Ilford TTL - News Articles
The following articles are as submitted to the Ilford Recorder. (Not necessarily as published!)
Please Note the frequency of these articles can only be increased if players (not necessarily Captains) send information about matches to Ray Brown. He's after interesting facts that can't be deduced from the scorecard, eg. great comebacks, miracle escapes, etc. He'll write the article, but a twist in the story always helps!
Zurowski won the first game 14-12, Walker won the second 12-10, Zurowski the third 11-5 and Walker the fourth 11-9. The fifth and deciding game was very close and the match reached deuce at 10-10. Walker finally won 13-11 to record probably his best win of the season.
He then combined with Roland Zaunmayr to win the doubles against Kumar and Mariano to give Wells a creditable 5-5 draw.
The three Heathcote players, David Adeleye, Sulrata Mukherjee and Alex Zandavas, each won two singles but each lost a singles to a different player. Mossford, in fact, won the opening three matches; Rohit Sood beat Adeleye, Sunil Jindal beat Mukherjee and Sacha Spence beat Zandavas.
After that, Heathcote won the remaining six singles to go 6-3 ahead before Mossford won the doubles to give Heathcote a 6-4 victory.
With a consistent backhand topspin and a devastating forehand topspin, often hit down the opponent’s backhand, Silva was in sparkling form, helping his team to a 6-4 victory. He was well supported by Paul Miller who added two wins and Kwaku Ampofu with one.
However, the best match of the night was the doubles in which Silva and Miller combined to play Redbridge’s Ray Brown and Alan Rosenfeld. The Langdon pair seemed well on the way to victory by winning both the first two games 11-6.
The Redbridge pair won the next two games 11-9, 11-5 but in the fifth and deciding game, the teams changed ends with Langdon leading 5-1. Redbridge never panicked and drew level at 9-9 before gaining victory 11-9.
15 Dec 2011
Captain Scarlett is the hero
In the Ilford League Division 2, Heathcote 4 entertained Redbridge 1, with only one place separating both teams in the league table.
Heathcote began in the best possible way, winning the first five singles matches for a 5-0 lead. Heathcote captain, Patrick Scarlett, was involved in an unusual match against Ray Brown. After each player had won one game, Scarlett went into an 8-0 lead in the third game, which he extended to 10-2. Brown then won eight points in a row to draw level at 10-10.
After four more shared points, Scarlett won 14-12. Brown won the fourth game and in the fifth and deciding game, the players changed ends with Scarlett leading 5-0, a lead which proved crucial as Scarlett won 11-7.
After two more matches, Heathcote extended their overall lead to 6-1 and a rout was on the cards. However, Brown then beat Hamza Hussain and Redbridge’s Alan Rosenfeld then had a fantastic win against Armagan Huseyin to bring the scores closer at 6-3.
The doubles was an extremely close affair, but after five exciting games, Brown and Rosenfeld gave Redbridge another win to make the final score 6-4 to Heathcote. The only unbeaten player was Heathcote captain, Scarlett.
This match would eventually determine the result of the league points; Petrou won the first two games, 11-7,11-6 but Cadywould showed real character to win the next two 12-10, 11-8. The fifth and deciding game was close before Petrou finally scraped home 12-10.
Petrou certainly got his money’s-worth as his next match also went to a deciding game. His match against Gary Pettifer was a classic with Petrou again going into a 2-game lead but this time it was by the closer scores of 11-9, 17-15. Pettifer won the next two 11-9, 11-6 but then ran out of steam as Petrou won the decider 11-2.
Redbridge gained six league points with a 6-4 win.
In the Open Singles, reigning 3-times champion Darek Zurowski met 4-times winner Clive Carthy, in what was to prove an excellent match. Both players played an attacking game with accurate counter-hitting in generous supply. Darek emerged the winner 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 to equal Clive’s total of tournament wins, although both are only halfway to Stuart Gibbs record of eight wins.
In the Veterans Singles, Ray Lam faced his doubles partner, Peter Radford, in the final. The key to this match was whether Lam could consistently use his topspin loop to dictate the match. This he managed to do and he emerged victorious, winning11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 11-6.
In the Handicap Singles, Armagan Huseyin (handicap 22) beat Patrick Scarlett (19) 33-31, 33-31.
In the Open Doubles, Darek Zurowski and Klaudia Szadkowska won for the third consecutive year, beating Matt Spero and Andzelika Burke in the final 11-6, 14-12, 11-5.
In the Veterans Doubles, there was a major surprise as Sal Ahmed and Ray Brown, who had never played as a doubles pairing before, beat top seeds Peter Radford and Ray Lam 11-9, 13-11, 11-6 in the final. In the semi-final, they had beaten number two seeds Paul Martindill and Phil Walker, also in straight games.
