JOHNSON WINS HIS FIRST GRAND PRIX EVENT

This week in the Fun 88 sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis League the first of three Grand Prix events was played. It is only for Division One players. Three players are selected from each of the six teams and the team members seed themselves 1-3. All the players are separated into six groups of three with each group containing a seed 1, 2 and 3 from different clubs.

The winners from each group were then split into two groups of three where they would play a round-robin. The same happened for the players who came 2^nd and 3^rd in round one.  Whatever place a player came in their group, they would play their equivalent number from the other group. The result of this final match would decide which position each player came.

Hence, if a player wins their group from round 1 they are competing for places 1 to 6. Those players finishing second in their group then play for positions 7 and 12 and the bottom placed players fight for positions 13 and 18.

Due to the Grand Prix event using so many tables there was only time and room for Division Two and Four to play their league matches.

Grand Prix

Round 1

Group A was topped by Mike Tamarov after beating Malcolm Cummings and Steve Curtis. Cummings came second by also beating Curtis.

Group B was won by Sean Drewry, followed by Julian Briercliffe and then Rhys Yardley.

Group C saw Andy Patterson take first place, runner up was Adam Davies leaving Simon Radcliffe in third.

Group D was secured by Mark Johnson, second came Keeran Chan followed by Juan Moore.

Group E was clinched by Adam Teare closely followed by Paul Corran leaving Mike Dunning in third.

Group F was topped by Khayee Vinas, Mason McLarney came second and Graham McFarlane placed third.

Round 2

Group G was dominated by Johnson followed by Vinas in second and Tamarov coming third.

Group H saw each player earn a point, so it went down to games lost and won. Patterson claimed top spot closely followed by Teare and, perhaps unexpectedly, the defending champion from last year Sean Drewry came third.

Group I was claimed by Cummings, Corran took second with Chan in third.

Group J also saw each player earn one win so McLarney took the group closely followed by Strathallan teammate Briercliffe leaving Davies in third place.

Group K was won by Yardley leaving Tower teammates Curtis and Radcliffe in second and third respectively.

Group L was also saw each player taking one point so on countback McFarlane took first place followed closely by Moore and then Dunning.

Crossovers

1^st – 6^th

Johnson beat Patterson in three sets making him the overall winner,

Patterson took 2^nd.

Vinas achieved 3^rd place leaving Adam Teare in 4^th. Tamarov came 6^th after losing to Drewry who was placed 5^th.

7^th – 12^th

Cummings beat McLarney to 7^th leaving McLarney in 8^th. Corrin took 9^th ahead of Briercliffe in 10^th. Chan came 11^th placing Davies 12^th.

13^th – 18^th

Yardley claimed 13^th place followed by his opponent McFarlane in 14^th. Moore secured 15^th leaving Curtis in 16^th. Dunning earned 17^th meaning Radcliffe was 18^th.

Each player’s finishing position translated to points which are also applied to the team event. This is very tight with Strathallan and Arbory joint first on 45 points. They are closely followed by Travellers in third place on 40 points. Fourth are Copy Shop on 36. Fifth are Surestrike Ramsey with 29 and finally Tower have 9 points.

League Division Two

Travellers C (3) Peel A (7)

Peel increased their lead at the top of the table thanks to braces from Malc Lewis, Maggie Mulhern and Matty Evans. Lewis and Evans also secured the doubles. Paul Mathieson-Nelson earned a useful hat-trick for Travellers but was made to sweat by Lewis who narrowly lost their tight tussle 11/9, 8/11, 9/11, 11/7, 8/11.

Surestrike Ramsey B (6) Travellers B (4)

This was an important win from Surestrike with another hat-trick from Tim Baker, two from Chris Holmes and a crucial point from Kerenza Baker 15/13, 12/10, 9/11, 7/11, 14/12 against Stuart Douglas who went on to bag a brace for Travellers. Colin Brown purloined another point and despite Douglas and Colin Barron winning the doubles it was too little too late for a draw.

Copy Shop B (5)  Tower B (5)

Rob Sim and Ibim Davies claimed two apiece and combined to secure the doubles. In response Dario Mazzotta hit a hat-trick and Travellers pulled back with a point each from Matt Crabtree and Dave Callow to claim a draw. The match could have gone either way as Freya Melvin lost 9/11 in the final frame to Callow who had earlier been pipped at the post 12/10 by Sim.

Division Four

IOM JD North (0) Copy Shop D (10)

Kitty Thomas, Libby Quagin and Sophie Sheard all secured three points. Thomas and Quaggin went on to win the doubles for top of the table Copy Shop D. Glenn Callow was unfortunate to lose 11/9 in the fifth set against Sheard.

IOM JD 2 (0)  Copy Shop E (10)

Leo Doyle, Cameron Dudley and Josh Dudley all won their three matches and finished it off with a win in the doubles for Doyle and Josh.

IOM JD 1 (2)  Surestrike Ramsey E (8)

Stuart Watson and Lily Byrne secured the win early on in the fixture which Victoria Watson added to with a point as well as winning the doubles alongside Byrne. Sam Preece and Jake Levine both took a consolation point and William Shooter came close in losing 10/12, 16/14, 11/8, 10/12, 6/11 against Victoria.

JUAN MOORE

MALCOLM LAMBERT - PHOTOGRAPHS