Table ~~~~~ £1.50

Tennis News The official magazine of the English Table Tennis Association

Subscriptions a Distribution Debra Symes. ETTA. Queensbury House. Havelock Road. Hastings. TN34 1HF Tel: 0424 722525 Fax: 0424 422103

President J A Leach MBE

Chairman A ERansome

Editor John FA Wood Edltorlol Office: 5 The Brackens. Hemel Hempstead. Herts. HP2 SJA Tel/Fax: 0442 244547 Mobile: 0850 293518

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The views expressed In Table Tennis News are thoseof thecontributorsand are notnecessarily official ETTA policy. Similarly TIN accepts advertisements in good faith. but cannot accept responslblll1y for the goods or services described in advertise­ments.lfyouhaveanyqueriestheseshould be addressed directly to the advertiser.

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1 FRONT COVER Sweden's Marie Svensson the Women's Singles Champion

4 CHAnERIOX Gold award to Clive Oakman

5 CHAIRMAN'S REPORT EURO 94 - the one to remember

7 SENIOR NAnONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS Lomas and Chen unleash their power

10 VETERANS IRmSH LEAGUE Sedgefield win ttHe

12 FRIENDLY HOTELS IRmSH LEAGUE BFL Grove clinch title

14 EURO 94 10 page special

Editor's Note THIS issue contains a Euro 94 special section of 10pages,which unfortunatelymeanssome regular features have been omitted, but they will return in the June edition.

I wish to apologise to those of you who have written these articles that haven't ap­peared. But Imust stress that Euro 94 was the biggest tournament to take place in this country since the World's in 1977, so it merits the space allocated to it.

John F.A. Wood

Champion Jean Michel Saive

TABLE TENNIS NEWS 1993/94

Publishing dates:

SEPTEMBER 1st September 1993

(Copy date 15th July) OCTOBER

1st October 1993 (Copy date 1st September)

NOVEMBER 1st November 1993

(Copy date 1st October) DECEMBER/JANUARY

1st December 1993 (Copy date 1st November)

FEBRUARY 1st February 1994

(Copy date 1st January) MARCH/APRIL

18th March 1994 (Copy date 1st February)

MAY 3rd May 1994

(Copy date 1st Aprfl) JUNE

1st June 1994 (Copy date 30th April)

The ETTA would like to thank the following companies for the support theygive to English table tennis:

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-.nIlIDOmJ!)lIIaques

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Fri~~y

WOOLWICH -BUILDING SOCI[TV­

TABLETENNISNEWS MAY1994 PAGE3

CHATTERBOX

GoldAward for Clive Oakman

CUVE OAKMAN was presented with a Gold Award certificate and a clock by Johnny Leach, the President of the ETIA, at a National Council Meeting a~ the Friendly Hotel. Milton Keynes, Saturday 23 April 1994, in apprecia­tion of out standing services given to the 19th European Championships in Birmingham.

English Open

go-ahead THE English Table Tennis Associa­ This action will allow the 60th tion National Council voted by a large Open to go head following a majority to relax its ban on adhesive threatened mass boycott by compet­at the English Open Championships ing countries if the ban on adhesive in January next year. had applied.

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White and Black polos: S £12.99 £8.99

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Memo blocks £2.99 £1.99

Ballpoint pens 50p 30p

Ties £7.99 £4.50

Wallets £3.99 £1.99

Stickers 99p 50p

Keyrings £2.99 £1.99

White Euro 94 T shirts - small £7.99 £3.99

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Johnny LeaCh presents the clock to Clive Oakman

The UK& Ireland

Corporate Games

ORGANISERS expect a big increase in entries for this year's table tennis competition in the UK & Ireland Corporate Games to be held·in Milton Keynes June 17 - 19.

Venue for table tennis is the excel­lent Kingston table tennis centre. High quality organisation coupled with a first rate facility will ensure a great weekend of sport.

There is a competition for 6 age classes trom Open through the under 30 to over 60 years of age for both women and men.

In addition there is an Open and over 40 years Class for 2-a-side team competition. Teams may be all women, all men or mixed and each competitor must play one singles and the doubles.

Johnny Leach is the Honorary Sport President for Table Tennis and John Jermyn is the Event Director.

The UK & Ireland Corporate Garnes drew 2800 participants in the 1993 and is now in its second year in Milton Keynes. The Games is open to all men and women of every age and ability. These 'weekend sports warriors' represent corporations and organisations of every size trom the tiny to the tremendous.

A Grand Celebration Party and Parade of Athletes in the Blade Runners Arena featuring Alpha Connection has been added to Saturday evening and the Closing

celebration Awards Banquet is scheduled for Sunday night.

Top honours in 1993 were shared by Texaco and Queens Moat (now Archer) Leisure. Other winners included Nationwide Building Society, Unisys, Ernst and Young, British Army, Nuclear Electric, and Drivers Jonas which won the Charity Award.