In the Division 2 & 3 Singles, Jamal Dennison beat Colin Henderson 3-0 in the final.
Finally, in the Division 3 final, William Onyema beat Armagan Huseyin 11-7, 11-6, 11-4.
07 Apr 2011
In the Ilford league Division 3 cup final, Rhodium had
a surprise 5-4 win over runaway league leaders Mossford 6.
Star of the match was Rhodium’s number 2 Joan Donovan, who had a comfortable 11-4, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9 win over Lee Marson. This seemed to destroy Marson’s confidence as, partnered by John Hume, he lost the following doubles 3-0 to John Hickey and Rod Cadywould. This gave Rhodium a 3-2 lead.
Julian Pierre then beat Hickey 3-0 and Donovan beat Hume 3-0 before Marson drew the teams level at 4-4 with a win over Cadywould.
It was now all on the final doubles match. Hickey and Donovan won the first game, Hume and Pierre won the second and it was 10-10 in the third before the former won 13-11. The fourth game was close before the Rhodium pair pulled away to win 11-7, for an overall 5-4 victory.
In the Division 1 cup, Woodford Wells 1 had an exciting match with Fellows Cranleigh that went to the deciding ninth match.
Wells took a 3-0 match lead with wins for Roland Zaunmayr and Phil Walker and a win in the opening doubles. However, wins for Anthony Kent and Ray Lam brought Cranleigh into the match. Zaunmayr had his second win for Wells but a win in the second doubles and then another win for Kent made the score 4-4.
In the final doubles, the Cranleigh pair of Lam and Gavin West won the opening game. The Wells pair of Zaunmayr and Paul Martindill then won the next three games to earn a 5-4 victory.
In the Division 3 cup, Rhodium had a surprise 6-3 win against Redbridge 2. There were two key points in the match, which could have changed the result. Redbridge’s Len Tolvin was leading John Hickey by two games to one when Hickey won a thrilling fourth game by 13-11. In the decider, again at deuce, Hickey won 12-10.
The other crucial match was the second doubles where Tolvin and Michael Finegold faced Hickey and Rod Cadywould. The Redbridge pair led 2-0 only for the Rhodium pair to win the third game 11-9 then the fourth. In the deciding game, the teams reached deuce and after sharing the next eight points, the Rhodium team won 16-14.
Heathcote’s Khalil Rehman lost to Rohit Sood in the fifth game. Sood lost in four games to Ercan Huseyin, whose victory was the only match he won. Mossford’s William Onyema lost his only match to Rehman in the fifth game.
Mossford went into the final doubles leading 5-4, but in a very close match, Heathcote managed to win 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7 to secure a valuable draw.
At the other end of the table, leaders Grove Castle defeated third-placed Redbridge 2 by 7-3. Andy Petrou was unbeaten for Grove, although he was pushed all the way by Len Tolvin in a classic match 11-9, 6-11, 9-11,11-9,11-9, which could hardly have been closer. Tolvin managed to deny Andy Home a hat trick when he defeated him in another five-set match. Home then defeated Fergal McCaffrey 15-13 in the deciding fifth game.
The talented junior showed his maturity with his composure and superb defensive technique, waiting to strike the high ball at the given opportune moment. His outstanding asset was his quick ability to retrieve smashes from the back of the court, chopping and even top-spinning them back. He was able to help both his Langdon teams win 10-0 against the bottom two teams in the division (Woodford Wells 2 and 3) with an individual maximum six wins out of six.
Playing his first season in the Ilford first division, he is fast becoming a player to be reckoned with.
There were also notable performances from his other team players, Lukasz Janisiewicz, Malgorzata Muda, Klaudia Szadkowska and Osman Bawa who were also unbeaten.
The following match between Heathcote’s Patrick Scarlett and Rizwan Umarjee was even closer. The first three games went to deuce 11-13, 15-13, 12-14 followed by 11-9. So once again, a fifth and deciding game was required, which was won 11-8 by Umarjee.
Dave Collins evened the team score to four matches apiece when he beat Kwaku Ampofo by three games to one.
The final doubles went to a fifth and deciding game 12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11 with Langdon the victors to give an overall match score of 5-4 to Langdon.
The div 1 final began with Frenford 2 winning the opening doubles. The two top players then met, with Frenford’s Ray Lam becoming only the second player this season to defeat Wells 1’s Roland Zaunmayr when he won 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-6.
