Hastings & District Table Tennis Association junior representative team Emily Koester, Oli Matthews and Leon Hyde ( who all play for, and are coached at Bexhillians Premier Table Tennis club) played in the final 4th session of this year’s National Junior League at Byng Hall in Tunbridge Wells competing against Cleve Park Red from Sidcup, Isle of Thanet Odin, Byng Hall Red from Tunbridge Wells and Crusaders A and B from Surrey for the chance of winning a gold or silver team medal.
Hastings produced an amazing comeback from 3 sets to 1 down in their first match against Cleve Park Red to draw 3-3. Leon Hyde won a crucial match against Joshua Klein who had previously beaten Oli Matthews 11-9,12-10,11-9 and won 10-12,11-9,11-6,14-12 and make the match score 2 -3, then up stepped Emily Koester to seal a draw with her second 3 sets to 1 victory.
Next they played Isle of Thanet Odin and won 5 – 1 and then Byng Hall Red, who they had previously drawn with in earlier sessions and gained a very hard fought 4 -2 victory with Leon Hyde winning both his matches 3 sets to 1. Hastings then faced their hardest match against the favourites to win the title, Crusaders A, who last time they met had beaten them 5-1. Oli Matthews got Hastings off to a flying start with a 3 sets to 1 victory 11-13,12-10,11-8,11-6 against Abiram Nagarajan but Hastings then fell 3 -1 behind with Emily and Leon both losing 3 sets to 1 and Oli losing 3 sets to 2.
Hastings had to now try and get a draw to stand any chance of winning a medal. Leon Hyde then dug in and beat Abiram Nagarajan 11-9,7-11,11-8,18-16 to win 3 sets to 2 and make the match score 2-3 and then it was up to Emily Koester who put her previous loss behind her and produced a powerful performance winning 3 sets to nil 11-9,11-7,11-3 to seal a vital and incredible draw.
Hastings then had their final match against Crusaders B and with a chance of winning a medal won the match 5 sets to 1but would this be enough? The final placings in what was a very high standard final session saw Hastings representative team unbeaten and finish runners up thus winning a team silver medal and narrowly missing out on the gold. Emily Koester finished Hastings’ top player in the final session winning 8 out of 10 of her matches.
This was a tremendous team performance and all three players were a credit to Hastings & District TTA and their club and coaches at Bexhillians Premier Table Tennis Club. They have recently been given their Sussex age group rankings and Emily Koester is currently ranked number 2 in girls , Oli Matthews number 11 in boys and Leon Hyde has moved up sixty places in the last month and is now ranked 15, reflecting all their hard work and training for this event.
OVERVIEW
Division One
NJL Tunbridge Wells 2022/23 - Session 4
Table
# | Team | P | W | D | L | SF | SA | ADJ | Pts |
1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 9 | 0 | 21 | |
2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 20 | |
3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 11 | 0 | 19 | |
4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 14 | |
5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 21 | 0 | 9 | |
6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 0 | 7 |
Averages
Player | Team | P | W | % |
10 | 10 | 100 | ||
10 | 9 | 90 | ||
10 | 9 | 90 | ||
10 | 8 | 80 | ||
10 | 7 | 70 | ||
10 | 7 | 70 | ||
10 | 7 | 70 | ||
8 | 5 | 62.5 | ||
10 | 5 | 50 | ||
10 | 5 | 50 | ||
6 | 3 | 50 | ||
6 | 2 | 33.33 | ||
6 | 2 | 33.33 | ||
10 | 3 | 30 | ||
10 | 3 | 30 | ||
6 | 1 | 16.67 | ||
6 | 1 | 16.67 | ||
8 | 1 | 12.5 | ||
8 | 1 | 12.5 | ||
10 | 1 | 10 | ||
6 | 0 | 0 |
