News Archive - May 2011
Brighton Rocking 
Patcham High School in Brighton is celebrating after receiving a £10,000 Sport England Small Grant to develop table tennis in its network in partnership with Brighton City Table Tennis Club.
Brighton City TTC coach Tim Holtam masterminded the successful bid and will be in a great position to oversee its delivery as he teaches at Patcham.
The money will be used to purchase indoor and outdoor tables, to link with feeder primary schools, to train more coaches and leaders, and to purchase more equipment.
It's hoped the investment will further build the TT tradition at the school. This will involve developing more coaching and competition, both formal and informal, and encouraging and supporting more people to deliver the sport to youngsters across the age range 8-18.
Sussex Event Programme Announced for 2011-12
The Sussex County Table Tennis Association has announced an ambitious programme of competitions that will be run at the K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley next season. 
There will be plenty of ranking points up for grabs for players of all ages. From December there will be monthly junior 2-stars hopefully attracting talented youngsters from all over the country to come to the high quality and excellently equipped K2 facility.
The principles of the 2-star competitions are:
- Players all get at least 11 matches (most will get 12)
- The morning session will be to list the players in a ranking order (Super 64 format)
- Afternoon session will be banded round robin format according to the results of the morning session (8 groups of 7 and 1 group of 8)
- Costs have been kept to a minimum
- Players umpire their own matches with the exception of the finals top group
- Playing conditions will be 4 star standard
- Significant prize money will be offered to attract the best players in England
In September 2012 hopefully the buzz of the London 2012 Olympics will be driving a big entry to another junior 4-star in the county. Sussex is due to host a cadet/junior 4-star in September 2011 at the Triangle, Burgess Hill.
There are also a number of senior 2-stars planned and development level youngsters are also catered for with some community circuit events.
Steve Pound from the SCTTA has masterminded the programme which has all been approved by the ETTA. 
The SCTTA has already secured £1,200 in sponsorship, including Tees Sport, to include advertising on some barriers between tables and Steve said, "We now plan to record our own video footage which will be edited to include the best points. Added to this edited footage will be interviews with players which will include a backdrop with sponsors logo’s. We hope to attract 5,000 – 10,000 viewings of each video at each event. We are looking to attract as many sponsors as possible and are offering one logo space on the backdrop for £50. If anyone is interested to buy and advertising space or knows someone that is interested can they please contact me on stevepound9177@yahoo.co.uk or call on 01403 269613.
The calendar on this site also provides details of each event and entry forms will be added to each date as soon as available.
The programme in summary is as follows:
Junior 2 Star competitions at K2 (8 Badminton courts – 18 tables)
Sunday 18th December 2011
Saturday 14th January 2012
Saturday 25th February 2012
Saturday 21st April 2012
Saturday 19th May 2012
Saturday 16th June 2012
Sunday 8th July 2012
Development circuit competitions at K2 (4 Badminton Courts – 9 tables)
Saturday 7th January 2012
Saturday 10th March 2012
Saturday 7th July 2012
Senior 2 star competitions at K2 (8 Badminton Courts – 18 tables)
Sunday 26th February 2012
Sunday 17th June 2012
Junior 4 star Competition at K2 (12 Badminton courts – 25 tables)
Sat 15th & Sun 16th September 2012
Sussex cadet trials at K2 (4 Badminton courts – 9 tables)
Saturday 27th August 2011
Sussex Junior trials at K2 (4 Badminton Courts – 9 tables)
Sunday 28th August 2011
Crawley 2-Star Open Results and Report
By Rory Scott
71 players participated in the recent Crawley 2 Star Open, held at the magnificent K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley. A no. of players commented on the quality of the venue, with comments such as 'They should play the National Championships here'.
The events held on the day were U13s, Cadets, Juniors & Seniors. Many thanks go to the Organising Committee for the VETTS Southern Masters, held at K2 that weekend for the use of the venue on the Friday night for the 2 Star.
U13s: Omar in Overdrive:
Top seed Omar Khassal of the London Academy, lived up to his seeding by winning the U13s, beating 2nd seed Olamide Wuraola (Dulwich TTC) in the final. There was a bit of controversy in the final, with Olamide going 2-0 up but then when his club mate, who had been coaching him, was required to play on another table, Olamide's form slipped & he lost the 3rd set fairly easily & then conceded the match.