Wells Phil Walker then beat Gavin West three straight before Anthony Kent beat Wells Paul Martindill to put Frenford 3-1 up in matches. Wells then staged a recovery, winning the next two matches for 3-3 before a fantastic match between Lam and Martindill, which reprised their Tournament Veterans singles final. On that occasion Lam won in the fifth game and again the match went into a fifth game. It could not have been closer as the players reached 9-9 only for Martindill to win the next two points to avenge his earlier defeat and put his team 4-3 ahead.
Kent then beat Walker 3-0 to set-up a last match decider. However, the Wells pair of Zaunmayr and Martindill were rarely troubled as they defeated Lam and West 3-0 to take the cup 5-4.
The key to the result came in the third game, with Spero leading 8-4. Zurowski seemed to step up a gear and won seven points in a row with some cleverly angled shots and marvellous counter-hitting to win 11-8. In the fourth game, Zurowski won the first two points and maintained that lead to win 11-8 and become champion for the third consecutive time.
In the Division 2 & 3 final, Stuart Spurling met Ray Brown. Both had been in tough matches on their way to the final. Spurling beat Mike Ward 9-11, 11-6, 16-14, 6-11, 11-6 in the semi-final, where the third game proved decisive in Ward’s defeat.
Brown also had a marathon 5-setter against former Herfordshire junior Keith Williams. Brown won the first game 11-6, Williams won the next two 11-8, 11-9 then lost 6-11 to make it 2 games all. In the decider, the players changed ends with Williams leading 5-2, which he extended to 6-2 and then 10-8. Brown won the next two points to force it to deuce, eventually winning 15-13.
In the final, Brown won the first game 11-7, with some good attacking play. Spurling then changed his game, playing some heavy chop returns, finally winning the next three games 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 to take the title.
Tournament prizes were presented by president Brian Brumwell. When he was introduced as the former International and seven-times winner of the Ilford Closed, Brian received an ovation, with the applause lasting over a minute.
Other results:
Open Doubles Darek Zurowski & Klaudia Szadkowska beat Ray Lam & Keith
Fung 11-7, 11-8, 12-10
In the other half of the draw, number two seed, John Tendler was eliminated by unseeded Mick Ward, who won 11-3 in the deciding fifth game. Ward then went on to play Paul Martindill, but was easily beaten by the number three seed.
In the final, Lam, the defending champion, easily won the first game, 11-5 and then led the second game 10-4 with some fast serving and well-timed forehand loops. At this point, Martindill focussed on the task ahead and played magnificently to win seven points in a row to lead 11-10, eventually winning 14-12. The third game was a much closer affair, which Lam should have won when he led 10-8 only for Martindill to win the next four points to win 12-10.
In the fourth game, Lam reverted to the attacking form, which had won him the opening game and he won 11-4. In the deciding fifth game, Lam continued where he’d ended the fourth game and quickly established a 4-0 lead. Martindill then staged another recovery to bring the score to 4-4. It was 5-4 to Lam at change of ends and he retained his advantage until the end with an 11-8 victory. The attacking and counter-hitting throughout made this a memorable final and a credit to both players.
Other results:
Veterans Doubles R. Lam & K. Fung beat P. Martindill & P. Walker
11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-2
Div 3 Singles A. Patmore beat A. Home 11-2, 11-8, 4-11, 11-9
In the division 2 final, Woodford Wells 3 beat Mossford 4 5-4, with Wells going into a 4-0 lead with wins in the opening doubles and singles wins for Mick Ward, Stuart Spurling and Eddie Davies over Dave Humble, Ashley Bean and David Green respectively.
Mossford fought back with wins in the second doubles and a good win by Bean over Davies. Ward beat Green to give Wells a 5-2 lead with the last two matches going to Mossford to secure a victory for Wells.
The second clash between the same two clubs came in the handicap final, where Mossford 6 had a sixty point advantage over Wells 4, which meant that an 11-9 win in each of the 36 games would give Wells victory.
However, things did not go according to Wells plan as Mossford won the opening doubles 42-36. Wins for Adrian Joseph over John Hume and Shahid Khan over Lee Marson enabled Wells to reduce the deficit by 23 points.
Then came the key game of the match as Mossford’s Hitesh Magudia beat Kevin Carby by ten points. Had Carby got ten more points, the final score would have been different. He made amends with his 44-30 defeat of Marson but it was not enough to save Wells from an 8-point defeat (482-474).
The matches went according to form and with one singles and the doubles remaining, the score was 4-4
The final singles was between the two players who were unbeaten this season, Darek Zurowski for Social and the top female player Klaudia Szadkowska.
