Issued on 28 January 2024
Double-duty David drives Danbury’s destiny.
David Gatheral completed what must be a rare feat on Monday night when playing six individual matches across two different divisions at two different venues. Gatheral was the only Danbury C player to attend the fixture at Chelmsford B and following his three singles matches he dashed to Old Chelmsfordians where he competed in another three singles matches for Danbury D. Six individual matches, four wins - great stuff David!
Division 1
With the scheduled clash between division one’s top two postponed, this week’s focus was on the fight for third place between the trio of teams from Danbury. Danbury B put some breathing space between themselves in third and Danbury C in fourth thanks to a 9-1 victory at Writtle A - Sam Lowman and Daniel Piggott were on target with three wins apiece while Ryan Pitt was the only Writtle player to trouble the scorers when beating Dan Anderson. With over 100 ranking places between them, Dave Moles was close to pulling off a shock win against Piggott - finally succumbing 11-9 in the decider. David Gatheral was the only Danbury C player brave enough to walk the mean streets of Chelmsford and his two wins from three means he can hold his head up high despite the overall scoreline of 8-2 in Chelmsford B’s favour. Adi Kamma took the fourth game against Gatheral 14-12 to level their match at two apiece but Gatheral was able to regroup and come through the fifth by an 11-4 scoreline. Chris Penrose and Bruce Kettle won both of their matches as Danbury A beat the two players of Galleywood A 7-3. Penrose did well to come back from 2-1 down against James Hicks to take the final two games 11-9, 14-12 while Hicks and Peter Barrett saw victory in the doubles encounter by three games to two.
Standings div 1: 1: Old Chelmsfordians A 92 points (from 12 matches), 2: Chelmsford A 84 points (12 matches), 3: Danbury B 80 points (14 matches).
Division 2
No surprises this week in division two as all fixtures went in favour of the higher placed team. Chelmsford C extended their lead at the top with a 10-0 victory over clubmates Chelmsford D thanks to trebles from Mark Allaway, Victor Chan and Waseem Qureshi. Second placed Hatfield Peverel A won 8-2 at home to Danbury F off the back of three wins from both Julie Johnson and Martin Archie, while Gary Ward fired a hat-trick as third placed Writtle C narrowly beat Danbury E 6-4. Neil Want had a long evening of table action for Danbury as he lost in five against John Webber, beat John Gagg in five and narrowly lost out to Ward in four - the third game going in Want’s favour 18-16 but the fourth going in Ward’s 12-10. In the same fixture, Writtle’s John Gagg earned a good 3-1 win over the higher-ranked Tony Forster. Writtle B cruised to a 10-0 win over Danbury G through three wins each for Matthew Brown, Trevor Carter and Phil Smith, though Smith had to recover from 2-1 down against Merv Perriman. Peter Chastin was back in action for Danbury D and his treble helped his side edge OCA B 6-4 in a match which saw David Gatheral finally find some teammates (see div 1). Gatheral earned another two wins (that’s four on the night!) but was denied a hat-trick by Mick Richardson who recovered from 2-1 down.
Standings div 2: 1: Chelmsford C 81 points (from 12 matches), 2: Hatfield Peverel A 75 points (from 12 matches), 3: Writtle C 72 points (13 matches)
Division 3
Three wins apiece for Gary Brignall and Colin Blore guided division three leaders Galleywood B to a 9-1 win over Writtle D - Malcolm Henstock’s recovery from 2-0 down prevented Galleywood’s Mark Glenister from joining his teammates with a treble. Richard Baxter and Richard Upson fired hat-tricks as OCA C closed the gap on second placed Buttsbury A with a 7-3 home win against Danbury K. Upson beat Dave Powell 3-1 with the scoreline for the first three games being an exhausting-looking 19-17, 17-19, 13-11, while Baxter had to recover from 2-1 down against Robert Kneale. Despite only fielding two players, fourth placed Hatfield Peverel B drew 5-5 on the road to sixth placed Danbury H - Gareth Davies and Neil Freeman both going two out of three in singles action as well as teaming up for doubles success. Chelmsford F’s young side managed to find Danbury successfully and came away with a respectable 5-5 draw with the hosts J Team - Sami Osman was the star of the show with three victories.
Standings div 3: 1: Galleywood B 89 points (from 12 matches), 2: Buttsbury A 74 points (11 matches), 3: OCA C 69 points (from 12 matches).
Division 4
Will Goodchild and Gary Copsey earned three wins each as division four leaders Galleywood C moved to ten victories from ten matches on the season with a 9-1 triumph at fourth placed OCA D. Goodchild came from 2-1 down to win against David Bishop while Farooq Ahmed put a point on the board for the hosts in the penultimate game of the evening when getting the better of Nathan Blore in four. A treble in Norman Hayes’ first appearance of the season guided seventh placed Danbury L to a 9-1 home win against Hatfield Peverel E. Hayes dropped just two games in his three wins while Ken Wilding took just one game more to complete his hat-trick. Michael Burton earned Hatfield’s only victory with his comeback from 2-1 down to beat Steve Martin.
