News Archive - Sept 2011
Sussex 4-Star – A View from the Sidelines
Well what a weekend it was for table tennis at The Triangle. Nearly 300 players and 24 tables in constant use. You don’t see that everyday and certainly not in Sussex.
Some of the play was mesmerising and by the time the last competitive point had been played just before 7pm on Sunday there’d been much to marvel at. Boys number 1 seed Lewis Gray had exhibited great power and authority on the way to justifying his ranking although London boy Reece Placid in taking him to a close fifth set demonstrated the depth of the talent in the boys ranks at the moment.Impish Danny Lawrence had showed the speed and flair which has seen him emerge as a genuine prospect for great things in the coming years. Megan Knowles and Emma Torkington had provided a fascinating contrast of topspin v counter-attack in the girls final. The ETTA’s new junior performance supremo, Nick Jarvis, was probably happy with much of what he saw watching from the stands as he plots progress in bigger ponds.
Most importantly to local eyes 45 Sussex youngsters had taken advantage of home advantage to mix it top quality company and a number of them – Peake, Torkington, Weerasinghe, Cheer, the Bennett brothers - gave further evidence that they’re not just there to make up the numbers. Sussex’s star definitely did not deflect from its rising path.
The behaviour of the players was generally excellent. Sure, there were plenty of strange noises that punctuated the air as the youngsters gave vent to every emotion from joy through to torment as they did battle. But in the context of high pressure, ranking points at stake and large player numbers incidents of naughtiness remained remarkably low and Mr Stroud the headmaster didn’t have to call anybody into his office.
The Triangle provided a fitting setting for the event with built in seating providing a great viewing position at one end, lots of car parking meaning no problems on that score and helpful staff. Jamie Oliver probably would go berserk if he ever visited the centre’s restaurant but it didn’t seem to matter as the TT fraternity endorsed its offerings with enthusiasm.
Off the tables Sussex County Table Tennis Association’s officials will have taken great pride from staging the event which represents another big indication of its progress in recent years. The SCTTA is no talk shop.
The biggest cap doffing exercise should be reserved for Steve Pound from Horsham TTC for showing the vision, wherewithal and energy to put his ideas into action. He brought together a big team jigsaw to deliver the biggest event seen in Sussex for a generation and each piece deserves great credit in its own right.
Joining Steve Pound on the top table were referee Mick Strode, Assistant Ref, Steve Smith, from Cippenham TTC and ETTA competition officer Matt Porter They were constantly busy keeping control of the event which used every inch of the 12 badminton court space the Triangle’s main hall provided. Steve’s a big man and at times looked like a personal bodyguard ready to spring into action just in case one of Mick’s regular quips relayed over the PA backfired.
Hastings’ Diane Kirkwood did a sterling job of keeping the umpires engaged and motivated. The team of officials included a number – Dave Cue, Sean Haskell, Denise Rolfe, Malcolm Kay, Mick Reynolds, Barry Granger, David Broad, Jim Taylor - who travelled from outside the county deserving of special thanks. Local umpires Steve Steel/Jim Skinner (Pavilion), Dolly Gilbert (Foresters TTC), Martin Jezisek (East Grinstead), Peter Baldwin (North Mundham), Ian Ford/Eve Alexander (Horsham TTC) and Brian Pettitt (Brighton League) also provided brilliant service, some of them for the first time at a graded event.
Tees Sport staff did brisk business on both days at their trade stand and deservedly so for backing the event as one of its sponsors and its emergence as an important partner in the county for kitting out venues like the Triangle with tables and other tournament equipment which is undoubtedly the best on the market.
Main sponsors Ray Hole Architects, Heritage Oil and Griffin Security and Technology will also be patting themselves on the back for the wisdom of falling for Steve Pound’s persuasive charm. Ray Hole indeed visited the event on both days. He’s a man that always wears a smile but somehow it seemed to get bigger as the weekend went on as realisation must have dawned on the impact of his investment both for his brand and the youngsters involved in the tournament.
Thanks go to the people who came in especially to help set-up and set-down the equipment. Warden Park TTC main man Brian Taite can always be relied upon to mobilise his Mid Sussex massive to help with local initiatives and yet again he delivered. Steyning’s Alan Barwick, George Gray from the Crawley/Horsham League and Horshamites Van Mol and the Collins family also answered the call to ensure that the organiser didn’t end up Poundstretchered.