Darek won the first two games 11-3, 11-9 then Klaudia won the next two 12-10, 11-7. In the fifth and deciding game, Darek found it difficult to regain the form that had won him the opening games and Klaudia recorded her first-ever win over Darek by winning the fifth game 11-6.
This put Frenford into a 5-4 lead but Darek combined with Asif Anwar to beat Klaudia and John Tendler in the doubles 11-9, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7 to bring the final result to a 5-5 draw.
It represented a fantastic success for the hard-hitting left-handed Spero (ranked no. 155 nationally) who got the better of England no. 48 Ashley Stokes in the Final 6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 with a superbly executed display of controlled hitting.
Another Ilford junior, 12-year-old Navdeep Panesar, playing in his first-ever tournament, reached the final of the Under 13 singles, where he was beaten by Charlie Williams, 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8.
She won 12-10, 12-10, 11-3 against Yaw Poku but her best performance came in the match against Mike Finegold, who had won the first two games 11-6, 11-3. In the third game, he was leading 10-3 when Laura staged her comeback, winning the next seven points to draw level at 10-10. After sharing the next two points, Laura finally pulled ahead to win 13-11. She then showed character far beyond her years to win the next two games 11-7,11-7.
She has the potential to be as good as her 14-year-old brother Viktoras, who is unbeaten and currently tops the third division averages.
Redbridge’s other two regular players, Alan Rosenfeld and Richard Clemence were each unable to beat any of the three Mossford players (Ashley Bean, Anai Patel and Tom Griffiths) but reserve Andy Patmore rose to the challenge and won each of his three singles. He then combined with Rosenfeld to win the doubles but was unable to deny Mossford their first win by 6 matches to 4.
In the fourth game, the experience of the Red Social pair took them into an 8-0 lead and the match looked as if it would go into a deciding fifth game. However, the Mossford pair regained their concentration, winning the next ten points in a row and finally won the game 11-9.
The second match saw Mossford’s John Spero against Chris Seymour, who won the first game 11-8. Spero came back to win the second game 11-7 only for Seymour to go into top gear to win the third 11-4. Not to be outdone, Spero dictated the fourth game, winning 11-2. The deciding game was a cautious affair with neither player wishing to make a mistake. Most points consisted of long rallies and leading 10-8, Spero decided to finish the match with a couple of attacking shots which backfired as his opponent drew level at 10-10. Finally, Seymour managed to win 13-11.
After five matches, Red Social led 3-2 and we were treated to another exciting match as Spero took on Silvester. This match also went to a deciding set, with Silvester attacking at every opportunity and Spero playing his usual consistent defensive game. At 9-4 to Spero, Silvester launched a comeback to draw level at 10-10. Eventually, Spero won the match 15-13.
Seymour then beat Pink to give Red Social a 4-3 lead. They need one more to win the overall match when Igor faced Sacha. The first four games went 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6 meaning that a deciding game was necessary. This was a much closer affair but the match looked over as Igor led 10-8. Sacha played two forehand attacking shots to bring the score to 10-10. In the longest game of the evening, Igor was eventually victorious 17-15 to put Red Social through to the next round 5-3.
The only unbeaten player was Rhodium’s Joan Donovan, whose three matches all went to a deciding 5th game. She began by defeating Williams 12-10 in the 5th then faced Piers Ripley. She won the first two games 11-6, 11-9 then lost the next two 9-11, 9-11 before winning the final game 11-9.
With her team 3-4 down, Donovan faced Rahman, who won the first two games 12-10, 11-9. Donovan bounced back, winning the next two games 11-6, 11-5. In the deciding game, the score reached 10-10 before Donovan held her nerve to win the next two points for a 12-10 victory.
Heathcote’s Ripley won the ninth match then partnered Williams to victory in the doubles to earn the team a 6-4 victory over Rhodium.
Some of the matches in the early group stages were close, especially when number 3 seed Matt Spero just beat Steve Kerns in the fifth game and Andzelika Dorau defeated number 8 seed Peter Radford also in the fifth game. Ninth seed Gavin West also succumbed when Klaudia Szadkowska beat him in the deciding game.
Number six seed Jason Tendler, having defeated Spero in the quarter finals, came from two games down to take number two seed Darek Zurowski to a deciding game in the semi-final before losing the fifth game. In the final, Zurowski met number 5 seed Euan Liddle, whose defensive play had been impressive in reaching the final. However, Darek proved too strong with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 win.
The pick of the other events was the Open Doubles, which featured two women in the final, one on each side. Matt Spero, the only English person in the final was partnered by Andzelika Dorau. They were against top seeds Darek Zurowski and Klaudia Szadkowska. The playing styles were totally different, the two women relying on their ferocious forehand smashes, Matt using his left-handed loop to good effect and Darek using clever placement shots.
