Report on Cardiff League's Championship Singles Event

 

Last night we held the first of our end of season competitions, with the Closed Championship being contested by 39 players at the WIS. And what a great Tournament it was! Everyone I spoke to thought it was a brilliant night of Table Tennis, culminating in a fantastic final between Neil Wright and Nick Brown. The quality of Table Tennis was extremely high throughout the Tournament, beginning at the Group stages and on through the rest of the knockout matches. It was great to see so many high quality matches and it just confirmed to me that not only do we have an extremely high standard of Table Tennis in our League, but the strength in depth of our players is as strong as it has ever been, if not stronger.

 

The initial stages were held on a Round Robin basis in 8 groups of 5 with the top two in each group progressing to the knockout stages in the last 16. So, by the time we reached the Quarter Finals, the excitement was building up nicely.

 

In the first Quarter Final, Ryan Flood ended the reign of the existing Champion and Number One seed Owen Clutterbuck, with a great performance to win in 4 games.

 

Then Nick Brown beat the only remaining lady and the youngest person in the competition, Charlotte Carey, 11-9 in the 5th and final game. With youth on her side and judging by the speed she is progressing, I think it's only going to be a very short time now before Charlotte takes the title away from the men, although I am of course still unbeaten in all matches I've played against her!!!

 

In the third Quarter Final, Tom Kwok beat Gareth Dommett in 4 games and then Neil Wright overcame Ian Jeanes again in 4 games.

 

In the Semi Finals, Nick Brown beat Ryan Flood 11-5 in the 5th after a very high quality and extremely competitive match and Neil Wright finally finished Tom Kwok's tournament with a convincing win in 3 games. Special mention and congratulations should go to Tom who had a fantastic tournament, playing superbly throughout and reaching the Semi Finals, a fantastic performance from a Division 2 player. The Penholder players are certainly not finished yet, as he and CK Tan gave us a great exhibition of the art in the tournament, with them playing each other in the battle of the Penholders earlier in the tournament, which Tom won in 5 excellent games.

 

In view of their good progress, I have been considering taking up the Penholder grip, but as I find it difficult enough to hold a pen, let alone a table tennis bat, I've decided to give it a miss and stick to my normal and very successful 4 fingers and a thumb grip!!!

 

So, it was on to the final and with so many matches already going to 4 or 5 games, it was turning into a late night! In view of that, it was great to see so many staying behind to watch the final and those who did were rewarded with and privileged to witness a fantastic match between Neil and Nick.

 

The match swung back and forth 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2 over the first four games and then in the 5th Nick edged ahead and looked as if he was about to take the title as he led 10-6 in the final game. The Fat Lady was definitely on stage and her mouth had begun to open, but Neil was not about to let it go yet and dug in to come back and eventually took the match and title 13-11. What a match, which eventually finished at around 11-15pm.

 

Many congratulations to Neil on his win and his consistently high level of play and my commiserations to Nick, especially after all his efforts to win in 5 games in the quarter and semi final and then playing another 5 in the final and getting so close to taking the title.

 

Finally, my thanks to everyone who took part and made it such a successful night and especially to Chris Davies for his organisation and running of the Tournament.

 

It was a great night!

 

Chris Richards