Graham Carter provided the journalistic presence a high profile tournament requires although the fact that he was there for the full two days to write his article probably came down to him trying to learn a few attacking shots off the youngsters ready for the new season.
Next year the event moves to K2, Crawley and hopefully it’ll all be just as good. Bring it on.
Ping Pong POP Brighton
POP Brighton is hosting round 2 of "Ping Pong POP" tonight - Wednesday 28th September 7pm - late.
Free entry, 3 tables and £2 cold bottles of Asahi!
Brighton's first ping-pong social club - a place to hang out with your old friends, meet new friends and play ping-pong while sipping a cocktail, eating some gourmet food, or perhaps watching a high level professional ping-pong match by our resident stars.
To see a short video of the launch night click here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=v603L7WBqjk
The evening will be a mixture of hard bat competition, doubles matches, coaching, interactive non-competitive games, exhibitions and bouts of extreme ping played on grand pianos!
All standards of ping pong player welcome! Dress code is casual no tight shorts please!
Thanks and see you tomorrow!
Horsham Happy With 4-Star Progress
HORSHAM Table Tennis Club star Dan Pound reached the last 16 at the Sussex 4 Star Open at The Triangle, Burgess Hill.
He beat Lancashire's No.14 seed Robert Barker who is ranked 27 places above Pound on the England Under-15s list at No.41 and two other opponents from Essex and Middlesex to win his group before defeating another group winner, Aaron Baksh from Kent 11-5/11-9/11-8.
Sussex county player Pound eventually fell competing for a place in the quarter-finals to No.2 seed and semi-finallist Tyrone Wells of Middlesex who is ranked 8 in England, narrowly losing 11-8/6-11/11-7/11-6.
In a successful weekend, Pound also reached the last 32 of the Under-15s Band 1 Singles having notched up three victories.
Holly Holder was top seed in the Under-15s Band 1 event and after finishing runner-up in her group, progressed to the quarter-final where she lost to Middlesex's Hiba Feredj.
Dan Barna, who also plays for Horsham in the Crawley & Horsham League, reached the last 16 of the Under-18s Boys Band 1 Singles and the last 32 of the main Under-18s event.
His Horsham A team-mate Alex Forshaw was seeded No.11 also got through to the last 16 of the U18s Band 1 Singles, eventually losing 3-1 to No.2 seed Dom Sussex (Devon) who went on to win the final.
Forshaw beat club-mate Dan Pound 3-1 in the main U18s competition before bowing out at the hands of finallist and England No.1 Helshan Weerasinghe 3-1 in the last 32.
Report by Graham Carter
Bennetts Bonanza
EASTBOURNE brothers Jack and Josh Bennett were two of the leading local stars on show at the Sussex 4 Star Junior Open held at Burgess Hill.
Fourth seed Jack caused an upset by clinching the scalp of No2 seed Tyrone Wells from Middlesex 11-7/13-15/11-9/13-11 to book his place in the Under-15s final.
However his seven-match winning streak was eventually ended by Sussex County team-mate Helshan Weerasinghe who is ranked No.1 in England at this age-group. Jack only lost narrowly 11-7/9-11/11-8/11-7 to the former Sri Lankan champion.
Jack also reached the last 16 in the Under-18s Singles with five victories - his path was finally ended by fifth seed Liam McTiernan from Berkshire.
Unseeded younger brother Josh caused a shock in the Under-13s event where he beat fourth seed and England No.8 Matthew Leete (Lincolnshire) 3-1 before being knocked out in the semi-final by No.2 seed Luke Savill from Kent.
Report by Graham Carter
Yu Kwan Do It!
ST BEDE'S School near Eastbourne has unearthed two superb young table tennis players who have just arrived in the country from Hong Kong.
The talented duo made a huge impact at the Sussex 4 Star Open held at Burgess Hill and are both tipped for successful careers in the sport.
Yuki Wat played her first competitive matches in England, winning through four rounds and nearly beat the eventual champion Megan Knowles in the Under-18s quarter-final.
Despite still being only aged 15, Yuki was watched by the Sussex selectors with great interest as she nearly toppled the girl who is ranked England No2 at Under-15s level.
Yuki led Knowles 2 games to 1 and was 8-6 up before eventually losing the thrilling spectacle 11-9/9-11/10-12/11-9/11-9. Knowles went on to win the Under-18s singles by a more comfortable 3-0 margin in the final.
