Warwickshire County Table Tennis Championships
Birmingham’s recent stranglehold on the Men’s County Singles was broken at the weekend in Warwick as Ryan Stockham of the Phoenix club in Coventry and local boy Laurence Sweeney of St Georges contested the Final. Sweeney beat Smithswood’s Pat Glynn in 4 in the semis whilst Stockham took out another Birmingham player in Colebridge’s Edward Lynn whom he beat in straight games, a feat he repeated in the Final against Sweeney as he stormed to the title.
Birmingham retained their grip on the Ladies title however, as Kate Hughes of Colebridge reversed last year’s Final result by triumphing against Smithswood’s Helen Turner.
The Men’s doubles went to the Junior pairing of Colebridge’s Sam Henderson and Rugby’s Jesse Kendrick-Hill who defeated Edward Lynn and Navinder Matharu 11 in the 5th in a thrilling semi before beating the scratch partnership of Pat Glynn (Smithswood) and Phil Paine (WCC) in straight games.
The Ladies Doubles saw the welcome return of Birmingham’s Di St Ledger (Beaufort) who partnered Helen Turner to victory in 4 over Kate Hughes and St Georges’ Charlotte Spencer.
Singles champions Hughes and Stockham took their second title as they eased out the young Rugby pairing of Milly Bradshaw and Ryan Lines in the Mixed doubles Final.
If the big cities claimed the senior events it was a completely different story in the younger events with Leamington Club Lillington Free Church taking 6 of the 8 titles on offer and providing 12 of the 16 finalists.
The under 11 Boys saw Ricardo Bolanos defeat Church club and team mate Nicholas Ho in 3. The under 11 girls was also an all Free Church affair but much closer as Ellie Goldsmith beat Milly Green in 5. Jack Green (Free Church) seemingly looked out of contention against Rugby’s Sam Cafearo in the under 13 Boys when he trailed 0-2 but he rallied and emerged the victor in 5.
An all Free Church Final again in the under 13 Girls with Milly Green again falling in 5 to Ciara Hancox.
Hot Favourite Timmy Cooper (Free Church) eclipsed the impressive Yassir Udin (Sutton TTC) in the Cadet (U15) Final. Milly Bradshaw (Rugby) and Olivia Fletcher (FC) were seeded 1 and 2 in both the Under 15 Girls and the Junior (U18) girls but did not have it all their own way. Fletcher reached the U15 Final but Bradshaw fell in the group stages to Church’s rapidly improving Jenny Singleton. Brilliant hitting on both wings from Fletcher saw her lift the crown against Singleton. Church’s other girl Singleton, Katie, no relation, upset the odds in the Junior Girls defeating Fletcher in the group stages. In the Final she met Bradshaw who won in 4. It is a long time since the County have had such a talented group of girls.
There were shocks too in the Junior Boys where number 2 seed Timmy Cooper fell in 3 to club-mate Lee Dorning, fresh from a long lay-off through injury. Dorning’s hits were at times unbelievable. However, he could not master Rugby’s Jesse Kendrick-Hill who beat him in 4.
Henderson and Kendrick-Hill won the Junior Boys doubles against Cooper and Dorning in 4 and Bradshaw and Fletcher teamed for the Junior Girls doubles against Jenny and Katie Singleton also in 4.
The Veterans title went to Owen Malcolm of Birmingham’s Hamstead club who beat club mate Stephen Robinson but the Veterans Doubles was claimed locally by WCC’s Nilton Green and Simon Griew who defeated the St Georges pairing of Mark Jackson and Matthew Jordan.
For the full detail of all the results visit
http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=45E21200-FBAE-4632-BB08-698A5C90EF7C
Other results:
Men’s Restricted Singles: (top seeds ineligible): Amit Ubhi (Colebridge) beat Edward Lynn (Colebridge) 3-0
Womens Restricted Singles: Nicola Francis (Millennium) beat Olivia Fletcher (FC) 3-2
Junior Boys Restricted Singles: Sam Weaving (FC) beat Tom Meldrum (FC) 3-1
Over 50s singles: Pat Glynn (Smithswood) beat Phil Paine (WCC) 3-0
Over 60s Singles: Pat Glynn beat Tim Fell (Colebridge) 3-0
Over 70s Singles: Will Fletcher (St Georges) beat Jack Kuomi (Rugby) 3-0
Phil John
Leamington Press Officer