Standings div 4: 1: Galleywood C 78 points (from 10 matches), 2: Maldon B 68 points (from 10 matches), 3: OCA D 63 points (from 11 matches)
Division 5
Winless and bottom-placed Hatfield Peverel F weren’t too far off causing the biggest upset of the season to date as they lost 6-4 to division 5 runaway leaders Danbury M. Hatfield’s Jackie Treacy was in fine form as she beat all three of the Danbury players while Dave Benstead chipped in with a 3-2 win over Steve Martin. Martin and Graham Naggs managed to edge the doubles encounter with Treacy and Martin Kilbey while Benstead saw his 2-0 lead against Ken Wilding morph into a 3-2 loss. Treacy had earlier recovered from 2-0 down in her opening encounter with Steve Martin to win 3-2 having taken games four and five by 12-10 scorelines. A 7-3 win saw third placed Chelmsford H close the gap on clubmates Chelmsford J. While finding himself on the losing side, Martin Brunker was the player of the match with his three wins for the J team, while Shengbing Zhu had to recover from 2-1 down to get the better of Shweta Lees. Michael Anthony scored a hat-trick of 3-0 wins as he led his Writtle F team to a 6-4 win over fifth placed Maldon C. Rob Tam won twice for Writtle despite being beaten in the night’s opening contest by Maldon’s Shirley Carroll who won twice herself. Writtle’s Jo Hart saw two five-game matches, she fought back from 2-1 down to beat James Raymond but later let a 2-1 lead slip against Kym Eames. Nick Rounce dropped just one game in winning all three of his matches on debut as Galleywood D beat OCA E 7-3. Rounce’s teammate Steve Peacock won his first two matches of the evening but lost out to OCA’s Stuart Wintle who won twice himself. Ninth placed Buttsbury C won 6-4 at tenth placed Highwood B with doubles from Torsten Greenan, Oscar Hutt and Richard Pond. David Cockrell won twice for the hosts - his first against Richard Pond was not secured until point 30 of the decider. Greenan did get a measure of revenge for his teammate as he went on to beat Cockrell in five.
Standings div 5: 1: Danbury M 85 points (from 12 matches), 2: Chelmsford J 71 points (12 matches), 3: Chelmsford H 65 points (from 11 matches).
Ladies Cup
Buttsbury’s reputation for being the strongest club in the league area with regards to female players continued as their A team won 3-1 in the Ladies Cup semi-final against Chelmsford. Strong showings at the C&DTTL annual championships by Buttsbury players included event wins from Evie Knaapen and Lucy Elliott as well as runs to the latter stages by Frances Hutt and Aduna Das. Knaapen and Elliott represented Buttsbury A in their away semi-final clash at Chelmsford where they were faced with familiar opponents in Alesha Ellis-Austin and Grace Liu. Ellis-Austin and Knaapen recently met in the final of both the Women’s and Junior Girl’s singles events with each player adding a title to their collection to sit alongside the Women’s doubles title they won together. Ellis-Austin started the fixture with a good 3-0 win over Elliott and with Liu 2-1 up against Knaapen things looked good for Chelmsford. But the C&DTTL women’s champion responded and came through games four and five to level the match at 1-1 before her teammate Elliott beat Liu 3-0 to put the visitors 2-1 up. In a must win game for Chelmsford, Knaapen took a two-game lead against Ellis-Austin but game three saw Ellis-Austin win 13-11 to keep Chelmsford’s hopes alive. Knaapen was able to keep her focus and took game four and in doing so send Buttsbury A to the final and a clash with their clubmates Buttsbury B.
Bat & Chat
A new record was set at Bat&Chat last Thursday as sixty players were in attendance for the session at the Chelmsford Sports & Athletics Centre - great to see so many people playing, keep up the good work!
Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issued on 21 January 2024
Finals night delight for Knaapen and Mulley
Evie Knaapen, 13, added the Women’s singles title to the haul of trophies she had already collected at the C&DTTL Annual Championships while Matthew Mulley continued his unbeaten league form to lift both the Men’s singles and Men's doubles trophies.
Chelmsford Closed Championships Finals Night 2023/2024 sponsored by F&S Energy.
Men’s singles semi-final one: Harry Chivers v #7 Matthew Mulley
Seventh seed Mulley made a slow start against Chivers, 17, who stormed into a 6-0 lead in game one. Mulley then found good form and took 11 of the next 14 points to earn the first game of the evening. Despite seeing his opponent finish the first game strongly, Chivers regained his composure and was able to take games two and three by 11-9 scorelines, but wIth his back to the wall and in real danger of elimination Mulley upped his level to win game four by 11-7. With the pressure building on both players Mulley was able to take an early lead in the decider enroute to repeating the 11-7 scoreline and booking the first spot in the final to be played later in the evening.
Mulley bt Chivers 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7.