This year the official Charity is the Imperial Cancer Research Fund which expects to raise 100,000 pounds trom the Games. The Fund has developed a Target 100 project that extends to non athletes - the Office Potatoes - to help reach the objective.

For more information call 0908 231993.

Special A SPECIAL Euro '94 ETIA award has been given to all persons in apprecia­tion of their contribution towards the success of the European Champion: ships held in Birmingham. Every care has been taken to ensure that all persons have received a certificate, should anyone be aware of not having received one, would they kindly contact the Association headquarters office at Hastings, as soon as possible.

Woolwich Account opens at Bletchley

AROUND 300 players and officials gathered trom all over Britain to compete in the inaugural session of the Woolwich Junior British League, at Bletchley Leisure Centre on Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th April 1994.

All 44 teams took part in the opening ceremony, trom as far a field as Falkirk, in Scotland to Ireland. The Irish team were trom both sides of the border, and one of their number arrived at Bletchley via two flights.

The first weekend was attended by Jane Adams, Marketing-services Controller of the Woolwich, who are new major sponsors of Junior table tennis in England.

At Bletchley the divisions were formed to compete in the 2nd session, to be held 28th/29th May actually in Woolwich.

T.T. VIDEOS SYD FRYER SCleveland Road, Hale, A1trlncham, Cheshire. WA15 SAY· 061-980 S11!l GOTHENBURG 93 • TAPE NO.1· Coaching Tape: Featuring all leading players (except Swedes), commentary and analysis by Donald Parker. TAPE NO.2· Swedish Melli Team Matches vFrllllC9l, N. Korea (Group &SernQ, Germany, Belgium and China (F"IIIaI). Last game from each set' played a presentation oeremony. Camera: Syd Fryer, commentary and analysis Donald Parker. Priced £15.00 each inc. pip, full three hour tapes.

PAGE 4 MAY 1994 TABLETENNISNEWS

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT~~~~~~~~by Alan Ransome

EURO 94 - the one to remember EURO 94 is over. The last ball has been hit. The event is now history. How will it be remembered?

As the Championship when France broke Sweden's grip on the men's team final, when Jean-Michel Saive finally won the big one after threatening for so long, when Marie Svensson, Sweden's out­sider, put her world class men's team in the shade by clinching the women's singles crown, and as the event when the English organisers made their mark with a well staged, friendly event that left a good feeling in the hearts of everyone as they returned home.

The reaction to EURO 94 both during the event and since, from players and visitors has been very favourable. Al­though the television coverage in this country was not as extensive as we would have liked, the play was very good and it came over well on TV. Worldwide the pictures went to more than 100 countries. The event itself is widely reported in this issue of the magazine.

The benefits derived for table tennis in this country from EURO 94 have been substantial. Whilst at the National Indoor Arena we were able to make presenta­tions to a forum of national and regional Directors from the Sports Council and to a gathering of chief leisure officers of local authorities throughout the West Midlands. We were able to launch the Woolwich Junior Leagues on two days to more than one hundred representatives of leagues throughout England. In conjunction with the ETIU and Olympic Solidarity, we held a coaching course throughout the event which will have assisted our coaches to be far more knowledgeable and gaining a much greater understanding of play at the international level. Thirty of our junior players were given tickets to attend and watch the stars in action, some of the time supervised by our England coaches. Our umpires and officials were able to widen their experience of officiating at a major championship, and our volunteers gained valuable experience of handling work at a major event.

On the Concourse our Development stand was continually busy providing members and non members alike with information on how to progress their own table tennis aspirations. Many schools organised visits to the championships and a Community Tournament was held in Birmingham which attracted 600 non league players. The finals were played at EURO 94.

These are some of the benefits that the sport has gained from the staging of the European Championships - there are

Alan Ransome

obviously many more. A great vote of thanks is due to all concerned with the event, to Clive Oakman and the ETTA professional staff who worked tirelessly on the event, to the Departmental Directors who were responsible for the planning of their department, and to the large number of volunteers, umpires, organisers and helpers who not only did a good job, but impressed all our visitors with their friendly and helpful manner.

On the table, England enjoyed some success through the men's and women's teams winning bronze medals in their respective team events. Chen Xinhua produced the best performance in the individual events reaching the quarter finals and playing an exciting hard match against the eventual winner.

The ETTU Congress was successfully staged at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. There were a large number of rule changes, the majority of which were of a housekeep­ing nature rather than being of real substance. New regulations were intro­duced for the staging of the European Veterans Championships which are to be held in the opposite year to the World Veterans. The first championships are to be played in Austria in 1995, followed by the Czech Republic in 1997 and Sweden in 1999. Earlier this season we received confirmation from the Swaythling Club that the World Veterans event will be played in England in 1998.