The first three games were extremely close with the Polish pair winning the first two 11-9 and Spero and Dorau claiming the third by a similar score. However, Darek and Klaudia won the fourth 11-6 to lift the title.
The Veterans Singles went to a fifth and deciding game as Ray Lam beat current Essex Veteran champion Peter Radford 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6.
Other results:
Veterans Doubles: Ray Lam and John Tendler beat Ray Brown and Paul Pells 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9.
Div 2&3 Singles: Chris Willcock beat Ray Brown 11-8, 11-7, 11-7.
Handicap Singles: Matt Spero beat Darek Zurowski.
Under 18 Singles: Chris Penrose beat David Green 13-11, 11-2, 11-8
Div 3 Singles: Andy Patmore beat Andy Home 11-7, 7-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-3. This match was also significant for the sporting spirit in which it was played, which made watching it especially enjoyable.
Player of the tournament: Darek Zurowski.
The next four matches were won in three straight games by Redbridge, giving them an overall 7-0 lead. However, matches eight and nine provided much closer entertainment. In match eight, Rhodium’s Joan Donovan began brightly against Richard Clemence, winning the first game 11-4, losing the second 7-11 and winning the third 11-6. The fourth game went to deuce, with Clemence closely winning 12-10 before he finally won a tight fifth game.
The final singles saw Redbridge’s Ray Brown win the first two games 11-7, 11-8 against Susie Hughes, who then got her forehand working to take the next game 11-9. Brown switched to the backhand but Hughes produced several backhand topspins to win the fourth game. In a close deciding game, Hughes led 10-9 only for Brown to level the match at deuce and then win the next two points for victory. The final team match score of 10-0 to Redbridge did not reflect an excellent match played in a friendly spirit.
The only time Frenford looked like recording a victory was when their experienced captain, John Tendler, was poised at 2 games to nil, and 10 points to 6 up against Mossford’s Didier Ngoma, but still contrived to lose the third game eventually 10 – 12 and the next 2 games to concede defeat by 2 games to 3.
Mossford have a 100% record so far, and they have averaged almost 9 points from a maximum of 10 available points per match. It seems they may be favourites to lift the league trophy this season, which would be the first time a Mossford team has become the Ilford champions for about 25 years.
Newly promoted Maylands Green appear to be doomed to return to Division 2, finding life in the first division somewhat harder than they may have expected. They are rooted to the bottom of the table and have only managed to record 5 points in their 8 matches so far.
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
Pts |
|
| Mossford 1 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
62 |
| Eastlea Wanderers 1 |
8 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
54 |
| Frenford 2 |
8 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
51 |
| Woodford Wells 1 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
47 |
| Heathcote 1 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
46 |
| Mossford 2 |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
34 |
| Frenford 1 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
31 |
| Heathcote 2 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
29 |
| Woodford Wells 2 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
21 |
| Maylands Green |
8 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
5 |
The first match of the night set the tone with Catherine Chen, making her league debut for Eastlea, against Sebastian. The first four games were shared with the fifth being a titanic struggle with both players having match points before Sebastian won 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 20-18.
In the 3rd match of the night, Shikiru Oropo (Eastlea) played Babatunde Ajibawa, which was another five-set match with Babatunde winning 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4. With the match tied at two matches apiece, Sebastian played Sikiru in another closely fought game. It was tied yet again after four games with Sebastian winning a tight fifth game 11-9 to take Redbridge Social into a 3-2 lead.
Shola won the 6th game to level the match 3-3 before Sikiru had another five-set match against Richard Adenaike, who played superbly but just failed to win, losing 11-9 in the fifth game. With Redbridge Social losing 4-3, the pressure was on Babatunde to beat Catherine to level the match again. This he did in yet another tight match, Babatunde winning 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9.
This left the two unbeaten players on the night Sebastian and Shola to play the ninth match to guarantee their team a draw at the minimum. Shola took a 2-0 lead (11-9, 11-6) before being stunned by Sebastian showing his class with an 11-1 victory. This shocked Shola, who also lost the fourth game 11-8. With some fascinating rallies, Shola just edged out Sebastian 11-8 in the fifth game, to deny him his 100% record as well. The match was rounded off with Eastlea winning the doubles to win the overall match 6-4, which was the first time Redbridge Social have not won.
The star of the match was Phil Walker of Wells, who won both his teams matches in their 2-8 defeat.
Firstly, he beat Didier Ngoma, who last season was the beaten finalist in the Individual Singles tournament. Phil won the first two games then Didier began to acclimatise to Phil’s hard-hitting looped attack and drew level at two games all. However, Phil then won the deciding fifth game to take the match.
