Circuit Reports

Brandon Martin took the North Sussex ‘Play TT’ Festival by storm recently, winning the Aiming High tournament for disabled youngsters with a clean sweep of victories over his five rivals which included his brother and sister.

The Aiming High competition was one of a number of events taking place at the K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley in the development evening on the Friday that preceded the VETTS Southern Masters weekend.

A Sussex Community Circuit was won by Brighton City’s Paul Bergin, with his clubmate Paul Pringer. Andrew Goodall from Horsham was the highest placed adult and 9-year old Kate Cheer from Crawley confirmed her progress with four wins in the second stage group.

New players and beginners were welll catered for at Play TT with come and try it features such as the robot and the rebound boards. Additionally South-East Regional Coach Craig Bryant and England No 3 Veteran Ritchie Venner delighted a sizeable crowd with a 30-minute exhibition match which Bryant won in five sets, with a mixture of wizardry and cheeky behaviour.

The experience did not do Venner any lasting harm however as he returned over the weekend to win the men’s over 40 event in the Masters. Perhaps the help he received from 11 year old George Taylor from Brighton, temporarily subbed on for him as he struggled to penetrate Bryant’s lob defence, inspired his return to winning form.

With 29 tables available in K2’s main hall Rory Scott was also able to run well subscribed junior and senior two-stars alongside the development events. In total around 150 players and spectators enjoyed the fun and thrill packed evening.

Father and son team of Ivan and Lewis Gardener took the Chichester leg of the Sussex Community Table Tennis Circuit by storm recently in their debut appearances. Dad Ivan won the morning Band A event and eight year old Lewis provided the double-act by taking gold in the morning Band D section, wins made all the sweeter by being in home territory.

Ivan was anything but terrible with a bat in his hand although his triumph came courtesy of countback over Gary Masters (Petersfield), James Eaglestone’s (Hastings) 3-2 victory over the eventual winner leaving the top two on equal wins. Lewis also required countback for his top spot, his 3-0 win over an improving Maxim Taite-Ellis (Haywards Heath) being the deciding factor.

Afternoon Bands C and D were also a family affair, this time sibling based one. 11 year old Ashley Macey confidently swept aside the competition in Band C and left the watching coaches asking where she has been hiding. Yet again the South-West Sussex League has unveiled a secret weapon out of its talent factory. Not to be outdone, brother Jordan triumphed one-band down by beating morning victor Lewis Gardener in a close play-off final after they had finished level pegging at the end of a double round-robin group.

Circuit veterans Ellie and Mike Stringer (Nutley) continued the brother and sister theme in Band B. Ellie fought off stiff competition from Horsham’s James Arnold and Bognor’s Ben Taylor to claim gold in the afternoon. Mike had to be content with the colour silver after succumbing in straight sets to Mike Mulvey (Littlehampton).

Worthing’s Jordan Core provided yet another gold winning debut to the day in the morning Band B event. His 11-8 in the fifth win over Robbie Winters (Lewes) was the decisive contest. Marcus Bracey (Lancing) and Mike Brockham (Horsham) third places in the pre and post lunch Band C events respectively signalled that they are also ones to watch.

The afternoon Band A event provided the day’s biggest field and, as predicted, ended with a Brighton City TTC dominated top group in which Chinese counter-puncher Wen Xei’s consistency prevailed 3-1 over big serving and topspinning Tim Holtam.

In all 57 competitors ranging right across the playing experience and ability spectrum enjoyed the excellent Six Villages Sports Centre venue. The next Sussex Community Circuit will run at K2 Leisure Centre on the evening of Friday 16th April. For further information contact Ian Ford on Ian.ford@horsham.gov.uk or 01403-215634

Jacob Allonby from East Grinstead proved the star performer of the day as the Sussex Table Tennis Alliance, a development consortium of Sussex table tennis clubs, ran its first ETTA ranking event at the newly equipped Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill.

The 12 year old left-hander has only been playing since September but already he has got coaches turning their heads, his plucky demeanor and fighting spirit more than filling any technical gaps in his emerging game. He competed in Band B of the 1-Star and in the final stage of the morning event he won out over Ellie Stringer (Nutley) but third placed Adam Goacher (Lancing) provided the strongest resistance taking him to 12-10 in the fifth.

In the afternoon event Allonby came from a set down to beat Haywards Heath youngster Mike Bridger, another player whose reputation is growing fast. Well done to Storrington youngster Oliver Salkeld getting his ranking point tally off the ground with wins that contributed to his third placing.