Men’s singles semi-final two: #11 Paul Davison v #2 Duncan Taylor
The first game of the second semi-final was a cagey affair and though Davison got his nose in front at 8-5 and 9-6 Taylor went on to go one game up. With the winner of game two still in the balance at 5-5 Davison reeled off four points in a row to gain some breathing room which enabled him to level the match at 1-1. Davison’s accuracy let him down in game three as he started missing long and Taylor was able take a 2-1 lead with a comfortable 11-4 scoreline. Game four was still in the balance at 6-6 but Taylor was able to win both points on the Davison serve in order to edge ahead and he didn’t look back, securing the match with a score of 11-9.
Taylor bt Davison 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9.
Junior boy’s singles Final: #1 Harry Chivers v #6 Harrison HIll
Chivers repeated his fast start in the Men's semi-final and took an early 6-1 lead against twelve-year-old Hill before going on to take the first game at a canter (11-7). The second game saw Chivers take a 5-2 lead and was on the verge of going 2-0 up at 10-8 when Hill mounted a fightback to take game two 14-12 - point 22 saw a fantastic twenty shot rally between the two which brought the house down. From then on-in Chivers was in control of the contest taking game three 11-8 as well as game four 11-5 - in doing so defending the title he won last year.
Chivers bt Hill 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 11-5.
Veteran’s singles Final: #3 Kevin Read v #1 Duncan Taylor
Read beat #2 seed Keith Adams in the semi-final while Taylor set up this clash having disposed of #6 Paul Davison at the same stage. Taylor’s appearance in the opening contest of the evening was possibly a contributing factor to his fast start in this final whereby he took a 2-0 lead. Read wasn't about to roll over though and took a close third game 11-9 before reeling off games four and five comfortably - the defending champion toppled but his night was not over.
Read bt Taylor 6-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5.
Men's doubles Final: #1 Paul Davison & James Donald v #3 Mark Mulley & Matthew Mulley
Mark and Matthew Mulley took the Men's Doubles titles with a 3-1 win over number one seeds Paul Davison and James Donald. The Mulley brothers breezed through the first game but Davison and Donald got into their groove in game two when narrowly going down 13-11. Davison and Donald took their improved level of play into game four which they won by an 11-8 scoreline and while they had good chances to take the match to a decider the Mulley brothers edged game four 12-10.
Mulley & Mulley bt Davison & Donald 11-4, 13-11, 8-11, 12-10.
Ladies’ singles Final: #2 Evie Knaapen v #4 Alesha Ellis-Austin
Evie Knaapen took the 2024 women's singles title with a fine three-game win over Alesha Ellis-Austin. In a repeat of the Junior Girl's final Knaapen took a two-game lead but unlike that match up there was no comeback this time for Ellis-Austin as Knaapen’s excellent all round play proved too much. Knaapen adds the Women's singles title to her Women's doubles title (with Ellis-Austin) and Mixed doubles title (with Jamie Elliott) - she was also runner up in the aforementioned Junior Girls singles as well as the Junior doubles (with Harrison Hill).
Knaapen bt Ellis-Austin 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
Men's singles Final: #7 Matthew Mulley v #2 Duncan Taylor
Matthew Mulley was crowned 2024 Men's singles champion with a 3-1 win over Duncan Taylor in the Final. Mulley found arguably his best form of the night to race into a 2-0 lead but Taylor raised his game to take the third game in comprehensive fashion. Mulley got his nose ahead in game four and never looked back, securing the Men’s singles title to sit beside the Men’s doubles title he collected earlier.
Mulley bt Taylor 11-7, 11-5, 3-11, 11-9.
The Chelmsford & District League Committee were delighted to welcome the Mayor of Chelmsford - Councillor Linda Mascot, the Mayor's consort Mr Ian Mascot, Chris Bryden - East Area Manager at Table Tennis England and Steven Funnell - director of F&S Energy - the sponsor of this year's tournament.
Division 2 cup
The Final’s Night wasn’t the only local table tennis drama of the week as the division 2 cup threw up three fixtures which were not decided until the ninth and final contest of the tie.
Despite losing the first matches of the night, Chelmsford D fought back to beat Writtle B 5-4 on the road and earn their place in the semi-finals. The drama started as early as the second match of the night where Phil Smith beat Keith Martin 3-2 however this was countered by the visitors with Dusan Doszkoty and Alex Tkachuk hitting back for Chelmsford with individual wins over Trevor Carter and Trevor Collin. Writtle then recaptured the lead on the night with a 3-2 doubles win before Martin beat Collin and Tkachuk won in five against Carter. Smith then beat Doszkoty 3-1 to level the tie at four matches each with the duo of Martin and Tkachuk seeing the visitors through to the last four thanks to a 3-1 win over Smith and Collin.
Chelmsford D will next face Chelmsford C who were involved in a thrilling 5-4 win of their own against Danbury D. Doubles wins was the order of the evening for Chelmsford who won all three doubles matches including the all-important ninth match of the night. Chris Buer opened the Danbury account with a 3-0 win over Alesha Ellis-Austin though Chelmsford C skipper Waseem Qureshi produced a come-from-behind 3-2 win against John Tendler having been 2-0 down. The five-game excitement continued as Steve Buer beat Sami Osman 3-2 (which including a 13-11 scoreline in the fifth game) before individual wins for Steve Buer and John Tendler put Danbury within touching distance of progressing to the next round. A captain’s performance from Qureshi in his 3-2 victory over Chris Buer kept Chelmsford in the tie and he must have thought his efforts were all in vain when Ellis-Austin and Osman trailed 2-0 to Chris and Steve Buer. Any celebrations by the people of Danbury would've proved to have been premature as the Chelmsford duo were able to turn the corner and put their side into the next round with a hard-fought 3-2 win.