Phil’s next match was against fellow left-hander Matthew Spero, who seemed to struggle to cope with Phil’s serve. Phil’s aggressive attack won him many points and he eventually emerged victorious by three games to one.
Phil came within a whisker of remaining unbeaten, when he narrowly lost 2-3 to Mossford’s Peter Tan. Paul Pells and Keith Turner completed the Wells team.
17 Apr 2008
The Ilford Table Tennis league season finale was the match between
Frenford 1st & 2nd teams where the 1st team led the 2nd team at the top of
Division 1 by just 2 points at the start of the match. The 1st team eventually
ran out winners by 8 points to 2, thus retaining the league title won last
season. The star of the evening was Essex Junior Emran Hussain who won all 3 of
his games against the much more experienced and older opposition of Ray Lam,
Peter Radford (the Ilford Veterans champion) and Zayd Mauthoor. The second team
gained their two points when both Ray Lam (18-16 in the fifth) and Peter Radford
beat John Tendler. Emran was ably supported by John & Jason Tendler.
Having taken the Ilford League by storm in his debut season, one wonders how good Emran will become in the seasons to come. He will clearly be rising through the England national rankings having achieved success in the national events that he has already entered. He may even have one eye on the Olympic 2012 squad. Watch this space!
10 Apr 2008
(Not published by Ilford Recorder)
The Handicap singles was another fantastic event, it was the best of
three games up to 33 points, with each player starting with his allocated
handicap. Having come through the group stages, Darek Zurowski, on a handicap of
zero had to play in a semi-final group of three players who were on 15 points
and 27 points respectively. The group finished with each player having won one
match 2-0, so progression to the final was determined by number of points
scored, which put Zurowski through.
In the final he met a junior, Alex Donkor, who had also progressed from the semi-final after each player had won one match. Alex was on 23 points, so had to win each game by scoring ten points to Darek’s 33. What a final it was; Alex attacked from the start and Darek had to use all his experience to earn all his points as he won the first game 33-29. Alex took the second game 33-28 and at this point Darek looked exhausted. He had won 352 points in his five matches so far and as he towelled-down prior to the final game, he seemed mentally tired. However, when the final game began, he played like a true champion, winning 33-29.
03 Apr 2008
The Ilford league Open Singles ran more or less to form as number one
seed Darek Zurowski beat number three seed Didier Ngoma in a final that was a
fantastic advert for table tennis.
The late withdrawal of number two seed Euan Liddle left the way clear for Ngoma to proceed to the final. He had to work hard to beat unseeded Rohit Kumar in the quarter final 9-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8 and then beat Gavin West in four sets in the semi final.
Meanwhile, Zurowski had an easy path into the semi-final, where he met Essex Veteran champion Peter Radford. Zurowski won the first two sets 12-10, 11-8 then lost the third 9-11. However, he stepped up a gear in the fourth to win 11-2 and book his place in the final.
The final was an attacking spectacular from the very first point scored. Ngoma used his forehand loop to good effect whereas Zurowski used a counter-attacking forehand smash or a backhand punch stroke to narrowly win the first set 11-9. In the second, Zurowski raced into an 8-4 lead only for Ngoma to recover to 9-9. At this point, Ngoma tried to play a winning shot in response to Zurowski’s serve and reprimanded himself when he lost the point. He lost the following point to lose the set 9-11.
The tactics now changed as Zurowski had a 2-set lead and Ngoma was fighting to stay in the match and therefore took a few risks to win points. It wasn’t to be and Zurowski won the third set 11-6 to become Ilford Champion.
In the Division 2&3 singles, the unseeded Stone beat number one seed Keith Turner in the semi-final to book his place in the final where he met number 3 seed Paul Pells, who was victorious 11-5, 1-11, 11-4, 12-10.
In the division 3 singles, there were more shocks. Number two seed Andy Patmore lost to Len Tolvin, who was then beaten by number 3 seed Andy Home. Meanwhile, number one seed Stan Kenner lost in the semi-final to number 4 seed David Evans, who beat Andy Home 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 in the final.
The Open doubles provided victory for defending champions Euan Liddle and Matt Spero who defeated Rohit Kumar and Mostafa Heikal in the final 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7.
Finally, there was some tangible reward for Russell Stone as he combined with Paul Pells in the Veterans doubles to defeat Ray Brown and Steve Codrington 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 12-10.
Next week, a report on the main event, the Open Singles.
In the Division 2 final, favourites Eastlea 2 gained their expected win over Woodford Wells 2 with a score of 6-3.
