Important - CHANGE OF DATE

annual closed tournament

at Torbay Leisure Centre on SATURDAY 27th April 2019

Unfortunately, due to a mix up by the Torbay Leisure Centre, our booking was not carried through to the new year which resulted in the Leisure Centre double booking the original date of Sunday 28th April. We have looked at several alternative venues to see if we could run it on the original date but many factors made this difficult. With the offer of a reduced fee from the Leisure Centre we have reluctantly agreed to bring the tournament forward by one day to Saturday 27th April.

We apologise for this change of date, but we had no option as the Leisure Centre would not honour our original booking. We hope this will not affect too many of those who regularly attend the tournament.

Closed Tournament Entry Form

ANNUAL CLOSED TOURNAMENT REPORT

SOUTH DEVON AND TORBAY TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE

ANNUAL CLOSED TOURNAMENT

TORBAY LEISURE CENTRE – SATURDAY 27^TH APRIL

The Closed Tournament this season has a changed format with many finals being held back, to be played at a showpiece event next Tuesday (30^th April) at Newton Abbot Racecourse. As well as the 6 finals taking place all the Season’s awards will be presented at this event.

Following problems with the Sports centre double booking the normal Sunday the event is held, which meant a late switch to the Saturday, and then Devon County TTA deciding to arrange the County Table Tennis Championships on the same weekend, fears were that the entry would suffer. The fears were ungrounded as a record 52 league players took part in the 12 events taking place.

The first event, the Men’s Singles had 32 competitors. Group winners in Round one being; Kevin Nicholls, Dennis Gibbs, Patrik Cincala, Shaun Gibbs, Yannick Tushingham, David Davies, Mick Mercer, Dan Webster-Hall & Tom Ricketts. The top 4 seeds progressed to the Semi finals, which saw Kevin Nicholls defeat Shaun Gibbs and Patrik Cincala beat Dennis Gibbs to set up an intriguing final between the attacking Patrik Cincala and the defence and spin of Kevin Nicholls.

A fascinating ladies singles contest for the Knight Cup saw league sponsor Sonja Ryland make her way to the final, where she will face Naomi Jackson on Tuesday night.

The Veterans, with a bumper entry of 27, ran a similar course to that of the men’s singles with three of the semi-finalists the same. Bob Parkins was the semi-finalist who didn’t get so far in the Men’s event and he lost out to Patrik Cincala in this event. Dennis Gibbs just got the better of Kevin Nicholls in the other semi-final to set up another Patrik Cincala v Dennis Gibbs Veterans final, the 3^rd in a row I believe.

The Ladies Doubles was played off in one group to a conclusion, Naomi Jackson and Lauren Loosemore just seeing off the challenge from Sonja Ryland and Jackie Whitehorn 10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9 to win the Reg Spooner Cup.

There were some great confrontations in the men’s doubles which will eventually be decided on Tuesday night between two father and son teams as Dennis & Shaun Gibbs take on Giles and Yannick Tushingham in what is sure to be a fast, hard hitting encounter between two aggressive pairs.

The Mixed doubles is also going to be completed on finals night. Kevin Nicholls partnering Sonja Ryland will take on Naomi Jackson and Shaun Gibbs.

Dennis Gibbs retained his super veterans title as he, for the second year running, defeated Bob Parkins in an entertaining open final, 11-2, 11-5, 11-9.

The Waine Cup for Junior Boys was won by Ben Hoare, Josh Redfern was the Runner-up

The final four events were the divisional singles. Rob Ferguson defeated Paul Beckley 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 to win the Division Five Competition. Bill Keywood beat Josh Redfern 14-12, 11-7, 11-9, to take the fourth division crown. The third division event was won by Ben Hoare with Peter Sercombe the Runner Up 11-8, 11-9, 11-6. The Second Division final will be played on finals night between Allen Pack and Stuart Shipley.

An excellent day’s Table Tennis with the prospect of even better to come at the Newton Abbot Racecourse on Tuesday night, commencing at 7 pm. Please do come along to watch some terrific table tennis and support this new event in comfortable spacious surroundings. Refreshments will be available and a draw will take place as well as the presentation of all the season’s awards.

