlier beating Bill Tyler.
In the final, Scott beat Patrick in 3 legs, to secure a victory in his first tournament for many years.

Restricted Doubles (only open to players from division 3 and below)
There were 7 pairs for this event. Bernard and Simon Green beat John Bradbury and Varsha Tijare to reach the semi-final, where they played Bill Tyler and Chitra Balakrishna. This was a close match, with Bernard and Simon coming back from 2 legs down to force a final set, which Bill and Chitra won 12-10 to progress to the final.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Hamza and Orrin Edwards, both of Division 5 side Greeenleys Moghuls, beat Saravana Kumar and young James Carter. They then played Robert Anderson and Daniel Carter of division 4 team Greenleys Sultans of Spin, the higher- ranked pair winning in 3 legs.
Robert and Daniel continued their form in the final, beating Chitra and Bill 13-11, 12-10 and 11-6.

Mixed Over 60s
13 players (all men) contested this event and demonstrated that growing older is no barrier to playing to a high standard. In the quarter finals, Michael Wilkins beat Bill Tyler and David Beddall beat Martin Johnson, both in 3 legs. John Stamp won a very close encounter with Mervyn Phillips to take the final leg 14-12 and Charles Tien of division 3 side OU Dynamo beat Andy Smith of Premier team MK Pumas 11-8 in the 5th after another close tussle.
In the semis, Michael Wilkins enjoyed a straightforward 3 leg win over John Stamp, while David Beddall beat Charles Tien in a closer set, still over 3 legs. The final went to 4 legs, with David beating Michael, who was disappointed as he had earlier beaten David in the QF of the Vets.

Mens Vets
This was the busiest event outside the Championship Singles, with 21 entrants. The first round and last 16 were largely uneventful, although Martin Johnson needed 5 legs to beat division 6 player Dave Donovan, before losing in 3 legs to Michael Wilkins in the last 16.
In the quarter final, Michael played David Beddall of Greenleys Monarchs, who had earlier beaten Scott Dixon. This was a straightforward match for Michael, who won in 3 legs, taking him into a semi-final against Alan Cherry, who had easily beaten Jim Brogan and then Mervyn, in 4 legs. Unfortunately for Michael, Alan made short work of the contest, winning in 3 legs.
The other semi-final was contested by club-mates Ricky Taiwo and Martin Hall from Greenleys. Ricky had beaten Bill Tyler and Andy Smith to reach that stage, while Martin had beaten Bernard Green and Ricky’s team-mate Darren Ward, who had beaten Patrick Wong in 4 legs. Second seed Ricky quickly won the first 2 legs, before Martin fought back to take the match to a decider, which he won convincingly to reach the final.

The final was the last set of the day, and was played in front of only a few spectators, with Alan beating Martin in 3 tight legs to secure his second title of the day-at 7.20 pm!

Many thanks to everyone who entered, in what was a fairly full-on day, with lots of good table tennis. In particular, thank you to everyone for putting up with the occasional hitch as the day progressed and to all the volunteer umpires.