Bath Street Marine Table Tennis Club
A Table Tennis England PremierClub
News Release - BSMTTC News 177
Dateline: 7 September 2024
Trophies up for grabs!
With three trophies up for grabs, including a brand new doubles trophy, the Club Tournament 24 was certain to be a very competitive day of table tennis. This year's tournament was held for the first time at Old Roan Methodist Church on Saturday 7 September. Although a smaller venue, just 4 tables for match play, nevertheless the overall facilities were excellent and provided a really good vibe for a great day out, and with everyone guaranteed at least 30 games of table tennis there was sure to be plenty of time on the tables for the 32 members who took part. Because of the smaller venue it was decided that the finals of all events would be held at Marine a few days later.
The main focus of the day would be for the Handicap Singles Trophy, but there would also be a doubles event for a new trophy, a consolation event for those who didn't get through the first round of the Main Event, and also an open Junior Singles competition. The event was organised by Tournament Organiser Andrew Armstrong along with Club Secretary Graham Turner, and the control table on the day was run by Mike Taylor, with refreshments managed by Keith Hardman. Thanks to all of the team for their work in setting up and managing a great day of table tennis.
The trophies up for grabs. On the left, the William Clayton Trophy for the Junior Singles, in the centre The Ron Georgeson Trophy for the Main Event, the handicap singles and on the right the new Alex Gould doubles trophy.
Fun Doubles
In order to get everyone playing right from the start, the first contest of the day was the Fun Doubles. This year, for the first time, there would be a trophy for the winners. The Alex Gould Trophy, named in honour of the founder of the club back in 1947/48 Mr Alex Gould. With exactly 32 members entered in the competition, 4 groups of 4 pairs in each group were drawn from the hat. The 'fun' part of this event is finding out on the day who your playing partner is and then learning how to play together, especially important where there is often a wide difference in standard between the two players in the partnership - a deliberate act by the organisers often placing the strongest players in the event with those considerably less able, meaning that learning to work together and to each others ability is a key component of the play!
Group 1 contained what looked like 4 very strong pairs with each pair having 1 player of very similar standard. The closeness in standard was clear from the results with 3 pairs each winning 2 out of 3 sets and 4 of the 6 sets played needing a deciding game. Marcin Bytnar and Ian Brownrigg set the standard in the opening set with a very good win over Mark Benson & Stephen Riley and followed that up in their second set with an even better win over Dave Aimson & Bobby Blair. The surprise in this group was that 2 players who got through to the final last year, Keith Dudley & Billy Smith, who found themselves playing together this time round, dropped their first two sets! But then denied Marcin & Ian the top spot in the group by beating them in the final set of the group! All group tables can be found on the Club Tournament 24 page of the website. So, by the narrowest of margins, loosing fewer games, Dave Aimson & Bobby Blair found themselves at the top of the group and with a place in the semi-finals on Finals Night.
Group 2 unexpectedly found itself a player short! With Bob Wolstenholme having to content himself with a different partner for each of his 3 matches! Who knows what would have happened if he had won the group! The interesting thing about this group was that 4 out of the 6 sets had a decisive 2:0 outcome, but both sets needing a decider featured Alan Hale with his playing partner, junior, Ellis Haskell, the game they lost 12:10 in the deciding set proved decisive in the outcome of the group and that was in the first set of the group. Graham Turner & Mark Evans winning that set 2:1 and going on to record further wins against Scott French & Bobby Vint and Bob Wolstenholme & Bobby Vint to give them top spot and a place in the semi-finals.