In the Division 3 final, Rhodium, currently third in the league table, were up against 6th placed Heathcote 4, in a best-of-nine matches comprising 6 singles and 3 doubles. Unexpectedly, Heathcote roared into a 4-0 lead, winning the initial doubles and the first three singles. Rhodium’s top player, Susie Hughes was surprisingly beaten in the opening singles by Heathcote’s Hon Ming Lau. After winning the first game 11-5, Hughes lost the next three.
Heathcote only needed to win one more match to win the final but Rhodium had other ideas. Firstly, they won the next doubles then Hughes redeemed herself by convincingly beating Van Vu in three straight games.
In the next match, in-form Hon Ming Lau took-on Rhodium’s Joan Donovan, beating her 11-9 in the first game. Joan had lost a lot of points by placing her returns beyond the end of the table. However, in the second game she recovered to win 11-4, then was victorious in the next two games to beat Lau three games to one. This meant that the overall score was now 4-3.
The eighth match saw Rhodium’s Michael Marshom against Patrick Scarlett. Marshom sneaked the first game 11-9 then watched in awe as Scarlett’s forehand loop at last found some accuracy. He used this shot to good effect in each of the next three games to win 3 games to one and so give Heathcote victory with a 5-3 score.
07 Feb 2008
Semi-finals of various cups took place this week in the Ilford league.
Unusually, two teams (Rhodium and Redbridge Social) were drawn to meet each
other in two different cups.
On Monday, they met at Rhodium in the Handicap cup, where the visitors were given a start of 55 points over the higher-ranked hosts. Each of the nine matches comprises four games, then all the points are accumulated and the handicap added to determine the winner.
In the opening doubles, Social gained a six-points lead, then the two top players met. Rhodium’s Susie Hughes lost in all four games to Tunde Ajibawo. It didn’t get any better for Rhodium as the gap in points increased to 76 by the time that Hughes met Social’s Ben Adebayo. She lost the first game 2-11, won the next two then lost the fourth 7-11. In the end, it was an easy win for Social 600-504.
On Thursday, the two met again at Social in the division 3 cup. This time there was no handicap, each match being the best of five games. The opening doubles was won by Rhodium, who came from 2 games down to win 11-6 in the fifth.
Next, Social’s Tunde Ajibawo met Susie Hughes. This time, Hughes defeated her opponent in straight games to avenge her defeat earlier in the week. By the time that Ben Adebayo met Rhodium’s Paul Singleton, Rhodium were leading 3-0 in matches. Ben redressed the balance by winning 11-4, 11-2, 11-3.
When Ben met Susie in match 7, he needed to win to save the tie as Rhodium led 4-2. Unfortunately for him, Susie was in inspired form and won 13-11, 11-8, 11-9 to put Rhodium into the final.
Eastlea began with two easy victories by three games to love before Wells’ Phil Walker (on 100% before this match) beat Rohit Kumar 6-11, 12-10, 11-6,11-6. This turned out to be Wells only victory as they crumbled to a very strong Eastlea team, who were only severely challenged in the last two encounters of the evening.
In the final singles, Wells’ Paul Pells was unlucky not to beat Shola Omowanile, losing 14-12 in the fifth game. Pells showed great character, having lost the first game (11-0) without scoring a point. He recovered to win the second and third games 11-7, 11-9 before Omowanile recovered to win the final two games 11-8, 14-12.
The final match of the evening was the doubles, where Wells’ Pells and Walker lost to Omowanile and Kumar 2-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4.
In the Ilford league Handicap cup, two third division teams produced an exciting match and a close result. The hosts, Eastlea 5, began with a 70 points start over Grove Castle and, after the first doubles, had extended that advantage to 78 points.
Gradually, the visitors began to reduce the lead and after eight encounters and with only the final doubles remaining, Grove Castle led by three points and looked favourites.
However, the first two games of the final doubles saw the Eastlea pair of Alex Donkor and Arun Sathasivam win 11-6, 11-7 to take back the lead by six points. Their opponents, Andy Home and Wing Lai then used all their experience to win the third game 11-6, putting them just one point behind, meaning that they needed to win the final game 11-9 to win by one point.
In a tense final game, Home and Lai won 11-7 to give Grove Castle victory by a mere three points.
Report of the Ilford Closed tournament March 2007
The Ilford Closed tournament comprising seven events was held over a 3-week period in March, culminating with the Mens Singles on 28 March at St Andrew’s Church Hall, The Drive, Ilford.
There were early shocks for the top two seeds, Euan Liddle and Gary Tendler, who were each beaten in the group stages. Gary Tendler lost in 3 sets to Keith Lesser while Liddle lost in 4 sets to John Tendler. As the top two in each group progressed to the quarterfinals, all four qualified with ease.