The third and final thriller in the division two cup this week was the matchup between Danbury D and OCA B. The contest was opened with a titanic doubles match between Danbury’s David Gatheral/Eamonn Hall and OCA’s duo of Robbie Burton and Mick Hayes - Gatheral and Hall battled back from 2-0 down only for Burton/Hayes to take the decider 13-11. Hall and Hayes saw five-game action in their singles contest with Hayes recovering from 2-1 down to win games four and five 11-9, 12-10. When Dave Porter put OCA 4-2 up on the night with a four-game victory over Hall the visitors must have thought they had one foot in the semi-finals but Danbury’s Gatheral then won 3-1 against Hayes before teammate Sanjay Saptarshi won 3-0 against Rob Burton. This set up a ‘winner takes all’ doubles decider in which Saptarshi and Hall raced into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back by a 16-14 reversal in game three. Was this going to be the turning point for OCA’s Porter and Hayes? Alas no, Saptarshi and Gatheral were able to regain their focus to take the game, match and fixture courtesy of an 11-9 fourth game scoreline.
Division two cup semi-finals to play:
02/04/2024: Writtle C v Danbury D
19/02/2024: Chelmsford D v Chelmsford C
Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issued on 14 January 2024
Division two title race heats up as top two are defeated
Danbury D’s 7-3 victory over leaders Chelmsford C coupled with third placed Writtle C’s 6-4 win over second placed Hatfield Peverel A blew the division two title race wide open with the top four teams now separated by a mere seven points.
Division 1
Barring any drastic swings in form from the teams at either end of division one, the three Danbury teams look set to fight over third place for the remainder of the season. Sam Lowman continued his splendid recent league form as Danbury B beat Danbury C 8-2 to move into third place. Lowman rallied from 1-0 down against Trevor Lloyd to win in four games and later beat Sanjay Saptarshi 3-0. Match of the night saw Lloyd recover from 2-1 down against Ian Wall to take the fourth and fifth games 11-3 and 11-6. Elsewhere, Writtle A’s miserable run continued as they fell to a 9-1 loss at Chelmsford A - Harry Chivers and Josh Bickles scoring trebles, OCA A consolidated top spot with a 10-0 win at Galleywood A, and Danbury A crushed Chelmsford B 10-0 thanks to three wins apiece for Eric Green, Dave Richardson and Bruce Kettle.
Standings div 1: 1: Old Chelmsfordians A 92 points (from 12 matches), 2: Chelmsford A 84 points (12 matches), 3: Danbury B 71 points (13 matches).
Division 2
Writtle C were the only team from within division two’s top three who came away with a win in week 17 as both leaders Chelmsford C and second placed Hatfield Peverel A slipped up on the road. Danbury D earned the title for ‘upset of the week’ as they beat leaders Chelmsford C 7-3 thanks to hat-tricks from Dan Patynski and David Gatheral. While Patynski dropped just one game in his three matches Gatheral’s trebles proved a little harder to come by - he fought back from 2-1 down against both Waseem Qureshi and Mark Allaway and was also taken to four games by Victor Chan. Qureshi also had a busy night - he made amends for his five game loss to Gatheral by beating Eamonn Hall having been 2-1 down prior to seeing four game action against Patynski. After a bright start to the evening which saw them go 2-1 up after three matches, second-placed Hatfield Peverel A lost four matches on the bounce en route to a 6-4 loss at Writtle C. Gary Ward’s two wins included a recovery from 2-0 down against Julie Johnson while John Webber’s double included a 12-10 final game decider win against Paul Mulley. Johnson and Alastair Piper won two each for the visitors - Johnson recovering from 2-1 down against Webber while Piper beat Ward in three which included two tight 13-11 games. Maldon A closed the gap on the top three with a resounding 9-1 victory at Chelmsford D on Monday night. Including their doubles effort, Lloyd Bennett-Smith and Chris Hancox dropped just one game between them all evening while Dawn Baldry’s two victories were both earned in deciding games against Mike Johnston and Kelvin Felix. Keith Martin’s 3-1 win over Baldry earned the hosts their sole point for the evening. Matthew Brown was the star of the show as his hat-trick guided his Writtle B team to a 8-2 away win at Danbury F on Thursday night. Brown dropped just one game over his three matches - his first victim of the night Chris Buer went on to beat both Phil Smith and Trevor Carter for Danbury’s only points. Carter produced a fine fightback in the closest match of the night - having trailed 2-0 to John Tendler he stormed through the last three games 11-5, 11-8, 11-5.