Group 3 contained some big names! Indeed, the top 3 seeds in the singles, Lawrence Kenwright, Colin Turner & Julian Quirk, found themselves in the same group - yes this was the genuine result from the random draw! But it was two junior players partnering each other, Keshav Harave & Myles Ambrose - the two youngest players in the tournament - who seemed to set the pace. They finished very strongly with a 2:0 win over Lawrence Kenwright & Jean Hale, who had already won their first two sets, and this defeat denied Lawrence & Jean the top spot, in another group where 3 pairs won two sets each. The pair missing out was Julian with his partner, John Tate - appearing in a Club Tournament for the first time. Games won in lost sets would decide the outcome as well as the clear 2:0 win which Colin Turner & Jenny Givens had over Keshav & Myles, giving them the 1 extra point to take them to the top of the table and a place in the semi-finals - not for the first time for Jenny!
The final group, Group 4, also had some very strong pairs seemingly evenly matched, but this group produced the most 2:0 wins of all the groups! James Haskell with his partner Liz Neild, playing in her first club tournament, set the pace in the opening set with a decisive 2:0 win over juniors Shamal Harave (a winning finalist last year) and Charlie King. The juniors were obviously caught cold here as they then went on to win their next two sets! James & Liz followed up with further 2:0 wins against Andrew Armstrong & Sue Young and Kai Morgan & Doreen Smith. Giving then an unassailable lead in the group and a place in the semi-finals.
The four semi-finalists, Dave Aimson & Bobby Blair, Graham Turner & Mark Evans, Colin Turner & Jenny Givens and James Haskell & Liz Neild would have to wait until finals night to discover which of them would contest the final for the new trophy!
The Junior Singles
With our junior players being involved in all of the main events of the day a separate open Junior Singles, for the William Clayton Trophy, was left until the last event of the day. And then we ran out of time halfway through and had to complete the event at Marine a couple of days later! There were just 7 juniors entered this year, including the current holder of the trophy, Scott French. The juniors were divided into two groups, with Group 1 containing Kai Morgan, Keshav Harave & Myles Ambrose and Group 2, Scott French, Shamal Harave, Ellis Haskell and Charlie King.
It has to be said that there was some really good table tennis in both groups. In Group 1 the matches were played best of 3, and each of the three sets went to 3, showing just how close the group was. In the group decider between Kai & Keshav, first blood went to Keshav but Kai responded strongly taking the second. The third end was slightly more nervy with Kai just winning through 11:9 to book a place in the final for the first time.
Group 2 produced some big surprises. And they were all in the last 3 matches in the group. The expectation was that the two older boys, Scott & Shamal would top the group. But in set 4, Ellis took a comprehensive 3:0 win against reigning junior champion, Scott. Scott pulled himself together and edged out Shamal in the next set 11:9 in the deciding game. In the final set Ellis took an early lead but Shamal fought back to even the score. But Ellis was not done, some aggressive attacking play and some unforced errors from Shamal gave Ellis the edge and he took the game 11:7 to give him 3 wins from his 3 sets and an unexpected top spot in the group, and a place in the final - also for the first time.
Another first, the junior final to be held on Finals Night. We shall look forward to it.
The participants in the junior singles; Keshav Harave, Kai Morgan, Scott French, Shamal Harave, Myles Ambrose, Ellis Haskell and Charlie King.
The Main Event
For the Main Event, the Ron Georgeson Memorial Shield Handicap Singles, the first round was played in groups of 4 players. With each group containing 1 of the top 8 seeded players. This gave 8 groups and as we had only 4 tables it meant that some could now take a break whilst the first 4 groups were playing. An early lunch or a welcome tea or coffee, ably provided by our catering host, Keith Hardman. The format of matches in the groups was a round robin with all 5 games being played in each set. Any difference in individual handicap is then added to the score of the player with the highest handicap and the player with the most points, including handicap, wins the set. Plenty of maths to test the players and the control table. Fortunately, Mike on the control table was a maths teacher! With every group containing players of widely diverse ability the question would be can the handicap prevent skill from coming to the top? At least it gave everyone a real chance. And, made the better players work hard to clear handicap deficits if they wished to progress!
