Tom Burns Trophy
The senior handicap singles
is the main event. The 18 entrants were placed into 5 groups
from which the winners would progress to the straight
knockout stage, together with the highest 3 runners-up. The
groups enabled everyone to get at least two singles matches
and competition was fierce, the positive handicapping system
and use of the old 21up scoring system making it really
tough on the better players.
Former winner Mike Johnston
came through Group 1 with decisive victories over John
Robinson and Michael Rostoft although the latter was fairly
deep in the third. Another former winner Waseem Qureshi came
through Group 2 with straight victories over Jonathon Birt
and Mike Pitt. Mike did however squeeze through in one of
the runner-up spots courtesy of his decisive victory over
Jonathon. In Group 3 it was last years champion Adrian Pitt
who came through but only by the closest of margins as both
he and Neil Gooday each won twice in the 4 man group. Neil
did however also get through as one of the highest losers.
Group 4 was another very close encounter, with Richard Upson
coming through with two out of three victories, the group
runner-up Ray Lawrence who also won two out of three must
have been the unluckiest loser of the afternoon just losing
out on one of the highest runner-up spots by a very narrow
margin. Frank Neill was the decisive victor in Group 5 with
2 out of 3 of his victories being by a slender margin deep
in the third. Steve Back, the group runner-up, got the third
highest runner-up spot. His 2 out of 3 victories just edging
out Ray Lawrence.
So this is how they lined up
for the quarter finals.
| Adrian Pitt |
bt |
Frank Neill |
14,16 |
| Waseem
Qureshi |
bt |
Neil Gooday |
20,-11,14 |
| Mike
Johnston |
bt |
Mike Pitt |
16,18 |
| Richard
Upson |
bt |
Steve Back |
13,10 |
The draw hadn't been exactly
kind to some of the clubs top players with all three
featuring in the same half of the draw and two playing
against each other at this quarter final stage. Clearly the
pick of the matches was the game between Waseem and Neil,
played from scratch. The opening game was a tense affair
with Waseem sneaking through at deuce. Neil ran away with
the second with some excellent controlled top spin table
tennis and powerful backhand attack. But the effort seemed
to drain him and the momentum couldn't be maintained in the
third with Waseem taking the lead and not looking back.
The first semi final featured
the cup holder, Club Secretary Adrian against Waseem. Adrian
not having dropped a set so far now faced a sterner
challenge in a match which would not have been out of place
for the final. With just a single point difference on
handicap things looked pretty even. But on the table Adrian,
who seemed to have a definite spring in his step today, was
giving nothing away at all. High quality control play, some
excellent backhand top spin and consistent serving seemed to
force Waseem into unexpected errors. After a close first
game it seemed Waseem realised this wasn't going to be his
day and Adrian dashed through the second to secure a place
in the final once more.
|
Well,
certainly Adrian looks a happy bunny!
As he and Waseem line up for the semi
final |
And
it's all smiles here too! As Richard & Mike step
up
to contest the other final place |
In the second semi final Mike
Johnston faced a tough challenge from Richard Upson. Richard
may have been slightly surprised to be at this stage but had
already pulled off some fine wins to get here. With a
handicap advantage and awkward left hand style it looked as
if an outsider might sneak into the final. The first end
went comfortably to the higher ranked player, but Richard
stormed back in the second. Mike hung on, scrapping for
every point with dogged persistence and it was this that
eventually paid off. Booking a place in the final once more
at deuce.
| Adrian Pitt |
bt |
Waseem
Qureshi |
17, 11 |
| Mike
Johnston |
bt |
Richard
Upson |
15, 21 |
And so to the final.
Although starting with a small handicap advantage it seemed
from the off that Mike had no match for Adrian's power and
spin. Adrian seemed in no mood to be put off by steady
defence, his wicked top spin back hand being deployed to
great effect to open out the rally and expose the gaps. Try
as he might Mike couldn't get his nose in front apart from
at the start on handicap. In fact the game seemed to be over
in a flash, almost before the crowd that had stayed to watch
the closing stages could realise it was the final! Adrian
retaining the Tom Burns trophy for another year with a
comprehensive 21:16, 21:16 victory.
|
The
finalists, Adrian Pitt (left) & Mike
Johnston (right), meet before the closing
encounter
in the Tom Burns Trophy under the watchful eye
of County Umpire Arthur Clark
who kindly agreed to act as guest umpire for the
Final, which Adrian won
for the second successive year 21:16, 21:16 |
You can now go to reports on
the Junior event The Ted Harris
Trophy, or the fun doubles The Purkiss Robinson Doubles Trophy
