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Baddow triumphs at Closed Championships It was a great weekend for BVTTC at the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Closed Championships, sponsored by the M & G Group and held over the weekend 25 -27 January at Anglia Polytechnic University. A massive 28 club members took part in the Tournament, the highest single entry of any club in the League. And what a weekend it proved to be as Club members stormed to success in the junior U13 event and also two out of three of the Divisional events, the 2 Down and 6 Down Singles. In the Ladies Singles, Baddow was represented by Diane Pitt and Sam Duce. Unfortunately they came across stiff competition with Diane losing out to Leanne Bentley and Linda Murray and Sam losing to Julie Vansertima and Petra Oehler. At least they had the knowledge that they lost to finalists. Bentley and Vansertima will be contesting the trophy on Final’s Night, 4 February. Diane and Sam “tried” to combine in the Ladies Doubles, but came up against the Oakman sisters. The crowd loved it; not sure what they were watching though!? In
the mixed doubles, Baddow had two pairings Sam Duce/David Gatheral and
Diane/Adrian Pitt. Although club members Jon & Thomas Hill also took
part. Whilst they all fought valiantly it was in vain with the Pitts
just losing out to “long established” partnership of Melanie Bonnett/Jon
Hill. It Didn’t help when
Adrian served off the end at 19-20 down in the second and decisive game.
And Sam/David loosing out to the very talented Joe Benson and Becky
Jackson. The
Men's Doubles pairing of Alistair Piper and Adrian Pitt saw off 1st
Division partners Stuart Walsh and Peter Barrett but came completely
unstuck against Cris Sladden and Joe Benson. Michael Restoft and partner
Nick Wool saw off fellow clubmates John Patman and Ryan Pitt before
succumbing to first division stars Paul Davison and Neil Charles. Bearing in mind the average age of the club members you would have expected more entrants in the Veterans and O50’s Singles events, but it appeared they preferred to practice their technique down the club, rather than put it to the test. That said Club Secretary Graham Turner and Ace Coach Jon Hill rose to the challenge. Jon just lost out to No.2 seed George Reeves in the semi-final having been 19:16 up in the third but Graham could only manage to qualify from the groups before being downed by another first division star Ian Brown.
Our Club Secretary "In Action" In
the Under 21 Singles Alastair Hill "carried the flag" as a
Baddow Village club member (although he plays competitively for ECC)
through to the Quarter-Final and put up a great fight against former
Essex no.1 Junior Joe Benson before losing 22-24, 19-21. The other
Baddow entrants Ryan Pitt, John Patman and Tom Hill also lost but gave
very good accounts of themselves. No fewer than 9 Baddow members took part in the Junior Boys event , with best success coming from John Patman who put up a fine show before losing 21-19, 21-13 to eventual winner Keiran Lally. And Alastair Hill who put up a spirited performance against Tony Halling narrowly loosing out 15 in the third. It was good to see newcomers like Dillon Robin-Coker, from Cathedral Coaching, and Adam Pitt taking part in this as well as the slightly more experienced juniors like Sam Pitt, Rykki Vansertima and Philip Twite, Tom Hill and Ryan Pitt. And particularly pleasing that 6 out of 9, including Dillon, managed to qualify through the group stages. There
were just 5 entrants in the Junior Girls Singles, one of which, and
youngest competitor, was Baddow’s own 8 year old Hannah Pitt in her
very first tournament. She
found it tough and although she didn’t win a match, she still had a
lot to say for herself!! Hannah
did however do a splendid job relieving nearly every competitor of some
cash in exchange for raffle tickets! And with such charm and grace!
Her parents accept no liability! In the U15 Singles, Baddow were represented by Haydn Upson, Rykki Vansertima, Sam Pitt, Tom Hill, and Philip Twite. This was a tough competition and Baddow suffered casualties in the early rounds with only Tom making an impression, until he met the eventual winner, Division 1 star Tony Halling. In the U13 Singles event 8 out of the 15 competitors were from the Baddow Club. And it was here that No.1 seed Tom Hill produced his best form and duly took the title without dropping a set. Rhys Mason put up a spirited showing in the second round before losing 18, 13. From then on Tom stamped his class on the event with further wins over Thomas Webb 6, 13 and in the Final against a gallant Lorna Staff who battled away bravely before going down 17, 12. Sam Pitt played well to get to the semi-final and it would have been great to have had two Baddow juniors in the final, but he just lost out to Lorna.