In Group 1, top seed, Lawrence Kenwright, faced stiff competition and big handicaps to make up, from Kai Morgan, Billy Smith and tournament newcomer Bobby Blair. But the fact of the matter was that even with big handicap advantages none of the players could match the skill of the top player. All of the group results can be found under the Club Tournament 24 page of the website. Lawrence did have to use all of his skill and experience to overcome the dual threat of the player and the handicap but in the end prevailed by a clear 17 points to top the group, with junior, Kai Morgan, his nearest challenger.
In Group 2, seeded player, Andrew Armstrong, faced real challenge from Scott French, Mark Evans and Ian Brownrigg. Scott, in particular, worked really hard to try and deny Andy top spot, including taking 1 game from him. But in the end Andrew held on winning 14 out of his 15 games to top the group but only with a narrow 4 point margin. This was the closest of all 8 groups. It was certainly Scott's one game loss to Mark Evans that just tipped the scales in favour of Andy. A very competitive group.
Group 3, brought together the seeded Dave Aimson, with seasoned veteran Keith Dudley, fast improving junior Myles Ambrose, and outsider Jean Hale - with the highest handicap in the tournament. The stage was again set for some very close matches. Dave started off at a fast pace against Myles who wasn't quite ready for Dave's combination pimple bat! But Myles did rally to take two games from the vastly more experienced Keith. But then dropped far too many points in his final set against Jean to take himself out of the running. In the end the group was decided by the final set between Dave & Keith. 4:1 in games to Dave meant that Keith just fell short of the top spot. Dave winning the group by a 17 point margin.
Group 4 included the No.4 seed and current holder of the trophy, Julian Quirk. He faced Alan Hale, Bob Wolstenholme and Sue Young and a big handicap difference in each match. Julian has a very difficult style to play against which along with his bright blue pimpled bat makes him a really tough opponent. All three of his opponents tried their very best, but frankly they just couldn't match him even with the handicap advantages. Julian going on to win the group by the largest margin of all the groups 24 points. Along the way though there were once again some really good, competitive games of table tennis and some very close results.
The trophy draw was divided into two halves, with 4 groups in each half, so that once the first four groups had played those players were able to take a well earned break and the group already refreshed returned to the arena. Not quite sure it worked that smoothly in reality!
Group 5 contained No.3 seed Colin Turner and he faced junior, Shamal Harave, along with Bobby Vint and another tournament newcomer Liz Neild. Liz is a comparitive newcomer to both the club and table tennis, but seems to have taken to the game like a duck to water! And, with big handicaps to make up, Colin faced some tough challenges. But these top first division players are no strangers to challenge and their superior ability shines through few lesser plays can match or handle their ability and it is extremely difficult to get the ball past them. This proved to be the case in this group too, with Colin winning by a clear margin all of his games and by a sufficient number of points to prevent the handicaps from impacting. Shamal got the nearest, but in the end was 18 points short of Colin who topped the group.
Marcin Bytnar was the seeded player in Group 6, where he faced two juniors, Keshav Harave and Charlie King, and also another tournament newcomer John Tate. And what a start there was in this group. The very first set featured the closest match in Round 1 when Marcin faced 14 year old Charlie. After some tremendous play the points finished exactly even! By virtue of having the higher handicap Charlie gained 1 extra point under the event rules for a 'draw' giving him an outstanding win. Indeed, Marcin had to fight for every point in this group and the two junior players pushed him every inch of the way. In the end he triumphed by just 10 points, a tremendous group and what an experience for tournament newcomer, John Tate.
In Group 7, James Haskell was the seeded player but yet again the seeded player faced stiff opposition. This time from Mark Benson, Stephen Riley and outsider Doreen Smith. Steve Riley showed just how much he has improved in the past year, making maximum use of his handicap he surprisingly narrowly edged past Mark in set 3 damaging Mark's chance of topping the group. Indeed, Steve went on to finish second in the group, a really good achievement. Even more so when the results showed that he had missed out on the top spot by just 5 points. James going on to take the top spot as a result of a good win over Mark in the final set. A really close group and a slightly disappointing outcome for Mark who on another day might well have stole the group. Somehow this group seem to have escaped the camera!
