15 year old Bradley
Hudgell pulled off what can only be described as a
magnificent performance at the Chelmsford & District
Table Tennis League Closed Championships held at the new
Mildmay Sports Hall of Anglia Polytechnic University over
the weekend of the 4/5 February. Although experiencing only
his first season in Div 4 of the League Bradley pulled out
all the stops to take the 4 Down Singles title, en-route
beating the No.1 seed Gary Copsey of top Div 4 side ECC in
the semi-finals and following that with victory over Gary's
team mate Russell Forde, the No.2 seed in the final. This
has to go down as one of the best achievements for a Club
player over many years.
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15yr
old Bradley Hudgell
in tournament action.
As Mum & Sister Bethany look on.
Well at least his Mum's watching! Bradley scored one
of the most significant wins by a junior in the
tournament with his victory in the
4Down Singles |
The Tournament followed
the same pattern as previous years, commencing with the
Veterans events on Friday evening, with the Saturday morning
given over to the Junior events, the major events such as
Men's and Ladies Singles, doubles and Mixed being Saturday
afternoon, and Sunday given over to the Divisional and
Handicap events. And with a brand new venue offering
excellent facilities with the number of tables increased to
11 it was hardly surprising that the event attracted a
bumper entry. Very good news for the League. And Club
players were in evidence in all events. Especially in the
junior events where the Melbourne Coaching programme plus
the Club's own juniors provided a very large part of the
entry. In fact 75% of the entries in the U14s (15 out of 20)
and 60% of the entries in the U16s (18 out of 29) came from
the Club or Melbourne Coaching. An amazing proportion. A full report on the event can be found on the League
website.
A few
of the juniors from the Club & Melbourne Coaching
in Tournament action
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| Aled
Upson |
Damien
Laverty |
Frances
Walters |
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| Robert
Shrimpton |
Matthew
Davis |
Tom
Lee |
Adam Pitt, just 14 in
January, is another junior who is making great progress.
Adam came through a strong field in the U14 (Mixed) Singles
event to take the title in an all action final against club
mate (and non related) 12 year old Hannah Pitt. This match
could have gone either way, with both players prone to
temporary lapses of concentration and control. But in the
end it was Adam's slightly steadier style that paid off,
winning through 8, 3 and 6. Hannah had to overcome another
Club player Gavin Trodd, playing his first year in Click, in
the semi-final to book her place. Adam also did very well to
reach the semi-final of the 6Down Singles just missing out
on a place in the final against the N0.1 seed 13:11 in the
4th end.
Elsewhere in the junior
events, Bradley Hudgell reached the final of both the U16
(Mixed) Singles and the Junior Boys Singles (U18).
Surprisingly losing out to Tom Hill (ECC) in the final of
the U16. In the U18 he gave top seed Vytas Rybakas - who had
been controversially given a bye through to the final - a
real run for his money before going down 11-5, 11-3, 8-11,
11-7.
Julie Vansertima is no
stranger to the Chelmsford Closed. having won the Ladies
Singles title 15 times she looks well placed to make 2006
into number 16 and she has duly taken her place in the final
which will be held on Finals Night, Monday 13 February. But
she will face a stern test from club mate Laura Pyman. At 17
and with just 3 years table tennis experience, Laura has
made fantastic progress in such a short time. Although
she just missed out in the Junior Girls Singles, losing in
the final to fellow Girls British League team mate Holly
Stubbings over 4 ends, Laura is bidding for the first time
for the Ladies Singles title. This could be a match worth
watching on Finals Night. Julie has already faced Laura once
in the Championships. Coming through to take the Ladies
Doubles title for the 14th time with partner Jean Chasmer
(Danbury) against Laura and Janet Pannell (Danbury) in a
nail biting final at 11:9 in the 5th.
Laura
Pyman with partner
Janet Pannell (Danbury) playing together for the first
time put
in a tremendous effort to reach the final of the
Ladies Doubles
only narrowly losing out |
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Julie will also be
appearing in the Mixed Doubles final on Finals Night where
she seek to defend her crown with partner Dave Cole. Making
it a potential 4 titles that she could earn this year. Why
four? Because on Sunday she became the first woman to win
the much coveted 2Down Singles title. This is usually one of
the heaviest subscribed events of the tournament. She had to
overcome a former champion, Club Secretary Adrian Pitt in
the quarter final, before fighting back from two down in the
final against Danbury's Dave Calleja to take the title -6,-9, 6, 5, 7.
Top Club Coach, Neil
Gooday, also got his name in lights taking the Handicap
Doubles title with partner Neil Freeman (Hatfield Peverel)
in two closely contested sets under the old 21up scoring
system. A nail biting match, so I'm told, 2Neil
perhaps!
But perhaps it was club
member Alastair Piper who caused one of the biggest
sensations of the weekend when, in the Men's Singles, he
defeated the No.3 seed Vytas Rybakas in the qualifying group
stage.
