Ilford TTL - News Articles 2014/15

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!


25 February 2016

In an Ilford league division 2 match, Woodford Wells 2 entertained Heathcote 4, who arrived with only 2 players but left having put up a strong resistance by only losing 6-4.

The individual match worth mentioning concerned Wells’s Paul Pells and Heathcote’s David Adeleye. Pells won the first game quite comfortably 11-4 but in the second found himself 4-10 behind. However, he kept his concentration and succeeded in winning the next eight points to win the game 12-10.

Even more bizarrely, Pells then won the third game 11-0, meaning that he had won nineteen consecutive points. If this is not a record, then it is certainly a most unusual occurrence.


06 February 2016

Five more events took place to conclude the Ilford League tournament.

In the main event, the Open Singles, number 2 seed Lukasz Lewandowski met number 4 seed Sujay Jaganathan in the final. Sujay was leading the first game 8-4 but inexplicably contrived to lose it 11-9.

The second game was really close but with Sujay leading 10-9 he had a slice of luck when the ball dropped over the net on his opponent’s side to give him a win 11-9.

The third game was strange. Lukasz led 8-1 but Sujay fought back and won the next six points. Then at 9-7, on Lukasz’s serve, Sujay drew level at 9-9. Lukasz then led 10-9 and it was his turn to have a lucky net and he won 11-9. Game four began with Lukasz going 7-1 into the lead. Sujay recovered but it was too late as Lukasz won 11-5 to become the 2016 champion.

Other results were:

Veterans singles: Naveed Chaudhry beat John King 13-11, 11-7, 11-9

Veterans doubles: Chaudhry & King beat Playle & Rosenfeld 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-2

Division 2 singles: Paul Pells beat Colin Green 5-11, 12-10, 16-14, 11-8

Handicap singles: Kulbir Minhas (+20) beat John King (+5) 25-15, 25-19


29 January 2016

The first event in the Ilford tournament, the Open Doubles, took place at Woodford Wells.

The event was held on a “round-robin” basis and went according to seeding. The final match was fantastic and saw Adrian Harabagiu and Naveed Chaudhry, the number one seeds, beating Lukasz Lewandowski and Nana Ansah (seeded 2) 3-2.

The top seeds led by two games to one when they started game 4. In a close contest, deuce was reached at 10-10. Both teams then had several opportunities to win the game before the number two seeds won 19-17. Game 5 began with the top seeds in determined mood. They led 5-0 at change of ends, then 8-2 before a fightback by their opponents, who eventually lost 11-8.


14 May 2015

The first week of the Ilford league Closed tournament took place this week. In the main event, the Open Singles, there was a very poor entry. This was exacerbated when top seed Adrian Harabagiu withdrew a week before the event, then number two seed, Lukasz Lewandowski withdrew on the night due to family problems.

New number one seed Matt Spero progressed to the final where he met number three seed Keith Lesser. Both players found it difficult on their way to the final. In the quarter finals, Lesser scraped through against Robin Ashleigh, who won the first game 11-9, was leading the second 9-7 before Lesser won the next four points to win 11-9. Lesser won the third game 11-5, lost the fourth 12-10 then won the deciding fifth game 12-10.

In the semi-finals, Spero had a bigger scare against Nial Akata, who won the first two games. Spero then got into his stride, winning the next three games to reach the final.

In the final, Spero won the first two games 11-6, 11-8 and was leading 10-8 in the third game. At this juncture, match point, Spero, in his own words, played “a flashy shot” to try to win in spectacular style. His shot missed the table and Lesser took advantage to win the game 12-10. Spero learned his lesson in the fourth game, which he won 11-7 to be declared champion.



05 Dec 2014

In an Ilford league division 1 match, Mossford 2 hosted runaway leaders Mossford 1. The 2nd team were handicapped by only having two players to the 1st team’s three.

However, an exceptional performance from Robin Ashleigh, who won all three matches for the 2nd team, earned them a creditable draw. Even more surprising, Kamil Hajdrych, who had been unbeaten all season for the 1st team, failed to win a match as he was also beaten by Dan Spurling.

Spurling lost to Bartek Kazmierczak and Adrian Harabagiu but combined with Ashleigh to beat Bartek and Adrian in the doubles. Final score 5-5.


07 Nov 2014

In an Ilford league division 2 derby match, Heathcote 4 hosted Heathcote 5. The fourth team held second place in the division whereas the fifth team were one place from the bottom. Both teams had their regular three players but the final score raised a few eyebrows.

Five of the ten matches went to a fifth deciding game and three of those singles matches involved David Adeleye of the 4th team. The best match was the final singles, when he played Daniel Howard, who won the first game 11-9, lost the 2nd 11-13, won the 3rd 11-7, lost the 4th 11-13 then won the 5th 13-11 to leave Adeleye deflated.

Howard and Malik Diop were unbeaten for the 5th team. They also combined to win an exciting doubles, beating Adeleye and Reginald Matovu in a deciding 5th game after being two games to one behind.

Matovu was also two games to one ahead of Joseph Rinaldo in their singles match before the latter won the last two games 13-11, 11-9 to not only beat Matovu but to give his team an unexpected 8-2 victory.

The third member of the 4th team was Shahid Mahmood who lost narrowly to Daniel Howard in three straight games 11-13, 13-15, 13-15.


25 Sep 2014

Newly-promoted Mossford 3 played host to Woodford Wells 1 in an Ilford first division match. The visitors’ regular trio were all missing and they arrived with only two players, reserves Keith Turner and Colin Fautley.

Mossford won the match 9-1 but the match between Turner and Mossford’s Mike Harris was fascinating. Turner was leading 9-3 in the first game but allowed Harris to win the next five points before Turner won. In the second game, Turner led 8-2 then let Harris win the next four points before he won 11-6.

The third game saw Harris go into an 8-0 lead and he looked well on the way to victory. However, Turner then won the next ten points to lead 10-8. When he also won the next point, the umpire awarded the match to Turner. However, Harris said the ball had hit the net although neither the umpire nor Turner had seen it. Turner agreed to replay the point, which he won making it eleven points in succession in an 11-8 victory.


Older Articles:-

Articles for 2013/14 Season

Articles for 2012/13 Season

Articles for 2011/12 Season

Articles for 2010/11 Season

Articles for 2009/10 Season

Articles for 2008/09 Season

Articles for 2007/08 Season

Articles for 2006/07 Season