It was a similar story for another student from the school, Brian Kwan, aged 17. He reached the last 16 of the Under-18s singles of this national level tournament, falling narrowly to the 12th seed Reece Placid (Surrey) 13-11 in the fifth.
Report by Graham Carter
Sussex Players Excel on Home Ground
SUSSEX players Helshan Weerasinghe and Emma Torkington reached the two main finals at the national level Sussex 4 Star Junior Open tournament held at The Triangle, Burgess Hill.
Second seed Helshan took the opening game but could not sustain his attempt at an upset as he lost to top seeded Kent star Lewis Gray 8-11/11-6/11-5/11-5.
Helshan, who is ranked No.1 in England at the younger Under-15s level, gained consolation by winning the Cadet Singles when he out-attacked Sussex county team-mate Jack Bennett (Eastbourne) 11-7/9-11/11-8/11-7 in the final.
Fourth seed Jack Bennett caused an upset by clinching the scalp of No2 seed Tyrone Wells from Middlesex 11-7/13-15/11-9/13-11 to book his place in the Under-15s final.
Jack also reached the last 16 in the Under-18s Singles with five victories - his path was finally ended by fifth seed Liam McTiernan from Berkshire.
Unseeded younger brother Josh caused a shock in the Under-13s event where he beat fourth seed and England No.8 Matthew Leete (Lincolnshire) 3-1 before being knocked out in the semi-final by No.2 seed Luke Savill from Kent.
Haywards Heath's Torkington reached the final of the Under-18 Girls Singles. The No.3 seed aged 14 was one of the youngest in the age-group but gained six victories en route to the final before eventually losing to the No.2 seed Berkshire's Megan Knowles 11-5/11-8/11-9. Her path was made easier by the withdrawal of top seed Yolanda King (Hastings) with a virus.
Chichester's Lois Peake reached the final of the Under-15s Girls Singles event. The No.2 seed gained three wins to win her group and then won two more matches in the knock-out stages.
Peake, who is ranked No.6 in England in this age-group was narrowly beaten by top seed and England No.5 Maria Tsaptsinos from Berkshire 11-6/9-11/11-7/11-9.
Crawley's Kate Cheer reached Under-13s Singles final. The English Schools international won through three rounds, before falling 11-9/14-12/6-11/11-7 in the final to event winner Denise Payet from Middlesex.
Tournament organiser Steve Pound said: "This is the first time in living memory that a 4 Star has been run in Sussex and it is aimed at improving the already-strong squad of Sussex-based players by giving them the strongest possible competition."
Pound thanked sponsors oil exploration firm Heritage, Griffin Security & Technology of Horsted Keynes and Ray Hole Architects of Croydon for supporting the ambitious competition which offered a total prize fund of £690.
Contested by 270 entrants from all over Britain and fought out on 24 tables, this was the first of a series of top class tournaments to be held by Sussex County Table Tennis Association this season.
Report by Graham Carter
Elite Centre Phase 10 Underway
The latest phase of the Sussex Junior Elite Centre started in good fashion at Sackville School, East Grinstead last night.
13 attenders responded well on their return from the summer break with the coaches focussing on regular footwork practice to get them back in the groove. A handful more should be joining the ranks soon as well.
Coaches Martin Jezisek, Craig Bryant and Marc Burman were in fine fettle, sparrers Amila Thilikarathne and Mayur Majithia displayed their customary fierce strokeplay and multiball-maestro Wen Wei completed a powerful delivery team.
Keep the improvement coming!
Glen Arun Ping It!
12 residents at the Glen Arun Care Home in Athelstan Way, Horsham recently enjoyed a table tennis session provided by Horsham District Council's Leisure Link team as part of its Sport England funded Silver Pingers project.
Loretta, the home's activity coordinator, raved about the session, "It was just great to see so many of our residents engaged by the activity and visibly enjoying it. Some of the participants don't normally do physical activity."Owen was the star player of the afternoon. He had all the shots and was keen to profess that in his time he'd played quite a bit.
Doreen is a wheelchair user and normally watches fellow residents do activity sessions but once she got a bat in her hand she didn't want to put it down. Indeed she was one of the star performers against the TT robot when it came into play.
There were two Joans in the session and both did well, particularly enjoying the batskills section when the leaders brought out some sport themed targets for the players to aim at and score points such as an archery target with a centre hole, a basketball post/net and cricket wickets.
Bella was another dab hand. She displayed strong hand-eye coordination and scored heavily on the target games.
Lucy, Mary and Phyllis also applied themselves in great fashion and with smiles on their faces. Like everyone in the session they all improved as it went on.
