_{North Confined Table Tennis Championships 2023-24, Aberdeen Sports Village, 20th April 2024}

Download North Confined 2023-2024 Complete Results

Article by Donald Pirie

Saturday 20 April in Aberdeen Sports Village was the setting for this year's North Confined Championships. The event continues to go from strength to strength with over 85 entries this year, and we welcomed around 20 players from the Shetland Isles, as well as a large contingent from Highlands, Moray, and across the Aberdeenshire area. This was great to see and made for an excellent day of play across all the events on offer.

The blue ribbon event is the Rubber Shop Trophy, with the top 16 ranked players taking part in that event. After 4 closely fought groups and some excellent quarter-finals, it was down to the last four. This saw Stonehaven clubmates Daniel Tibbetts and Allan He face off in the first semi-final, with the second semi-final between AU TT Club team-mates Harry Blackhall and Andrew McRae.

Daniel and Allan know each other’s game very well, and it was no surprise this was a classic. Daniel took the first end after one deuce, then Allan hit back with the second game to 9. The third end went back to Daniel, after 2 deuce points this time, and once again Allan hit back with the fourth end to 8, setting up a 5th a deciding end with the match poised at 2-2. The momentum swung back and forth, with some big serving and huge forehand and backhands from Allan, countered by some amazing defence from Daniel, also coupled with some excellent attacking forehands at crucial times. Daniel pulled away at the end of the set, taking the game 11-7 and making it through to the final 3-2.

It was probably fair to say that Harry was favourite to take the second semi-final, but Andrew was having an excellent day, already dispatching clubmate and former multiple Rubber Shop Trophy winner Ross Martin in the quarter-final. It was in fact Andrew who raced into a lead, taking the first set 11-5 to a shell shocked Harry! However, Harry re-grouped, got his head down and pulled out some excellent attacking play that saw him through to the U19 Scottish National final earlier in the season, and made short work of the next 3 sets taking a comfortable 3-1 win in the end.

That set up a mouth-watering final between Daniel & Harry. The boys are the current U19 Scottish Doubles Champions, know each other’s games very well, and the outcome can go either way when the boys meet on the table. Although both players were a little unhappy with their own play across the first 4 sets, it was a tremendous match for the spectators, and a deciding set at 2-2 was exactly what those viewing were hoping for. The deciding set threw up some amazing table tennis, huge attacks from Harry and outstanding defence from Daniel. But the moment was back with Daniel and he took the last set 11-6 to lift the Rubber Shop Trophy for the first time.

The AU Open is the second tier event, with players ranked 17-32 taking part, and also produced high quality table tennis across the day. By the semi-final stage it was Maja Wojcicka (CTM) v Robbie Martin (AU) and Nandor Hegyi (AU) v Mitch Reid (Triangle).

Last year’s runner-up Maja was looking to make amends this year, and against fellow ASV Academy player Robbie was another match that could have gone either way. Unfortunately, Robbie never really got going in the match, and after 2 deuce and double deuce games, it was 2-0 to Maja. This quickly turned into 3-0 with Maja through to the final for the second year in a row.

Semi-final two saw current AU Open champion, and very first winner of the event back in 2009 Mitch Reid, take on long time AU player and the constantly improving Nandor Hegyi. After a deuce first set, and a very comfortable second set it looked like Mitch was going to romp through to the final. However, Nandor had other ideas, deploying his long pimples and defence style to great effect, reversing the first two ends with exactly the same scores to set up a deciding end. The moment was now with Nandor who took an early lead and never relinquished that to make it to the final.

In the final it was Nandor, perhaps unexpectedly, took a 2-0 lead 11-7 and 12-10. The third end saw Maja hit back, also with a 12-10 win, and got off to a great start in the 4th end. However, Nandor's never-say-die attitude, and defence style saw him claw back to 9-9, and with some good serving and also some attacking forehands, closed out the game 11-9 to lift the AU Open Shield.

The Watt Cup is contested by all other players, and is arguable the most difficult to win, with 32 players across 8 groups, followed by 2 knock out stages.

The semi-finals had a great regional feel, with Dod Main (Triangle) taking on Alexander Stepney (Elgin), and Andrew Milne (Elgin) against Sebastian Malecki (Inverness). Dod is a former top Aberdeen player from the 70's/80's who returned to the scene this season, and Alexander is a Silver medallist from the Scottish Primary Schools Championships this year, so a great spread in generations. It was a great 5-setter between the players, with Alexander coming out on top 14-12 in the 5th end.

Andrew and Sebastian also had a great match, with Sebastian showing some excellent form with 3 great ends in a row to make it through to the final against Alexander.

The final was another brilliant match, with Alexander mostly on the back foot but taking to second end to make it 1-1 and keep the match interesting. Sebastian used his skill and experience though to close out the match 3-1 and lift the Watt Cup.

There were several other events on the day, giving lots of opportunities for play for all players. In the 19-39 event it was Murhad Hussain (Nairn) taking the title, seeing off Andrew McRae 3-1 in the final.

The 40+ event was as competitive as ever, with Kevin Anderson (currently Houston TT Club) beating CTM's Ikenna Asogwa 3-1 in the final.

The 60+ even also saw some old rivalries re-ignited, with Mitch Reid retaining this particular title, beating Dick Ferro 3-1 in the final.

Both the U15 and U13 events were loaded with the best young talent from across the region, from Aberdeen all the way through to Shetland. Although perhaps no surprise that the U13 final was Dean Robertson (ASV Academy) v Alexander Stepney, a repeat of the Scottish Primary Schools Final from earlier this year. Dean took the Scottish final with a closely fought match, but took the U13 north confined title with a more comfortable 3-0 win. Alexander perhaps jaded from his earlier Watt Cup exploits.

The U15 final came down to Jakub Krzyzostaniak (ASV Academy), and Maja in her second final appearance of the day. Like Alexander, Maja was perhaps a little jaded from her earlier matches, but put up a great fight against Jakub. After a comfortable first end, Jakub had to fight hard for a deuce win in the second, going down 9-11 in the third, but holding his nerve to take the 4th set 13-11 and lift the U15 title.

Due to the level of entries across the day, there was no time to complete the U19 event, with the final match of Jakub Krzyzostaniak v Allan He taking place on ADTTA finals night in ASV on Tuesday 30 April. it promises to be a great match and worth coming along to see if you can make it.

Congratulations go to all the North Confined winners, but also a huge thanks to all the players who entered the event, and travelled from Shetland, Inverness, Elgin, Nairn, and across Aberdeenshire to make it such a success. A final thanks also to all the ADTTA officials and organisers (particularly Charlie Flint and Alison Woods) in making the event go without a hitch. We are looking forwards to seeing you all again next year!

Download North Confined 2023-2024 Complete Results