100-year anniversary of Hastings Table Tennis Championship is celebrated

Noah Devine won the Division 4 Championships beating brother Samuel in a close final 11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 9-11, 12-10. Kevin Long finished third.

A round robin in Division 3 saw Vincent Ridley justify his top seeding winning his four matches against Leslie Ho, John Quintos, Ian Edwards and Andy Holmes. Ho finished second thanks to a 2-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5 win over third placed Quintos.

In the Division 2 Championships the top two players of each group went through to the knockout rounds. Winners of the groups were Robin Gibbs, Jamie Martin and Sue Pingram, runners-up were Mike Courtnage, Bob Lowe and Paul Hyland.

Hyland and Pingram progressed to the semi-finals where Gibbs beat Pingram 7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 and Hyland beat Martin 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 11-7. The final saw hard bat playing Gibbs overcome Hyland 11-6, 11-6, 11-7.

Sue Pingram finished top of the round robin Women’s Singles winning her four matches. It went to the wire for second place which was decided in the last match of the group. The win went to Sheila King over Alison Jordan 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10. Cheng Liu finished fourth and Kim Shearer fifth.

Alison Jordan and Sheila King won the Women’s Doubles with an 11-8, 6-11, 12-10, 11-2 score in the final over Sue Pingram and Kim Shearer.

The Men’s Doubles group winners were Andy Norwood with Simon Philipsz, James Gorridge with Vincent Ridley and David Butler with Nick Standen. Robin Gibbs with Jamie Martin, Paul Barry with Trevor Darby and Mike Courtnage with Paul Hyland were the second placed pairs.

Butler and Standen defeated Barry and Darby 12-10, 6-11, 17-15, 11-13, 13-11 in one quarter-final and Courtnage and Hyland defeated Gibbs and Martin 4-11, 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3 in the other. The two semi-finals saw Norwood and Philipsz against Butler and Standen with the former winning 11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 11-1. Gorridge and Ridley dispatched Courtnage and Hyland 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 in their semi-final.

The title went to the more experienced pair of Norwood and Philipsz 11-5, 11-7, 12-10 in the final.

The Mixed Doubles was another round robin affair in which Paul Barry and Sue Pingram ended with the silverware finishing with three wins. Runners-up were Mike Hebdige and Sheila King. Bob Lowe and Alison Jordan were third and scratch pair, Trevor Darby and Kim Shearer, were fourth.

The largest entry was in the Men’s Singles where 22 fought for the honour of being the centenary champion. The six-group winners were Andy Norwood, David Butler, Simon Philipsz, Nick Standen, Liam Higgins, and James Gorridge. Second places went to Paul Hyland, Jamie Martin, Robin Gibbs, Vincent Ridley, Bob Lowe and Trevor Darby.

Round of 16 winners were Lowe who had an 11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9 victory over Martin; Gibbs with an 11-3, 11-3, 11-13, 11-6 win over Gorridge; Higgins beat Ridley 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8 in a superb battle between two juniors; and Darby beat Hyland 11-7, 11-8, 11-5. In the quarter-finals Norwood overcame Lowe 11-7, 11-7, 11-2, Gibbs beat Standen 11-6, 11-6, 12-14, 11-7, Higgins just lost to Philipsz 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 11-3, 12-10 and Butler beat Darby 14-12, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6.

Norwood had an 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 win over Gibbs in the one semi-final, and Butler was victorious over Philipsz 3-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4, 16-14 in the other.

The final was between the top two seeds, Norwood and Butler, with Norwood eventually getting over the line 16-14, 8-11, 11-2, 11-13, 11-4.

Congratulations to the champions and special credit to the four juniors who had excellent results – Noah Devine, Samuel Devine, Liam Higgins and Vincent Ridley.

Thanks go to President Steph Sargent, who presented the trophies, Trevor Towner who set up the hall, referee Diane Webb ably assisted by Rose Rainton and Pam Winter and all players.