Verbal group feedback that the leaders solicited at the end of the session suggested that everybody had had great fun and got a good physical workout from it.
The care staff keenly asked for another visit and such was the enthusiasm it was agreed to leave one of the tables at the home so residents could play under their own steam.
Next homes on the schedule for Silver Ping visits are the Henfield Day Centre and Valerie Court in Upper Beeding
East Sussex Schools Prepare for Another Season
The East Sussex Schools Table Association secretary, Teresa Bennett, is encouraging schools to organise their team event in school sports partnership clusters again.
Last season Patcham High kindly hosted the Brighton and Hove Partnership events for under 13 and 16 before they went on to the East Sussex Finals. Filsham Valley (now St Leonards Academy) hosted the Hastings and Rother area and the under 11 team event, and Bishop Bell and Tideway the South Downs Partnership area.
They will be aiming to do these 3 age groups in October and November before the finals in December.
Annual affiliation per school is just £5 and Teresa is encouraging schools to sign up by 16th September to enjoy more TT fun in the coming year.
For affiliation form click here
Contact Teresa on t.bennett@hasla.org.uk for more information
Sussex Circuit Back With a Bang
This season the Sussex County Table Tennis Association is re-introducing the Sussex Circuit events which will include five tournaments to be held at K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley.
For most of these tournaments there will be a 1 star competition in parallel so that players can choose which competition they want to enter.
For the first tournament to be held is on 15th October. It will be run as a Circuit tournament only. However it's hoped there'll be a really strong Band A event.
The competitions will be run as U-19 events so that last year’s juniors can still take part.
Some of the benefits of this year’s Circuit tournaments are expected to be:
- U-19 so that last year’s juniors have tournaments to play
- Within easy travelling distance so reduce travel costs
- Tables permanently based at K2 so no transportation issues
- Fantastic facilities and court sizes at K2
- Brand new tables and equipment
- Low cost tournaments with reduced pricing for low income families
- Guaranteed lots of matches
- Banding to ensure you play the right standard of players
- Good opportunity to get match practice without pressure of ranking points
- All profits go to Sussex County TTA to be re-invested in developing tournaments in Sussex
Click here to download the entry form for the 15th October event
Brighton City Earn Their Olympic Ticket
Brighton City TTC has raised over £1000 from its London 2012 Mega Raffle. The money will help pay for 50 of the Club's youngsters to go and watch the table tennis at the London Olympics next year.
Club Manager, Tim Holtam, now has the unenviable task of distributing 88 donated prizes that he managed to twist arms to obtain.
Tim acknowledged in understated style, "some of the prizes are absolutely amazing, some not so amazing..." They range from a pair of gold medal tickets to the 2012 Men's Singles Final to a tour of the police and ambulance base at Shoreham Airport proving his description to be an apt one.
Anyway well done to Tim and his merry TT gang for showing such great initiative to earn their Olympic adventure.
Pop Ping Pong 
POP Brighton (http://www.kaiuk.com/POP.html) is proud to announce the launch of "Ping Pong POP", to be held in Brighton's Royal York Hotel, in the heart of Brighton at the Old Steine.
Brighton's first ping-pong social club - a place to hang out with your old friends, meet new friends and play ping-pong while sipping a cocktail, eating some gourmet food, or perhaps entering our hard bat championship with amazing prizes .
The night will be made up of of competitions, coaching, interactive games and exhibitions from top local and international players.
Starting on the Wednesday 14th September we will be holding six fortnightly Grand Prix style events - with amazing prizes up for grab each week and with the overall prize being an overnight stay on a 5 star yacht in St Katherine's Dock, London for the winner and 5 friends!!"
For further details go to facebook.com/popbrighton and http://twitter.com/#!/POPBrighton
Ping Pong Taking Off in Brighton Pubs
Table tennis in Brighton bars is starting to generate lots of interest. A number of pubs have replaced pool with Ping Pong regularly and are being rewarded with up to 40 people playing ’round the table’ and other quickfire TT games. Bar based tournaments and leagues are setting up in the city.
Brighton City Table Tennis Club is at the forefront of supporting these new initiatives. Tim Holtam, the club's development guru, will soon be compiling a list of all the Brighton bars and pubs with table tennis facilities. However here's three to be going on with...