Within the ETTUlITTF elections, Nils Bergstrom was confirmed as the Presi­dent of the ETTU. Our results can best be described as mixed. I was successful in being re-elected to the ITIF Council for the period 1995/1997. However, I was not successful in the election for Vice President of the ETTU, losing by just one

vote, although gaining seven more votes than in Stuttgart. We were successful in having Tony Chatwin re-elected to the Referees and Umpires Committee, Donald Parker re-elected to the Teaching and Training Committee, Jill Parker re­elected to the Ranking Committee and myself re-elected to the Calendar Com­mittee. Mike Watts was elected to the new Veterans Committee and Richard Eaton was elected to the Press and Publicity Committee. Therefore, all of our committee nominations were successful.

The European Championships were undoubtedly a large task for the Associa­tion to organise and whilst a lot of time and resources have been employed by the championships, nevertheless the regular programmes in the Marketing, Competitions, Coaching, Development and Selection departments have pro­gressed at least to a regular pace. There has been no let up with our normal domestic programme so that resources could be diverted to EURO 94.

One of the most important promotions at Birmingham was the launch of the Woolwich Junior League programme. The first Woolwich event was played at Bletchley Leisure Centre in the middle of April, the Woolwich British League. Following the pattern of the Women's and Vetts British Leagues. The weekend was successful. For the longer term development of the game the most important benefit is the promotion of the Woolwich Junior Leagues across the country. All local leagues are being invited to run their own junior league with sponsorship from the Woolwich and Sportsmatch.

It is recommended that these are two a side, five set matches for jUniors (under 17) teams playing at a central venue, the leagues to be organised by our own local leagues. The Woolwich Junior Leagues should start in September alongside the normal playing season, but leagues and clubs are being asked to consider running summer competitions along the same lines in order to generate interest for the commencement of the full season.

With EURO 94 behind us, we can still look to a busy summer with the English Junior Open, supported by East Yorkshire Borough Council, at the beginning of May, the National Under 15, 18, 21 also. in Bridlington in the middle of May, and the Under 10, 11 and 12, supported by Milton Keynes Council, at Bletchley in June. The main junior event this summer is, of course, the European Youth Cham­pionships which are being staged in Paris in July.

So far as future major events are

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 5

concerned, the National Council agreed to a proposal made by Mike Watts, Vice Chairman marketing, that the ITTF glue regulations which were in place for the European Championships should be adopted for the English Open which is to be held in January 1995. This means that we can look forward to another ma.jor international tournament in England next year. For 1996 the Euro­pean Olympic Qualification tournament is already secured. With regard to the glue issue, the ITTF will be discussing the matter at their meeting in Tian Jin at the end of May and, following this, the matter will be placed on the agenda for the July National Council meeting.

With EURO 94 the last few weeks have been one of the most important in the history of the Association. I believe that the stature of the game in this country and all connected with it has been substantially raised. We have a lot to be proud of.

A letter from the Chairman of the Sports Council

Dear Mr. Ransome,

I understand from our liaison officer that Euro 94 was a great success, not least the winning of men's and women's bronze medals. The administration, promotion and marketing of a major European Championships involving 47 nations is a credit to you, your staff and your Association. I note that there were over 500 volunteers involved throughout the fortnight. This, alone, is a great compliment to you and your sport.

In particular, please do pass on my congratulations to your National Council and Mr. Clive Oakman, the Tournament Organiser, for their sterling efforts.

I understand from Roger Davis that the focus sport initiative is progressing with great success and that the promotional opportunities following Euro 94 are considerable.

With every personal good wish to you and the English Table Tennis Association.

Sir Peter Yarranton Chairman - The Sports Council

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PAGE 6 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

Woolwich Junio'r British League

THE long awaited Woolwich Junior British Table Tennis League, heavily sponsored for an initial three ye~r period by the Woolwich Building Society got under way at Bletchley Leisure Centre on Saturday 23rd April, when 44 teams (30 boys; 14 girls) from the length and breadth of Britain, including Scottish representative teams from Dumfries and Falkirk, the Irish national girls squad and individual players from Wales commenced battle at 10.30am following a civic attended opening ceremony.

Whilst an initial fixture can, and probably will, throw up many surprises the likely leading teams can already be identified. BFL Grove from Market Drayton, now one of the leading clubs in Europe, are slight favourites in both boys and girls titles; the boys including current English junior champion Jun Tsuji together with number two ranked Stephen Meddings whilst their girls include the English number two, the very experienced and senior interna­tional Nicola Deaton. Pushing the boys hard will be Kingfisher from Reading, Bridlington and Fellows Cranleigh from Surrey, managed by the very popular senior

international Skylet Andrew, who inolude the current number one national ranked player in Darren Blake. Hot on BFL Grove girls heels will be Hull, who include the English number one, another Senior International Sally Marling and Gemma Schwartz who qualified for the recent senior European Championships in Birmingham.