The shocks continued in the quarterfinals, when surprise packet Ray Brown defeated John Tendler 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 and Lesser beat 4th seed Gavin West in 3 sets. The other two matches went to five sets. Gary Tendler was leading 6-1 in the fifth set only for Matt Spero to recover to 8-8. However, he may well rue the poor start as Gary Tendler won 11-9. Euan Liddle eventually overcame Peter Radford 11-6 in the fifth set after four very close sets.
The semi-finals couldn’t have been more different from each other. Gary Tendler was always in control as he beat Ray Brown 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 but Keith Lesser came from two sets down to beat Euan Liddle 11-9 in the fifth.
So the final was a repeat of the opening group match. This time we saw a far more-determined Gary Tendler who took a 2-0 lead only for Keith Lesser to pull a set back. It was too little too late as Gary Tendler won 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-6 to take the Ilford title for the first time.
Other results:
Mens Doubles: Euan Liddle & Matthew Spero beat Gareth Williams & Tony Cantale 12-10, 11-6, 11-7
Veterans Singles: Peter Radford beat Martyn Ball 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8
Veterans Doubles: Ray Brown & Fred Alldritt beat Alan Rosenfeld & David Evans 11-9, 11-5, 4-11, 11-9
Handicap Singles: Tom Griffiths beat Andy Patmore 3 sets to 1
Division 2&3 Singles: Gareth Williams beat Colin Green 11-8, 11-7, 11-6
Division 3 Singles: Andy Patmore beat Luxman Sriranjan 11-5, 11-4, 4-11, 11-8
In the Ilford League Handicap cup, Mossford 3 from division 2 faced Grove from division 3, who received 150 points start. The first six matches went according to handicap, with Mossford reducing Grove’s lead to 51 points, with three matches remaining.
Match seven started optimistically for Mossford as Karla Bryant won the first of the four games 11-3 against Grove’s Ujitha De Zoysa. A repeat performance in the other three games would have reduced the deficit by another 32 points and put Mossford firmly in the driving seat. However, De Zoysa won the next two games narrowly 11-9 and then had the audacity to beat Bryant 11-3 in the final game.
With the last two matches going to form, match seven became the deciding factor in Grove’s overall win by an aggregate 21 points. If Bryant could’ve won games 2, 3 and 4 by an 11-7 margin, then Mossford would have been celebrating a 3-point win instead of a 21-point loss.
Lowly Cranbrook Castle took on Third Division
leaders Grove in what turned out to be a well contested match.
Grove's Andy Home played Castle's Wing Lai in the first match of the night,
and it followed what would become a familiar pattern for the night. Wing
lost the first set, but took the next two needing just one more to win,
however, he lost two very close sets as the Grove player scraped a five set
win. Next Graeme Wilson (Castle) also took a two sets to one lead against
Andy Petrou, before losing the fourth. however, he convincing won the
deciding set to level the tie. Roy Booth (Grove) then played Alan Finch, in
yet another match that went to five sets, the Castle player had match point
at 12-11 in the deciding set before the Grove player won the last three
points to decide the game. Games four and five were both won convincingly by
Wing Lai and Andy Home to leave the match at 3-2 to Grove.
Graeme Wilson then led Roy Booth by two sets to one, but for the third time
on the night Grove recovered to win the decisive set. Home and Petrou for
Grove won the next two matches comfortably before Lai won the final singles
of the night to leave the match at 6-3 to Grove. The doubles predictably
went to five and equally predictably was won by Grove to decide the match
7-3, however, Cranbrook Castle were led to rue the four contests they'd lost
to five - it could have been a very different story.
The first round of the Ilford League Handicap Cup produced an unexpected twist that would befit an Agatha Christie play.
Redbridge 2 from division 3 started with an 80 points lead over div 2 opponents Mossford 6. After five of the nine matches had been played, Mossford had clawed back the deficit and led by ten points. In the next match they extended their lead to sixteen points and it was now a case of by how many points they would win; or was it?
After eight matches and with only the last doubles remaining, Mossford led by fourteen points as Andy Patmore and Len Tolvin of Redbridge took on Dave Parker and Brian Steward. The first of the four games resulted in an 11-10 win to the Mossford pair, followed by 11-7, 11-5 wins for Redbridge. This meant that in the final game, Mossford only needed to get seven points to win the match.
Incredibly, Redbridge won 11-2, their nine-point win meaning that they won the tie by four points. In the history of the competition, no team has begun the tie with a lead (80 points), been behind with one match remaining (14 points) yet won the match.