Standings div 2: 1: Chelmsford C 71 points (from 11 matches), 2: Hatfield Peverel A 67 points (from 11 matches), 3: Writtle C 66 points (12 matches)
Division 3
Galleywood B extended their lead at the top of division three with an 8-2 away win at Chelmsford F. Gary Brignall hit a hat-trick of wins with Gary Copsey and Mark Glenister denied from joining him by Chelmsford’s Felix Reeve. Reeve managed to weather Copsey’s comeback from 2-0 down to win the deciding game by an 11-9 scoreline while Glenister squeezed past Pav Srinivasamurthy - who had recovered from 2-0 down only to lose the fifth game 13-11. Buttsbury A lost ground on the leaders despite a 7-3 home win against Danbury J. Fresh from several event-winning performances at the C&DTTL annual tournament last weekend, Jamie Elliott and Evie Knaapen won three individual matches apiece with the two continuing from their Mixed doubles success with a 3-0 win over Louis Gunn and Terry Hyland. Hatfield Peverel B moved into third position with a 6-4 home win over Writtle E. Gareth Davies won three and Neil Freeman two for the hosts while Malcolm Storey scored with a double for Writtle. Storey’s win over Freeman in the opening contest of the evening came from a position of 2-0 down and then winning the fourth and fifth games by 14-12, 12-10 scores. Danbury H won 6-4 on the road at Writtle D thanks to a hat-trick from Ian Whiteside and a double from Alan Scammell. Writtle’s Trevor Collin won twice for the hosts with only Whiteside’s opening 3-2 win in the first encounter of the night preventing the treble. Scammell put the visitors 2-0 up with a come from behind win over Pete Layzell before Henstock pulled one back for the hosts via a 3–1 win over Ken Sheard.
Standings div 3: 1: Galleywood B 80 points (from 11 matches), 2: Buttsbury A 74 points (11 matches), 3: Hatfield Peverel B 58 points (from 11 matches).
Division 4
Just one point separated the top three teams in division four going into week 17 with Galleywood C level on points with Maldon B and Chelmsford G one point back. Chelmsford G would have been travelling to Galleywood hoping to hand the hosts their first loss of the season as well as to put a dent in their title aspirations but the leaders were able to pick up where they had left off prior to the break with a convincing 8-2 victory. Will Goodchild was the sole treble scorer on the night though he had to recover from 2-1 down to beat Salih Salim while Chelmsford’s Cleon Fernandes - who won the division four singles at the C&DTTL annual tournament - was able to beat both Gary Copsey and Colin Blore. Fernandes’ win over Copsey was a relatively tight one: 4-11, 11-9, 10-12, 17-15, 11-7. Despite only fielding two players, Maldon B came out 7-3 winners at Hatfield Peverel E thanks to trebles from both Brian Riedling and Ella Sach. OCA D trounced Hatfield Peverel D 10-0 as Farooq Ahmed, David Bishop and Russell Hall all hit hat-tricks, while Buttsbury B and Danbury L played out a 5-5 draw at Ramsden Bellhouse Village Hall - Greg Cooper’s three wins completed via a fine fight back against Lucy Elliott 9-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 13-11.
Standings div 4: 1: Galleywood C 69 points (from 9 matches), 2: Maldon B 68 points (from 10 matches), 3: Chelmsford G 62 points (10 matches),
Division 5
Danbury M’s march towards the division five title remains intact following their 9-1 home win over Highwood B. Steve Martin and Graham Naggs both fired hat-tricks with Nicola Pippen’s victory over David Smith being the only blot on the paper for the hosts. A 9-1 home win for second placed Chelmsford J over Writtle F was not enough to close the gap on the leaders. Elliott Hawthorne, Martin Brunker and Mark Nolan were all undefeated though Writtle were able to win the doubles encounter as Paul Aarons and Jo Hart won the decider against Brunker and Hawthorne. Third placed Chelmsford H lost ground on the leaders following a 7-3 loss at Anglia Ruskin University. Douglas Bawuah won all three of his matches and he was well supported by Kelvin Edeh who scored with a double. Chelmsford’s Peter Davenport dashed Edeh’s hopes of a hat-trick when recovering from 2-1 down to win the decider 11-8. Shirley Carroll led her Maldon C side to a 6-4 win over bottom of the table Hatfield Peverel F - a result which moves Maldon into fifth position albeit temporarily. Carroll was victorious in all three of her matches and she was well supported by Brian Dixon who won two of his matches while Hatfield Peverel’s Martin Kilbey (who you may remember for a win at the start of December following a long string of defeats) earned another victory when withstanding a Ross Wheeler fightback 11-6, 14-12, 6-11, 1-11. 11-8.
Standings div 5: 1: Danbury M 79 points (from 11 matches), 2: Chelmsford J 68 points (11 matches), 3: Chelmsford H 58 points (from 10 matches).
Ladies Cup
Buttsbury B earned a final tie with the winners of Chelmsford/Buttsbury A following a 3-1 away win at Highwood. Melanie Bonnett gave the hosts the perfect start to the evening with a 3-1 win over Frances Hutt but Caroline Cole levelled the tie up with a four-game win over Nicola Pippen. Hutt then beat Pippen in four and Cole took an important fourth game 18-16 against Bonnett before securing Buttsbury’s passage through to the final 11-8 in the decider.