Omar had a good win over combination bat player, James Arnold (Horsham TTC) 3-1 in the semis. James had a good win of his own in beating the higher ranked Anthony Close (Herts) in the group stage. Marcus Bracey (Lancing) also beat Anthony. In group 2 there was a good win for Regan O' Neil (Kent) over Nathan Knowles (London Academy) & 3rd seed Blair Phillip (Kent) had a nightmare event, losing to both Regan's brother Mason & to Charlie McNally (London Academy), who reached the semi-final.
Marcus Hensher (Mi) had a good win over Holly Holder (Horsham), but then lost to Arnold in the quarters. The U13s Consolation Event was won by Nathan Knowles, who had a great semi final win over the luckless Blair Phillip & went on to defeat Anthony Close in the final.
U15s: Amazing Austen:
4th seed Adam Corell (North Mundham TTC) had mixed fortunes in the U15s event. Having suffered an unexpected loss in the group to Zachary Bull (London Academy), he dug deep & had unexpected wins over 3rd seed Gabriel Achampong (London Academy) & then 2nd seed George Heath (Ashford) in the semi final.
On the other side of the draw top seed Charlie Austen (London Academy) beat club mates Musa Sharif-Ali in the quarters & Karim Khassal in the semis. Zach was knocked out 9 in the 5th by Karim. The final went according to ranking with Austen beating Corell.
In the consolation event Dominic Carpenter (Godalming) had a very good win over the higher ranked Matt Van Yperen (Horsham) to get to the final where he lost 3 close games to Harry Collins (East Grinstead). Harry had only just got through his semi final clash in the 5th set vs Robin Francis (Dv).
U18s: Tuttle Annihilation
In the group stage there were a couple of upsets, with George Harris (Crusaders) beating 3rd seed, Daniel Barna (Horsham) by 3 games to 2 & Josh Kashdan (Filton) emerged the winner of group 4 at the expense of 4th seed, Finny Wilson (North Mundham), in a 3-way count-back situation. Mickel Miller (Mi) missed out in the count-back & finished 3rd in the group. 
However, both seeds made amends for losing in the group stages by dispatching the players, who had earlier caused the upsets. Barna beat Kashdan & Wilson beat Harris in the quarter finals. Top seed Bradley Tuttle (Ellenborough) eased past Adam Reed (Harefield) & then dropped 1 game vs Barna in the semis. 2nd seed Mark Scutts (Hollingbury), had a straight sets win over left-handed Vinal Patel (East Grinstead) in the quarters & won 3-0 vs Wilson in the semis.
In the final Mark took the first end, but then Bradley upped his game to take the next 3 ends in impressive style to justify his no. 1 seeding. In the consolation final Leo Assisi (Brighton City) beat Mickel 3-0.
Seniors: A Baraty Battering!
Top seed Eli Baraty (BBATT) was in a class of his own in the Senior event. None of the other competitors managed to take an end off him, as he showed them all why he is ranked 60 in England. His path to the final included victories over Ed Slot (Waterside) & Maciek Nakielski (Mi). Nakielski had only just beaten 4th seed, Simon Dilkes (Kemnal) 11-9 in the 5th in the quarters. Unseeded Kamil Hajdrych (POL), did extremely well to get to the final.
In the group stage he beat long pimples expert, 3rd seed Nakielski 3-0. He then beat Geoff Prosser (E) in the quarters & had an absolute marathon match with 2nd seed, Wen Wei Xu in the semi final. This was a great match to watch with Kamil thowing everything he had at penhold blocker Xu, who absorbed everything & sent it back with interest. The rallies were immense & the tension was high. Hajdrych eventually held his nerve to prevail 17-15 in the 5th set to take his well deserved place in the final. Xu & Nakielski were both over 600 points higher than Hajdrych in the rankings, so he will have picked up 150 ranking points for those 2 wins alone.