The final group, Group 8, had just 3 players, Graham Turner, Ellis Haskell and Jenny Givens, as a result of a 'no show' from No.2 seed Keith Williams, which gave an opportunity for one of the non-seeded players to make it through to the quarter-finals. Nursing an injury Graham was able to do just enough in the opening set against Jenny to give himself a chance, but then Ellis also played strongly to overcome Jenny to set up an encounter with Graham for a place in the next round. Inexperience and a slight lack of discipline by Ellis allowed Graham to dictate the pace of this final set allowing him a clear win and as a result a rather unexpected top spot in the group!
And so, seven out of eight of the seeded players were through to the quarter-finals. These were also played on the day, leaving the semi-finals and final for Finals Night.
Quarter Finals
In the first quarter-final, No.1 seed Lawrence Kenwright faced Andrew Armstrong. By now Lawrence was well into his stride and with deadly pace and accuracy showed the gulf between top first division players and the rest. He raced through the five games and even with the handicap finished with a clear margin of 27 points, and a place in the semi-finals.
The second quarter final involved the No.4 seed and current trophy holder, Julian Quirk, facing a very much improved Dave Aimson, maybe this set could be re-named the battle of the pimple bats! The first two games were very even each player taking one game. But once Julian had taken the third game fortunes seemed to change, perhaps as confidence grew, or waned! Julian raced through games 4 & 5 leaving him 8 points ahead once the handicap was added in. Close, but not quite close enough. Julian was through to the semi-finals.
No.3 seed Colin Turner featured next in the third quarter-final, facing the vastly improved Marcin Bytnar, seeded in the tournament for the first time this year. Marcin put up a good fight in the first and last games of the set, but the gap between division 1 players and the rest was evident in the middle part of the set. Colin took all 5 games and was still 23 points ahead once the handicap was added in securing him a place in the semi-finals.
The last quarter-final saw seeded player James Haskell face Club Secretary Graham Turner, an unexpected quarter finalist. This seemed like a re-run of a match played in the tournament last year. But James is playing much better now, and raced through the first game. Somehow Graham pulled himself together and stole the second game. Once again James came back strongly easily taking the third. But Graham was not done yet, steadying the ship and once again snatching the fourth and fifth games. The handicap advantage in Graham's favour would decide this set, the only set to be decided by the handicap! The 6 extra points were just enough to give Graham the win by 4 points. The closest match in the quarter-finals and a very unexpected place in the semi-finals for Graham!
Consolation Singles (Plate)
To ensure that everybody gets as many games as possible from the tournament day, those players who don't get through the first round of the Main Event are given a second chance in the Consolation Singles, or Plate. This is played exactly the same as the Main Event and using the same handicaps, with the first round being in groups of 3 players, ensuring at least a further 10 games for every player. The most encouraging thing about the Plate this year was how well our junior players did with 6 out of 8 of the groups being won by a junior player.
Group 1 featured junior Kai Morgan, Ian Brownrigg and Liz Neild. Despite giving away points on handicap Kai made short work of his two sets to take the group by 14 points. All of the group results can be found on the Club Tournament 24 page of the website.
There were no juniors in Group 2, just 3 very well matched seniors, Mark Benson, Keith Dudley and Liz Neild. An audit check was needed on the results of this group it was so close! Just 5 points separating the 3 players after the 3 sets had been played and it was Keith who stole the top spot by just 4 points. One suspects that Mark was not a happy bunny, especially loosing to Keith by just 1 point!
Junior Scott French was the stand out player in Group 3 winning all of his games against Jenny Givens and Bobby Blair and clearing his handicap disadvantage to leave him 10 points clear at the top of the group.