Tom Hill and Lorna Staff U13 Finalists The Junior Doubles challenge came from the pairings
of John Patman/Ryan Pitt, Sam Pitt/Philip Twite, Haydn Upson/Rykki
Vansertima and Hannah Pitt/Dillon Robin-Coker. The only pairing to
progress to any significant round was the “reasonably mature”
pairing of Patman/Pitt who got to the semi-final where they came up
against last year's Champions Matt Staines/Leanne Bentley (ECC) and lost
out 17, 17! It was fitting that Alastair Hill, one of the League's most improved junior players should get his name on a trophy and he came out on top in the Junior Handicap Final but only after a series of cliff-hanging battles. From the look of the scorelines the new "ratio-based" Handicap System which operated in the Junior event seems to have been a real success with many close matches having taken place. Just look at Alistair Hill's wins - 22-20 in the third against our own Haydn Upson, 26-24, 21-18 against Jack Leather and 14-21, 21-18, 25-23 in the Final against Leanne Bentley. 12 of the 25 entrants for this event were from the Baddow Club. Alistair Hill and Leanne Bentley
Junior Handicap Finalists Perhaps the Club’s top success of the weekend
came in the prestigious 2 Down Singles competition. Here the bottom half
of the draw was dominated by Baddow Village players as they provided
three of the four Quarter-Finalists. It was last year's Runner-Up Adrian
Pitt who eventually took the title. He made a faltering start struggling
past a gallant Mohammed Mohseni at 21-18 in the decider and then really
hit top form. Wins followed against Bill Smith (15, 12), the
increasingly impressive Alistair Hill (17 in the decider), and then
fellow Coach, Neil Gooday (17,18). Before this, Neil had won a
nail-biting semi-final contest against fellow club member Waseem Qureshi
– 22-20 in the final set. In
the Final against Gary Ward (Writtle), after an open and very
hard-hitting encounter, Adrian ran out winner 18, -15, 16. Adrian apparently took the “net” home – sorry Gary! Alistair Hill again featured highly in the 4 Down
event reaching the semi-final against eventual winner Steve Mays.
Unfortunately, another Baddow member’s scalp was taken by Steve
on his way to victory, that of John Patman in the quarter-final –
never mind John it will grow back! Baddow dominated the 6 Down event and it was David
“funny bat” Gatheral who came through an evenly matched field to
take the title with perhaps the biggest shock of the day, a
well-executed 11,17 win over top seed, Baddow’s own Hil Dowsett.
Baddow’s next campaign will be to dominate the
higher events, just wait till David holds his bat properly!! Guess what it’s another Hill – Tom, last year's Runner-Up in the Handicap Singles, who went one step further and completed a great weekend for the Hill brothers by taking the title with a 16, 12 success over Leanne Bentley. There were some epic battles and you have to feel sorry for Guy McKenzie who pushed Tom all the way over the first two games before being crushed mercilessly 21-1 in the third as a fearless Tom matched him point-for-point in the early rallies. Tom's greater experience meant he was playing off a Handicap some eleven points tougher than last season which gives a fair indication of just how well he has progressed – well done Tom must be all the fatherly love, don’t you agree Jon! The Handicap Doubles also produced something of an oddity; two father and son pairings taking part in an event where partners are drawn from a hat. The Patman's (Mark and John) and you’ve guessed it The Hill’s (Jon and Alistair). The Patman’s fared best although before the pairings were drawn son John was heard to say “I hope I don’t get you as a partner Dad”. I bet he’s got a different viewpoint now as they went on to win the event beating clubmates David Gatheral/Nick Wool two-straight in the final. All in all an excellent weekend for Baddow and its
members. |