The Bristol Arms. Kemptown. 01273 605 687
The Hanover Pub. Queens Park. www.hanoverbrighton.co.uk/
The Latest Music Bar. Old Steine. www.thelatest.co.uk/musicbar/
Keep your eye out on www.brightontabletennisclub.com for more!
Mourning for Pat Wales
Sussex County Table Tennis Association Vice President and former County Closed Ladies Doubles Champion Pat Wales passed away on Wednesday.
Pat along with husband Peter had been a member of the SCTTA for many years and will be sadly missed.
Thoughts are with Peter, daughter Linda, whom partnered Pat to the Sussex Doubles crown in 1975 and 76 and their extended family
The Prize is Right!
Sussex County Table Tennis Association is pleased to present phase 1 of the “Sussex Series” with over £8,000 prize money in the first four tournaments!!!!!!
Steve Pound (SCTTA) is pictured with Ray Hole (Managing Director of Ray Hole Architects)
SCTTA has agreed sponsorship deals with Heritage Oil, Griffin Security & Technology, Ray Hole Architects and Tees Sports for the 2011-2012 season that has enabled them to launch phase 1 of the “Sussex Series” tournaments. Ray Hole has witnessed firsthand the incredible talent of the players that trained with his son Joss Hole at the Sussex Elite centre and is keen to see these talented players progress.
The “Sussex Series” principles are to provide banded competition much like the adult Grand Prix bands with players playing a guaranteed 8 or 11 matches against similar standard players for significant prize money in 2 star competitions but with 4 star standard courts and conditions.
The venue will be K2, Crawley on 18 Butterfly tables which will be permanently based there to avoid table hire and transportation costs. Each competition will consist of 6 bands of 16 players with entry generally open to both boys & girls. In Junior competitions the top 3 bands all have £200 1st, £125 2nd , £75 3rd and £25 for 4th prize money. However, there will be some girls only competitions with prize money as high as £500 for the winner, £300 for 2nd and £100 for 3rd place! There will be prizes for each of the bands and the band ranges will be narrow so every player will have a chance to win significant prizes
Dates for the first four tournaments are Sunday 18th December 2011, Saturday 14th January 2012, Saturday 25th February 2012 and Sunday 26th February 2012 (Senior event – including Women’s only event with £600 1st , £300 2nd and £100 3rd place). Entry forms will be available shortly on the ETTA web site.
Sussex Trials Report
The 2011-12 season kicked off in Sussex last weekend with the hosting of the Sussex cadet and junior trials which was attended by 52 kids from across the county.
It was the first event sponsored by our new sponsors for the 2011-2012 season: Ray Hole Architects, Griffin Security & Technology, Heritage Oil and Tees Sports. The sponsors have contributed a significant cash injection which will allow the SCTTA to provide a full program including 4 star, 7 x 2 Star and 5 x 1star/development events for Juniors and two 2 star senior events including large cash prizes. Sussex CTTA would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors for their contribution and look forward to promoting their brands at every opportunity.
The Cadet event got off to an exciting start with Daniel Pound playing Finny Wilson (Finny Wilson playing down an age category to get some extra match practice) in the first match of one of the 3 x 7 player groups. Daniel came out 3-1 winner in a close encounter. Both Daniel and Finny went on to come first and second in their group and the other groups saw Adam Corell, Marcus Bracey, Samuel Lu, Michael Stringer and James Arnold progress to the top group in the afternoons play.
Daniel went on to play Finny Wilson a second time and again came out 3-1 winner. Finny Wilson beat Adam Corell 3-1 which meant there was all to play for between Adam Corell and Daniel Pound. Daniel was 2-1 down but turned the match around to win a close match 3-2 meaning he finished with 100% record out of his 12 matches. Michael Stringer also impressed the selectors with a very creditable fourth place finish.
The girls event saw Emma Sheen defeat all before her in some very competitive matches with Ellie Stringer, Holly Holder and Kate Cheer and achieve a 100% record on the day.
David Pringuer from Brighton City attended his first Sussex CTTA event after only playing for 18 months and proved that he had made rapid progress with some notable wins including a win against Erik Van Mol. Erik himself had a very good win against Daniel Pound in a very high quality encounter for this stage of the season.
It was very good to see James Eaglestone from Hastings back playing after injury last season had prevented him for playing for a while. However, the Junior day belonged to Vinal Patel who swept all before him with 100% record against a number of established quality county players including Daniel Barna and Finny Wilson.
I believe Sussex demonstrated the strength in depth to hopefully repeat the outstanding success in last year’s county championships.
