Report from Cicely Palmer, County Secretary, Herefordshire County Table Tennis Association – 22^nd February 2010

Bromyard Queen Elizabeth’s School was the venue for the Herefordshire County Veteran, Junior and Cadet Championships on Sunday 21^st.

In spite of more overnight snow, making road conditions rather treacherous in places, all 32 players from all corners of the County and some from Powys, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire managed to arrived safely and on time for a 9.30 a.m. start.

In all the events the first rounds were played in round robin groups with winners and runners up going forward to knock-out stages.

The Veteran Singles group winners were Dave White, Michael Owens, Chris Martin, Alan Salisbury, Trevor Davies, Nigel Foreshew, Harry Jutle and Steve Knight. The biggest surprise of the day was when Trevor Davies knocked out number 1 seed, Dave White by -2, -9, 12, 12 and 5 but the other three seeds, Owens, Martin and Salisbury, all won through to the semi-finals where Martin beat Davies by 10, 6 and 3 and Owens, making a welcome return after many years out of the game, beat Salisbury by 3, -5, 5, -9 and 5. The final, like the rest of the events’ finals, will be played on Finals Night on March 26^th at Bromyard.

The group winners of the restricted event were Alan Salisbury, Nigel Foreshew, James Palmer, Paul Oatley, Steve Brown, Dave Hamer, Richard Maddrell and Ray Davies. Salisbury, Oatley, Maddrell and Foreshew won the quarter-finals and Salisbury and Foreshew won the semis and will be playing for the title on finals night.

The Over 60’s Super Veteran competition saw Trevor Davies beat Ray Davies and Dave Hamer beat Bob Trimble in the semi finals.

Ten pairs competed for the Doubles title and this was the first time it was run in groups. The four pairs through to the semi-final stage were Dave White and Alan Salisbury, who beat Steve Knight and Harry Jutle by 6, 6 and 5, and Chris Martin and Steve Brown who won through to the final by beating Steve Meredith and Nigel Foreshew by 8, 7, -8 and 6.

The Cadet Competition was a straight final between Zoe Castle and Matthew Knight. Zoe won by 4, 8 and 4.

The Junior quarter final winners were Jake Conod who played Adam Martin, and Adam Turner who met Jack Castle and Jake and Jack won the semi-finals and will play on Finals Night.

Jack Castle and Adam Martin will be meeting Jake Conod and Joe Burnett in the Junior Doubles final.

Other competitions run for the juniors resulted in Adam Martin and Matthew Knight winning the Handicap Doubles and Adam Martin winning the Handicap Singles.