Semi-final to play:
Chelmsford v Buttsbury A
Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issued on 10 January 2024
Rise of the juniors and the C&DTTL Annual Championships
Impressive performances by a number of Junior players led by Alesha Ellis-Austin (16), Evie Knaapen (13) and Harry Chivers (17) were the talking point of this year’s C&DTTL annual championships. Ellis-Austin and Knaapen won through to the Women’s final to be played on ‘Finals Night’ and also captured the Women’s doubles title, Knaapen was also one half of the Mixed doubles winners while Chivers advanced to the Men’s semi-finals (also to be played on ‘Finals Night’) and won the Hard Bat event.
Other Juniors who made event finals over the four-day table tennis extravaganza while brushing shoulders with adult players were: James Donald (16) who is one half of the Men’s doubles finalists (to be played on ‘Final’s Night’), Harrison Hill (12) - who won the division two singles, Jamie Elliott (17) who won the division three singles, the Mixed doubles and the Handicap singles, Cleon Fernandes (17) who won the division four singles, Adhuna Das (11) who was a very close runner up in the division five singles and Lucy Elliott (15) who was one half of the Handicap doubles winners. Below is a brief day-by-day review covering each event played over the four tournament days:
Thursday 4 January 2024
Opening night at Anglia Ruskin University saw the young and not so young congregate in the hope of having their name etched alongside the great C&DTTL players from years gone by.
Top seed Charlie Ware won the Under 13's singles event with a hard-fought 3-2 win over number two seed Joshua Freeman in the final. Ware and Freeman booked their meeting with semi-final wins against Adhuna Das (#4) and Grace Liu (#3) respectively. In the final itself, Ware recovered from 2-1 down and improve upon his runner’s up position last year.
Number two seed Sami Osman beat number three seed Joshua Freeman 3-1 in the final of the Under 15's singles. In a repeat of their earlier U13’s matchup, Freeman earned his place in the U15’s final with a 3-2 win over Charlie Ware having fought back from 2-1 down. Osman made it through to the final with a 3-1 win over Amir Chetitah (#5) though he was pushed hard by Ben Robinson in the quarter-final with progress not secured until the deciding game. Robinson had earlier taken Freeman to five games in the group stage. .
Moving on from the youngest age categories, , Ian Wall repeated his 2023 success in the Under 40's singles event with a 3-0 final win over Matthew Stringer (#3). Wall had earlier edged past #4 Saul Chivers in the semi-final while Stringer beat #2 Sam Lowman 3-1. In the Under 40's doubles, number one seeds Ian Wall & Matthew Stringer beat the defending champions and second seeds Dan Anderson & Sam Lowman 3-1 in the final. Wall and Stringer did well to overcome the stout resistance of Paul Sturton & Saul Chivers in the semi-final while Anderson & Lowman beat Wiktor Delimat & Alex Tkachuk 3-0. In the final itself Anderson & Lowman took the first game 11-8 but Wall and Stringer edged the next three 12-10, 11-9, 11-9.
On to the Veteran events and the defending Veteran Single's champion and number one Duncan Taylor booked his place at ‘Finals night’ with a 3-0 win over #6 Paul Davison. Davison earned his place in the last four with a tight 3-2 win over #4 Gary Young - winning the second game 17-15 and the decider 11-9. Taylor will be joined by #3 Kevin Read who overcame #2 Keith Adams 3-1 in his semi-final having earlier recovered from 2-1 down to beat Mark Allaway in the last 16. In the Veterans Doubles, top seeds Keith Adams & Kevin Read beat number two seeds Duncan Taylor & Paul Davison 3-0 to retain their Veteran doubles titles. Adams & Read were hard pushed in their semi-final against Andrew Dosher & Gary Young where they had to bounce back from a 2-1 deficit.
Friday 5 January 2024
Friday evening was time for the hugely successful ‘Bat & Chat’ to take centre stage with three events scheduled alongside the C&DTTL’s Mixed doubles event.
Barry Gould recovered from one game down to beat Fred Hodges in the final of the Bat & Chat singles championships. Hodges won the first game of their encounter 17-15 with Gould taking the second game by an equally close 14-12 scoreline. Gould then upped the intensity and took the final two games 11-6, 11-8. Hodges had reached the final with a fine 3-0 victory over Mike Pitt while Gould squeezed past Colin Base in their semi-final despite Base taking a 2-1 lead.
Georgina Riches won the Bat & Chat singles plate final with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Mark Day. Riches reached the final with a 3-1 win over Steve Keeble in the semi-final while Day beat Barbara Kirkby by the same scoreline to book his place.
Adam Pitt & Mark Day won the Bat & Chat Doubles with a 3-0 scoreline against the duo of Doug Blaber & Liz Hendle. Blaber & Hendle won the deciding game against Mike Pitt & Jack Kemp in the semi-final while eventual champions Adam Pitt & Mark Day beat Fred Hodges & Roger Hunt.
