Ilford TTL - News Articles 2009/10

The following articles are as submitted to the Ilford Recorder. (Not necessarily as published!)

29 Apr 2010
The last two cup finals of the Ilford league season produced two contrasting matches. The division 1 final went to the last of the nine matches while the division 3 final was a disappointment due to the non-arrival of Rhodium’s Jamal Dennison and his team succumbed to division 3 winners Heathcote 4 by a 9-0 score.

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.

8 Apr 2010
In the Open Singles of the Ilford League Closed tournament, reigning champion Darek Zurowski met Essex Closed champion Matt Spero in the final. Spero won the first game 11-6, then in a close second game, Zurowski won 14-12 after some spectacular attacking play from both players.

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

1 Apr 2010
The first week of the Ilford League Closed tournament produced some excellent table tennis. Number one seed in the Veterans Singles, Ray Lam, progressed relatively untroubled into the final with wins against Phil Walker and Keith Fung.

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

11 Mar 2010
Two cup finals took place this week in the Ilford league and both were close affairs.

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).

04 Feb 2010
In the Ilford league division 1, Redbridge Social, currently mid-table, entertained second-placed Frenford, who arrived with only two players, which gifted Social three points.

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.

21 Jan 2010
Ilford’s Matthew Spero was the surprise Winner of the Open Singles at the 2010 Essex Closed Table Tennis Tournament played at BATTS in Harlow over the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 02/03 January.

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.

27 Nov 2009
In the Ilford league division 3, Redbridge Social 2 beat Eastlea 3 by 8-2 but the talking point of the match was the performance of Eastlea’s up-and-coming ten-year-old Laura Burbuleviciute, who won both of Eastlea’s two matches.

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.

20 Nov 2009
In the Ilford league division 2, second-placed Redbridge 1 entertained bottom team Mossford 5, who had not won a match this season. Redbridge were without their number one Ray Brown, whose place was taken by Andy Patmore.

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.

13 Nov 2009
In the Ilford League Division 3 Cup, Mossford 8 played host to Redbridge Social 2. The match began with a doubles between two inexperienced Mossford juniors (Oliver Pink & Sacha Spence) and their much more experienced opponents Anthony Silvester and Igor Sue-a-Quan. The Mossford pair won the first two games 11-9, 11-8 then lost the third game 9-11.

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.

6 Oct 2009
At the start of a new season in the Ilford League, Rhodium entertained Heathcote 3 in division 3. Five of the matches went to a deciding 5^th game. Rhodium’s Mike Marshom was involved in two such matches beating Khalik Rahman and Keith Williams.

The only unbeaten player was Rhodium’s Joan Donovan, whose three matches all went to a deciding 5^th game. She began by defeating Williams 12-10 in the 5^th 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.