The Finals to be played at the racecourse on Tuesday 30^th April will be:

Veteran Singles - Dennis Gibbs v Patrik Cincala

Mixed Doubles - Sonja Ryland + Kevin Nicholls v Naomi Jackson + Shaun Gibbs

Division 2 Singles - Allen Pack v Stuart Shipley

Mens Doubles - Dennis + Shaun Gibbs v Giles + Yannick Tushingham

Ladies Singles - Sonja Ryland v Naomi Jackson

Mens Singles - Patrik Cincala v Kevin Nicholls

Presentation and finals night

at Newton Abbot Racecourse on TUESDAY 30th April 19:00-22:00

There is also a change in format for the finals of the above tournament with several matches being held back for a showpiece finals and presentation night at Newton Abbot Racecourse on the following Tuesday night.

With up to 16 events taking place on the tournament day, with often the same players in several of the finals and very few folk left around to watch after a long day’s table tennis, it has been agreed to trial a Finals Night. This will make the day shorter, will ease the pressure on those players who have reached several finals, will make scheduling of the tournament day easier and will give the opportunity for many more folk to watch our top players in action on a showpiece evening.

The presentation of all the season’s awards will also take place during the evening instead of at our Annual General Meeting.

Refreshments will be available throughout the evening at the racecourse where there will be plenty of room to enjoy your evening of table tennis.

We hope all players and their families will come along to enjoy an excellent evening of table tennis in a superb venue.

FINALS AND AWARDS NIGHT REPORT

The Newton Abbot Racecourse was the venue for the first Finals and Awards Night in recent years. The Finals of 6 events from the Annual Closed Tournament held last Saturday were played off in excellent surroundings to a large crowd of almost 100 local TT enthusiasts.

As well as 6 excellent matches, awards were handed out to many of the successful teams and players over the 2018-19 season.

The first event of the evening, the Veterans, saw the current holder Patrik Cincala, who has won the competition for the last 3 seasons, against seventeen times winner Dennis Gibbs. Gibbs triumphed this time, winning back the trophy 14-12, 11-9, 11-7 in an open hard hitting confrontation.

Event two was the mixed doubles, NA Buzzards pair of Sonja Ryland and Kevin Nicholls looking to win the event for the third time, their first win being back in 2002, against a new pairing, NA Batmen, Shaun Gibbs and Naomi Jackson. In a close match which could’ve gone either way, Naomi & Shaun came back from 4-1 down in the fifth to triumph 15-13, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6.

Match three was an all Brixham TTC affair, as Allen Pack took on Stuart Shipley in the Division Two Final. Stuart winning through 11-2, 11-13, 11-3, 11-6.

In the Men’s Doubles, event four, the NA Batmen father and son team of Dennis and Shaun Gibbs took on the NA Condors father and son team of Giles and Yannick Tushingham. A brilliant encounter with both teams attacking hard, the Tushinghams took the first leg, but the Gibbs partnership, who won the title four times in a row 1999-2003, eventually winning, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7.

Next up was the Ladies Singles between Sonja Ryland and Naomi Jackson. Sonja looking to retain the trophy and win the cup for an 8th time, Naomi looking for a third triumph. Naomi started well but Sonja fought back, however, in the end Naomi’s accurate attacking play won the day, 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9,

The best was saved for last as Kevin Nicholls took on Patrik Cincala in the men’s singles final for the Burton Cup. The contrasting styles was always going to make this an entertaining final, with Patrik’s controlled attack up against Kevin’s spinny defence. Patrik, looking to win the cup for the first time, was working incredibly hard trying to hit through Kevin’s brilliant defence, but Kevin kept getting the ball back. In the end Kevin wore Patrik down, and on the sixth match point won 11-8, 11-8, 18-16. Kevin’s second Burton cup success exactly 20 years on from his first!

A superb evening’s table tennis, and an event which should become a regular in the South Devon and Torbay Table Tennis League’s calendar.

Many thanks to all the competitors, award winners and spectators for making it a great occasion, with particular thanks to everyone who contributed some very generous draw prizes, to Sue, Ellie and Helen for the superb cakes, Nick for transportation, George for doing the mc bit and umpiring and last but not least our league sponsor, Sonja Ryland (Albany Florists) for presenting the awards.