Third seeds Jamie Elliott & Evie Knaapen became 2024 Mixed Doubles champions thanks to a 3-1 victory over Ella Sach & Dan Anderson. While Elliott and Knaapen sailed through their three group games conceding just 30 points in total, Sach and Anderson did well to come through the five-game encounter with Alesha Ellis-Austin & Pav Srinivasmurthy.
Saturday 6 January 2024
With over 12 hours of competitive action, the Saturday of each C&DTTL annual championships has to be one of the most special dates in the region’s table tennis calendar. With the Men’s, Women’s and Junior events getting underway as well as a host of other categories the atmosphere is always one to behold!
Defending champion and number two seed Alesha Ellis-Austin retained her Junior Girl's Singles title with an excellent come-from-behind victory over number one seed Evie Knaapen. Knaapen had taken a 2-0 lead in comprehensive fashion (11-6, 11-6) but Ellis-Austin took a tight third game 13-11 before winning the final two games by the equally close 11-9 and 12-10. Earlier, Ellis-Austin had to recover from 2-0 down against Adhuna Das in their group match.
Defending Junior Boys Singles champion Harry Chivers and sixth seed Harrison Hill will meet on ‘Finals night’ as Chivers overcame #5 Nikita Tkachuk 3-1 in their semi-final while sixth seed Hill edged past #2 James Donald over five games. Tkachuk and #4 Josh Bickles were involved in the longest game of the event which occurred in the third game of their quarter-final clash and saw Tkachuk go two games to one up with a 21-19 score.
Number one seeds Josh Bickles and Harry Chivers powered to a 3-0 victory over #3 Evie Knaapen and Harrison Hill in the Junior Doubles final. Bickles and Chivers came through the earlier knockout rounds without dropping a game while Knaapen and Hill fought back from two-nil down to beat #2 Aidan Lees & James Donald in the semi-final.
The climax of the Women's Singles between second seed Evie Knaapen and fourth seed Alesha Ellis-Austin will be decided next Monday at ‘Finals Night’. Knaapen reached the final with a 3-0 win over Adhuna Das while Ellis-Austin was involved in a seesaw five-game battle with Frances Hutt which she secured 12-10 in the decider. Hutt had a very impressive singles event; she secured victories over third seed Andrea Alleyne as well as defending champion / number one seed Dawn Baldry.
Alesha Ellis Austin and Evie Knaapen were crowned Women's Doubles champions with a 3-0 victory over Frances Hutt and Lucy Elliott. Ellis-Austin and Knaapen overcame Adhuna Das and Shweta Lees in the semi-final while Hutt and Elliott earned their final spot with a 3-2 win against third seeds Andrea Alleyne and Ella Sach. Hutt and Elliott had earlier beaten the number one seeds Dawn Baldry and Shirley Carroll in the quarter finals - also via a 3-2 scoreline.
‘Finals night’ will see the last four competitors standing in the Men's Singles event facing off. The fab four hunting down the title will be representing different C&DTTL clubs and are: #17 Harry Chivers (Chelmsford), #7 Matthew Mulley (Old Chelmsfordians), #11 Paul Davison (Danbury) and #2 Duncan Taylor (Writtle). Chivers recovered from a 3-2 group loss at the hands of Aidan Lees to go on to beat #5 Mark Mulley (3-1) in the last 16 and defending champion / number one seed Keith Adams (3-0) in the quarter-finals. Matthew Mulley’s path to the final included a win over Saul Chivers (3-0) and #12 Eric Green (3-0), while Davison overcame #3 Kevin Read (3-2) in the last 16 and Keiran Lally (3-1) in the last eight. Previous winner and second seed Duncan Taylor advanced to the semi-finals with wins over Andrew Dosher (3-2, including 15-13 in the decider) at the last 16 stage and Lee McHugh (3-1) in the quarter-final. Outstanding performances by Junior players included James Donald beating #13 Bruce Kettle 3-1 in the last 32 before losing 3-2 to Lally, Jamie Elliott winning 3-0 against Sanjay Saptarshi, Nikita Tkachuk taking eventual semi-finalist Davison to five games, Omar Wasi pushing #12 Eric Green to five games, and Aidan Lees winning in five games against #8 Kaung Htet Paing.
Top seeds Paul Davison & James Donald earned their place in the Men's Doubles final (to be played at ‘Finals night’) with a three game semi-final win over Keith Adams & Sanjay Saptarshi. Davison & Donald had to recover from 2-1 down in their last 16 clash with Ian Wall & Matthew Stringer before beating Neil Freeman & Victor Chan in the quarter-final. Their opponents for the final will be #3 Mark and Matthew Mulley who edged an exciting semi-final against #2 Duncan Taylor & Kevin Read. Taylor & Read had taken an early 2-0 lead (11-7, 11-5) before the Mulley brothers stormed back 11-9, 11-3 and took a tense decider 14-12.