James Meyer was the dominant force in the Band A events, the 17 year old from Brighton showing a combination of good touch and power topspin to see off James Eaglestone 3-1 in the final. Horsham teenager Mark Collins secured third place.

After lunch Meyer was again impressive but not enough so to hold out against the pressure that pre-event favourite Jack Bennett (Eastbourne) brought to bear in the final group stage. Pocket battleship Bennett accounted for the morning victor in four close games and despatched third place Nathan Hodd (Hastings) in straight sets to secure the title.

In addition to the 1-star non-ranking development competitions were also run for less experienced players. In the morning East Grinstead’s Luke Taylor triumphed over Lewes’ Jamie Buchanan, the latter playing his first ever competition having caught the TT bug. Lewes players also dominated the afternoon event with Kai Mason winning out over clubmate Rob Winters in the race for gold.

Special mention is merited for Jonathan Grainger (Southwater) who achieved his best performance to date in the morning development event, coming 12th out of 22 – his persistence and determination is starting to bear fruit.

Well done also to Michael Buck from Brighton who only got involved because he had gone with family members to the Triangle the night before for a knockabout practice. The Buck family must have thought the centre was making a special effort as they were presented with exclusive use of a 14 table set-up that had been readied for the next day. The setter-uppers spotted his enthusiasm, invited him to try his luck the next day and a sixth place showed they were wise to collar him! Talent identification can happen in all kinds of ways.

In all 58 competitors over the day represented time well spent for the Alliance’s volunteers in their first graded tournament venture and hopefully it will be the first chapter in a successful history of tournaments staged in the impressive surroundings of the Triangle.

84 players entered the latest Sussex Community Table Tennis Circuit held at Warden Park School, Haywards Heat. Of the eight gold medals up for grabs youngsters with the surname Taylor – Jack, Alex and Luke, all unrelated – accounted for three of them band a further one, Ben, took a silver for good measure.

The Taylor monopoly was no more strongly felt than in the Band C events where only Connor Trendly from the Brighton City club prevented a surname full house as he claimed a silver in the afternoon event behind Jack. In the morning Alex Taylor’s ( fifth set, 11-7 victory over namesake Ben (North Mundham) decided the destiny of gold.

Luke Taylor (East Grinstead) took the morning Band D event over clubmate and impressive Circuit debutant Fraser Martin. Again it took a five set thriller to separate the main protagonists. Tom McCallum and Jack Hattam came in third and fourth positions to confirm East Grinstead TTC’s growing reputation as a hotbed of talent development in Sussex.

Daniel Booth (Haywards Heath) won the afternoon Band D event to bring some joy to the home crowd, followed by another first timer, Robert Winters (Brighton) in runners-up spot.

Band A was boosted by a number of experienced senior players being drafted in to provide a challenge to the up and coming junior ranks. Two of them – Ian Ford and Rory Scott, both from Horsham – were put in their place in the morning contest with U21 player Raj Waterman (Crawley) taking gold on countback after a three way tie on wins in their final group.

After lunch it was a real high quality affair with players in the top group all beating each other and making for another countback nailbiter from which Chinese player Wen Wei emerged as winner over local bigger-hitter Marc Burman and, in third, club colleague Tim Holtam. It was particularly commendable to see young players like Matt Van Yperen (Horsham) , Elliott Jeffrey (Hollingbury) and Mark Collins (Horsham) competing so well against such strong opponents, all looking to have the mentalities to have profitted from the higher level of challenge rather than to have been demoralised by it.

Haywards Heath boy Mike Bridger confirmed his growing promise by winning the Band B morning event over East Grinstead’s Harry Collins, a veteran of second tier combat. If Collins was disappointed to have missed out on gold he did not show it as he came back after lunch to play excellently with his new bat to stave off the challenge for top spot that came from Crawley/Horsham League Treasurer, George Gray.

Next Circuit event will take place at Olympos, Burgess Hill - commonly known as the Triangle Leisure Centre – on Sunday 17th January. This is set to be a big one, utilising the Sussex County Table Tennis Association’s newly puchased equipment and comprising development competition and coaching sessions as well as a 1-star ranking event for more experienced young players.

Elliott Jeffrey opened his account in this season's Sussex Community Circuit in impressive style at Sackville School, East Grinstead on Sunday. After a lacklustre morning showing in Band B in which he came eighth, after lunch he rose like a phoenix out of the flames of mediocrity to claim his first Circuit gold. Last season at Shoreham he showed a similar am to pm improvement of fifth to second. Whatever the reasons behind this phenomenom the Hollingbury TTC youngster is increasingly becoming one to watch.