Another junior player, Keshav Harave featured in Group 4, but he certainly didn't have things all his own way. First made to work really hard by Jean Hale to recover the handicap disadvantage and then dropping a game to Bob Wolstenholme. Nevertheless he fought his way through to finish just 6 points clear at the top of the table.
In the second half of the draw Group 5 included Keshav's older brother Shamal. He faced the combined forces of husband and wife Billy & Doreen Smith - and had to score the set between them!! But the face was that Shamal had just too much quality for both Billy & Doreen giving him a decisive group win by 30 points.
It was the turn of junior Myles Ambrose in Group 6 to face his senior opponents John Tate and Steve Riley. In the opening set Steve took two games from Myles before despatching newcomer John in the second set. But an improved Myles took the third and deciding set to leave him just 3 points clear at the top of the group. Once again a very close group.
In Group 7 it is possible that this was the only group of the day where the mathematics maybe didn't go quite to plan! It featured junior Charlie King, and seniors Alan Hale and Bobby Vint, and hardly anything between them on handicap. Somehow Charlie was declared the group winner, but once the audit check was made it was in fact Alan who prevailed by just 3 points, not surprising as he won 8 out of his 10 games! Maybe he just wanted to go home early by allowing Charlie to go through?
The last group, Group 8, included just two players Mark Evans and junior Ellis Haskell, and what a match they had. Very close with 3 games being either 11:9 or 11:10. A small handicap advantage in favour of Mark was, however, not quite enough, Ellis winning through by 6 points.
There were some very close matches in these groups and some excellent competitive table tennis. The quarter and semi-finals would follow.
Plate - Quarter and Semi-Finals
Juniors featured heavily in the quarter-finals, with all 7 of the juniors who had entered the tournament in action - albeit one was subbing for Alan Hale!
The first quarter-final though featured the one senior player, the very experienced Keith Dudley facing Kai Morgan. A real contrast in styles, and as yet Kai hasn't fully worked through exactly how to play someone like Keith! On the table just 2 points separated the two players after 5 games but a small handicap advantage in Kai's favour just tipped the balance giving him a 47:45 win, so close!
Juniors Scott French and Keshav Harave faced each other in quarter-final two. Although 3 years younger than Scott, Keshav is a very strong competitor and improving his play all of the time. He took two games from Scott but even with his handicap advantage it wasn't quite enough, Scott winning out by 10 points.
Quarter-final 3 also featured two juniors, Shamal Harave and Myles Ambrose, again the 2 year age difference between the boys just gave Shamal the edge and although he dropped one game he had enough in reserve in the games won to overcome the handicap in favour of Myles, giving him a win by 9 points.
The last quarter-final saw Charlie King substituting for Alan Hale against Ellis Haskell. Charlie started well taking the first game, but then seemed to lose focus as Ellis stormed back with some dynamic aggressive play to take the next 4 games and win the set by 13 points.
The first semi-final matched Kai Morgan against Scott French. Kai has a good record against Scott so this looked like a potentially very close match and with just 2 points between them on handicap the outcome would be decided on the table. Honours even in the first two games. Scott controlled the play better in games 3 and 4 to give him the advantage, and although Kai fought back and won game 5 it wasn't quite enough, Scott booked himself a place in the finals on Finals Night with a 6 point win.
Another two juniors Shamal Harave and Ellis Haskell fought out the second semi-final. This was a fast and furious affair with both players engaged in some dynamic attacking play. It was Shamal who just had the edge in these rapid encounters in the first 4 games taking them all, by the narrowest of margins. Ellis kept fighting and took the fifth but the addition of his small handicap advantage wasn't quite enough to cancel out the lead Shamal had already built up, a win by 4 points and a place in the final.
So, for the first time, two juniors would contest the Plate Final on Finals Night.
End of the Day
We began at 9am and ended at 7pm, a great day of table tennis and excellently supported by a real mix of club members, just 4 ladies though, more needed for next time! We now look forward to Finals Night on Wednesday 11 September at 7:30pm.