#1 Keith Adams successfully defended his Over 50's title with a 3-1 victory over fourth seed Eric Green in the final. Adams had to recover from a 2-0 deficit in his semi-final with #5 Bruce Kettle, while Green won in four games against #2 Gary Young. James Hicks produced a fine 3-2 win over #6 Babul Mcleod in the last 16 before Adams dashed his hopes in the following round.
Top seed Bruce Kettle repeated his Over 60's success last year with a 3-1 win over #3 Eric Green in the final. Green had fought back from 2-1 down against #4 Babul McLeod in the semi-final to book his place in the final while Kettle beat Ian Whiteside.
The unseeded Steve Buer showed great resilience as he stormed to the Over 70's title. Buer managed to progress to the knockouts despite a group stage loss at the hands of David Parker, he later recovered from 2-1 down to beat Dave Moles in the quarter final before winning 13-11 in the deciding game of his semi-final clash with Denis Crapnell. Buer rallied from a game down in the final against defending champion and number one seed Ian Whiteside who had himself experienced a loss in his group - at the hands of Denis Crapnell.
The Hard Bat Singles threw up some interesting matchups throughout with Harry Chivers ultimately coming out on top securing a 15-11, 15-11 victory over Lee McHugh in the final. Chivers had beaten his brother Saul in the last 16 (15-12, 12-15, 15-12) before bettering Aidan Lees and then Gary Young. McHugh beat Bruce Kettle (11-15, 15-7, 15-5) in the last eight before booking his final appearance with a 2-1 victory over Ian Wall (14-15, 15-6, 15-14). Wall had beaten Matthew Mulley 10-15, 15-10, 15-10 in the quarter-finals and Kettle had edged past James Donald 9-15, 15-12, 15-14 in the last 16.
Sunday 7th January 2024
After a thoroughly enjoyable but taxing Saturday for many of the players, a cold Sunday morning saw competitors (and organisers / helpers!) peeling themselves from their warm beds to de-ice the car and make their way to ARU for the early start. The events scheduled for the last day were the divisional singles, handicap singles and handicap doubles.
Sixth seed Harrison Hill recovered from a slow start to his Division 2 Singles campaign to win the final 3-0 against #3 Chris Buer. Hill lost his first group game 3-1 against Trevor Collin before recovering from 2-1 down to beat Eamonn Hall and advance to the knockout stages. Buer was also well tested in his group by Jamie Elliott who took the number three seed to five games - Elliott later raced into a two-nil lead against top seed Sanjay Saptarshi in their last 16 clash before Saptarshi advanced. Omar Wasi then pushed Saptarshi close in their quarter-final matchup before Hill beat Saptarshi 3-1 in the last four. Buer took out Hill-conqueror Collin in the quarter-final before overcoming Richard Storey 3-1 in their semi-final.
Fifth seed Jamie Elliott was crowned Division 3 Singles champion following a tight 3-2 final victory over Dave Moles. Elliott recovered from the disappointment of losing the opening two games (10-12, 11-13) to take the next three games 13-11, 11-7, 12-10. In the semi-finals, Elliott overcame #1 Ian Whiteside in four games while Moles was taken the distance by #6 Evie Knaapen. Moles had been taken to five games by Felix Reeve in the previous round - Reeve had taken out the number two seed Ryan Pitt in the last 16.
Third seed Cleon Fernandes beat fifth seed Alex Ware in five games to become Division 4 Singles champion - both players improved on their 2023 performance where they were losing semi-finalists. Fernandes beat #7 Alex Wilson over four games in their semi-final while Ware beat #4 Frances Hutt in three. Wilson had earlier beaten #2 Will Goodchild over five games in the quarter-finals while Ware beat #1 Colin Blore at the same stage.
Top seed Richard Pond won an extremely close final against Adhuna Das to be crowned Division 5 Singles champion. Das impressed enroute to the final with three-game wins against Francesca Hart, Ken Wilding and #3 James Grindlay while Pond squeezed past Shengbing Zhu over five games and #4 Davenport in four. Anglia Ruskin players #5 Kelvin Edeh and #6 Douglas Bawuah were both knocked out at the quarter-final stage over five games with Edeh seeing a two game lead disappear against Davenport while Bawuah let a 2-1 lead slip against Grindlay.
Jamie Elliott (65) became the 2024 C&DTTL Handicap Singles champion with a final victory over Peter Davenport (36). With tables, chairs and barriers being packed away in the hall, Elliott (-9) held his concentration against seasoned veteran Davenport (+9) to secure the title with a 21-15 scoreline. Davenport (+10) had seen off Jamie Hicks (-10) 21-14 in the semi-final while Elliott (-6) edged through 22-20 against Alex Ware (+6).
The Handicap Doubles final saw an intriguing matchup as siblings Lucy and Jamie Elliott faced off on opposite sides of the table. Jamie, who was partnered with Rob Burton (-3) fell short by the narrowest of margins as Lucy and her partner Saul Chivers (+3) took the glory in a 23-21 scoreline. Jamie Elliott & Burton (-7) had overcome Ella Sach & Alesha Ellis-Austin (+3) in the semi-final while Lucy Elliott and Chivers (-2) beat Will Goodchild & Felix Reeve (+1).
Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League