The final however was a one-sided affair with Baraty blasting Hajdrych off the table 6, 4, 7. 5th seed, Graham Carter did not have a good day, finishing 3rd in his group (losing to Prosser & to Paul Waumsley (Kent)) & then going out 8 in the 5th set in the consolation quarters to Alan Taylor (Kent). Alan then beat Mike White (Littlehampton) 10 in the 5th to reach the final of the consolation. He certainly got his money’s worth on the day, as he just lost out to youngster Daniel Barna 8 in the 5th in the final. Special mention must be given to Damian Milton (Kent), who although unexperienced at this level of play, had 2 great wins over team-mate Andy Larner (Kent) & Thomas ‘Woody’ Woodward.
Main Event Results:
U13s: Omar Khassal (Mi) beat Olamide Wuraola (Sy) 1-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-0, 11-0
U15s: Charlie Austen (Mi) beat Adam Corell (Sx) 11-5, 11-7, 11-7
U18s: Bradley Tuttle (He) beat Mark Scutts (Sx) 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6
Seniors: Eli Baraty (Mi) beat Kamil Hajdrych (POL) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7
Consolation Events:
U13s: Nathan Knowles (Mi) beat Anthony Close (He) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6
U15s: Harry Collins (Sx) beat Dominic Carpenter (Sy) 12-10, 12-10, 11-9
U18s: Leo Assisi (Sx) beat Mickel Miller (Mi) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6
Seniors: Daniel Barna (Sx) beat Alan Taylor (K) 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8
Next ranking event to be run by me (Rory Scott) is the Sussex Senior Grand Prix in the excellent Triangle Leisure Centre venue in Burgess Hill. The form is on the ETTA website & the closing date is 20th May.
Sussex Juniors To Be On BBC South Today 
BBC South Today cameras visited the Sussex Junior Elite Centre tonight to recognise the achievements of some of the county's top juniors in recent weeks.
The reporter, Tom Hepworth, interviewed ETTA Regional Coach Craig Bryant, national U11 girls and U14 boys champions Kate Cheer and Helshan Weerasinghe plus members of the county championship winning junior team - Yolanda King, Mark Scutts and Da Shuai Zhang. The 60 second piece is due to be aired tomorrow night between 6.30 and 7pm.
Thanks go to Steve Pound for organising this media event and it was good that the cameras would have also captured an excellent and busy Elite Centre night, the first session of the ninth phase of the operation - 19 players and seven coaches/sparrers in action.
A Reason To Be Cheerful
Sussex youngster Kate Cheer has won the English National Championships U11 Girls Singles at Doncaster. The Bewbush Primary School pupil beat Denise Payet from Middlesex 13-11 in the fifth set of a tense final.
This is fantastic news for Sussex and great reward for a girl who is putting in lots of practice and playing plenty of matches.
Read the ETTA website report on Kate's achievement
Closing stage results:
| 228 Denise PAYET (Mi) |  |
228 Denise PAYET (Mi) 6 -7 2 -7 5 |
|
239 Kate CHEER (Sx) -6 9 -8 7 11 |
| 233 Imogen SCARLES (Bu) |
||||
| 239 Kate CHEER (Sx) | |
239 Kate CHEER (Sx) 9 9 7 |
||
| 229 Amy BLAGBROUGH (Ha) |
A number of other Sussex juniors performed well at the championships. Lois Peake got to the quarter-finals of the U14 girls singles, losing out in a close five-setter to Emily Bolton from Cumbria.
Helshan Weerasinghe was dominant in the boys U14 events beating Sam Mabey in the final of the singles and teaming up with him to win the doubles also. Jack Bennett won his group but was unfortunate to meet Helshan in the quarter-final, losing 5, 10 and 8. Dan Pound just missed out on the knockout stages by coming third in his group.
Josh Bennett won his group in the U13 boys but lost to Billy Forster in a quarter-final five setter but went one better in the U12 event losing out in a fifth set 12-10 thriller versus Luke Savill from Kent. Both Adam Correll and James Arnold came second in their groups but lost early in the knockout stage. Hollingbury TTC starlet Emma Sheen came second in her U13 girls group but also went out in her first knockout match.
Kate Cheer also entered the U12 and although she won her group she went out in the semi-final to Denise Payet, the girl she beat to win the U11 final!
Lancing youngster Marcus Bracey confirmed his promise by winning his group in the U11 boys singles and getting to the semi-final, beating the number 2 and 5 seeds en route.