Paul Wrintmore (East Grinstead) and Holly Holder (Horsham) also improved their Band B showings in the afternoon to come second and third behind Jeffrey respectively. All three are on course for Band A experience in the near future. Morning winner Tim Priddis (Steyning) and runner-up (Harry Collins (East Grinstead) earned their right to mix it with the big boys in the afternoon event and despite finishing in the bottom reaches of the top tier did not look out of place.

Band D brought a sizeable contingent of debutants into the Circuit arena and indeed the honours board at this level displayed four new medal winners. Matthew Williams (East Grinstead) and George Atkinson (Horsham) took gold and silver respectively before lunch and William Goodstone (Eastbourne) and Denise Nevill (Lewes) did likewise after it. Nevill's silver was particularly interesting as she squeezed out her son Tim Salvidge into third place in the process. Obviously maternal instincts were put to one side when the prospect of silverware presented itself.

Jonathan Rees, another new adult, acquitted himself in fine style in the morning Band C event taking gold, although Storrington youngster Tom Chambers ran him all the way for his success. Brighton's Emma Sheen continued on from her successful showing at Shoreham to record a morning third and an afternoon second. Kai Jonas (Hove) pipped Sheen courtesy of a 3-1 victory over her to add further to a good day for South Coast's table tennis community.

Organiser Ian Ford decided to make his first Circuit appearance as a player in the morning to make up the numbers given a number of the regulars at that level were otherwise engaged. He took gold over Mike White although suffered a surprise defeat to Steve Chambers, 11-9 in the fifth, surrending a 9-4 lead. Ford, a sports development officer at Horsham District Council, line manages full-time coach Chambers and is likely to stress that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in the future at the coach's next appraisal.

Brighton City TTC's Tim Holtam further exploited Ford's tendency for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by overturning a 2-0 sets deficit to win afternoon the afternoon top-tier event.

With 82 entries over the course of the day this was another successful Community Circuit set in Sackville School's superb sports hall. Next event will run at Warden Park School, Haywards Heath on Sunday 6th December. For further information please contact Ian Ford on 07764-146338 or Ian.ford@horsham.gov.uk

Chichester's Lois Peake was the star performer at the first Sussex Community Circuit of the new 2009-10 table tennis season held at the Shoreham Academy, home of Pavilion Table Tennis Club.

12 year old Peake won a morning Band A event, that although weakened by the absence of most of the regulars at that level still proved highly competitive and exciting. The left-hander may be diminutive in physical stature but on the table she punches well above her weight in power terms, has mental strength and all the coaches present commented on how her technique has improved over the close season. Horsham's Matt van Yperen will also be delighted with his first silverware of the season, pipping Ben Roberts to runners-up spot.

The afternoon Band A event was contested by a stronger and more experienced field. Brighton City seniors Wen Xei and Tim Holtam battled it out for top spot with the former winning out. Mike White was top junior followed by hard fighting Jack Bennett who squeezed Leo Assissi out in a 12-10 in the fifth set close encounter between the two.

Lancing TTC's Adam Goacher won all his matches to take the morning Band B event. Hollingbury pair Emma Sheen and Jack Taylor pushed Goacher all the way to come in second and third respectively. Adam Corral (11) from Fontwell looks to be an excellent prospect as evidenced by his winning of the afternoon's second tier proceedings. Word has it that Majid Jafargholi from Brighton City has been practising like mad over the summer and certainly his silver medal achievement gave credence to the rumours.

Lots of new faces populated Band C before and after lunch. Newcomers Stuart Barlow (Petersfield) and Luke Wheeler (Pavilion TTC) took gold and silver respectively in the morning and Steyning's Ben Selway demonstrated a massive improvement in winning the afternoon event. Jack Taylor capped a fine day by taking runners-up spot. Well done to Horsham's Anish Padalkar for winning all his second group games in the morning – the six-year old can barely see over the table but the nipper clearly has talent and older brother Tejas should beware, the process of catching up has begun.

Eliza McHugh was the local hero of the day. The rising Pavilion star played excellently to hold off the challenge of East Grinstead's Rory Fraser and win the Band D event in the afternoon. Indeed McHugh's achievement capped an excellent day for the girls present and this can only be good news for Sussex as it seeks to foster female talent for the county teams.

In total 50 players opened the curtain on the new Circuit season and all matches were played in a fantastic spirit. The next Circuit is scheduled for Sackville School, East Grinstead on Sunday 8th November. Any new players interested in participating should contact Ian Ford on 01403-215634 or Ian.ford@horsham.gov.uk for details.