Thrilling finals at town tournament

Women's singles champion Rose Rainton with Hastings & District Table Tennis Association president Robin Gibbs. Picture courtesy Mick Lane

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The Hastings & District Table Tennis Association held its annual Closed Championships at The Hastings Academy on Sunday.

The tournament saw excellent performances from Lewis Mayhew (Bexhillians TTC) and Rose Rainton (Hollington Academy), the national number two veteran woman who repeated last year’s feat of the ‘grand slam’ of women’s events.

Eighth seed Mayhew took his first Hastings men’s singles title with a fine win over top seed Paul Barry (Hollington Academy) in a tense five-game final after losing the first two.

Barry beat title holder Dave Butler (Saints) in the semi-finals, while Mayhew had a tough route, defeating second seed Nathan Darby (Academy) and fourth seed Bashar Obeyed (Academy) to reach the final.

Men's singles champion Lewis Mayhew. Picture courtesy Mick Lane

The women’s singles was played as a group of five, in which Rainton was unbeaten, despite dropping a game on three occasions.

Tina Beaney (Bexhillians) repeated last year’s runner-up performance after losing her first two games and then coming from 0-2 down to beat Alison Jordan (Monarchs) - a result which pushed Jordan down to a still highly commendable third place.

Butler and Barry retained the men’s doubles title, but had to come from two games down to beat Darby and Mayhew in the final.

The champions overcame Jamie Martin and Fraser Kent (both Academy) in the semi-finals, while at the same stage, Darby and Mayhew accounted for Obeyed and Andy Syrett (Saints).

Men's doubles victors Paul Barry and Dave Butler. Picture courtesy Mick Lane

In another five-game final, Rainton and Beaney took the women’s doubles, beating Sheila King (Tigers) and Pam Winter (Bexhillians) 11-8 in the decider.

Rainton’s serene progress to her third treble hit a snag when regular mixed doubles partner Robin Gibbs had to scratch with a knee injury.

Another team-mate, Martin, proved a more than capable deputy as the Academy duo won a four-game final against Barry and Gina Rogers (Tackleway).

Paul Hyland (NALGO) retained the Division Two singles title, beating Kevin McEwan (Bexhillians) in the final.

Division Two singles winner Paul Hyland. Picture courtesy Mick Lane

The Division Three singles was played as a group, which was won by Dave Watters (Academy) with Peter Harding (Monarchs) second.

The men’s consolation singles was won by Ryan Heselden (Bexhillians) with James Gorridge (Tackleway) runner-up.

The tournament was refereed by Diane Webb, who was assisted by Harding (organiser) and Mick Lane.

See our comprehensive sports coverage in the Observer every Friday.

Ryan Heselden, winner of the consolation singles. Picture courtesy Mick Lane

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