Milton Keynes will be repre­sented in the boys competition by a squad of six (three players comprise a team at anyone time) and include the Woburn Sands brothers, 17 years old twins Tom and Harry Yeates and their 15 year old brother Jake who is actually the highest ranked of the three. The remainder of their squad are the three Marks; Pilcher and Cotton also from Woburn Sands and 15 year old Cole from Newport Pagnall.

Play continued throughout the day on 18 tables with a further two sessions on Sunday, spanning approximately 9.30am to 4pm.

Further information may be obtained from the leagues Press Officer, Brian Lamerton at 92 Granada Road, Hedge End, Southampton S030 4AQ (Tel: 0489 781266).

SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ~~~~~~~~

Lomas and Chen unleash ENGLAND's two top world­ranked players Chen Xinhua and Lisa Lomas took the top places on the victory rostrum at Kings Lynn on March 6th and no-one could deny they de­served their success. Both Xinhua and Lisa are equipped to upset with their backspin and occasional attacking spells the best in Europe.

In the last nine years Lisa has only won the title twice, this was a magnificent hat trick, possibly overdue. On six other England championships occasions the Luton defender has been beaten by her attack­ing rivals, probably because they have lots of practice against her.

In a long final round battle, it seemed at times that the holder Andrea Holt would hang onto her title - saved two match

Words by RICHARD EATON

JOHN WOODFORD

Pictures by JOHN WOOD

points in the second game and led 15-10 in the third before the Bedfordshire professional clawed her way back to win 17, 17, -22, 19. Miss Holt has a temperament problem when she loses vital points. She is quite calm most of the time, but can boil over as she did in France in the European League when she collected two yellow cards - she came close to collecting a third at Kings Lynn late in the gruelling match.

SYED BARRIER Chen had a fairly easy ride to the semi finals, but there he found that Matthew Syed had found his best form. Two defenders, .one had to attack and it was the former Chinese World Cup winner. Many spectators had not seen the Chen attack in full flow against a superb defence - the result was a scintillating duel with

their power

Lisa Lomas and Chen Xinhua

Chen winning at 15 in the fifth. In the final Alan Cooke's top­

spin was at its best - remember he beat Chen in the 39th World Championships in Delhi in 1987 - but the skills of the 1994 Chen finally triumphed 12, 13, -18, 8.

HUGE SHOCK By far the biggest surprise of the tournament was the defeat of Carl Frean in the quarter finals 16, -15, 16, 17 by Nicky Mason who has been without a club all season and with hardly any practice. The Isle of Wight professional has recently recovered from a long-standing wrist injury and is currently between clubs in Germany.

So both men were not it seemed fully prepared for their battle, although Mason's razor­sharp counter-hitting has on occasions troubled star players. Incredibly, against the odds, Frean found himself reeling

back as Mason's counter­attacking proved he had nothing to lose as he won through to the semi finals where Alan Cooke had few problems with stopping the number six seed 15, 19, 15,

Mason threw a second mortar-bomb into the Kings Lynn tournament when he announced that he was, as of now, retired from the sport! He told reporters "I think I have proved I am good enough to play for England today. I understand that the young players have to be given their chances, but the older players should not be overlooked. If I cannot play for England, then I will call it a day and play more golf."

All eight seeds in the womens singles reached the quarter finals. Alison Gordon drew the short draw by having

to face Fiona Mommessin, but after a massive battle went through 19 in the fifth, as did Sally Marling by the identical score in the fifth game against Kate Goodall-20, 15, -18, -19, 19. Miss Marling, what a fine season she has had, could make no impression on the Lomas defences and went well under 7, 10, 12. Andrea had to fight hard to stop Alison 20, 14, 14, 14, but in the end all the girls bowed out to the power of the Lomas back-spin and the increasing attacking power - all-out defenders are unlikely to survive.

EARLY SHOCKS The early rounds of the men's singles provided several sur­prises including the 16, -18, -16 defeat of John Hilton now.aged 46, who was defeated by Ian Musk, 18, from Milton Keynes whose practice programme includes coaching and practice with Desmond Douglas, sadly absent because it was a 'glue­free' tournament.

, In round two of the mens singles Grant Solder of Essex made his mark again, when he defeated the number eight seed Chris Oldfield -10, 21, -13, 14, 18. Solder also stopped Oldfield (and Jonathan Taylor) at Brentwood in the European qualifying event.

Supporters of Berkshire's Gemma Schwartz must have groaned when they saw her unlucky draw in the womens singles qualifying - up against the former Yugoslav from Middlesex Sanya Kubelka. The top-spinning Reading girl will remember how she gained a 20­16 advantage in the final game, but lost to the Middlesex player, a pen-holder, who qualified only to lose in three to Sally Marling the number three seed.

SUPERB VENUE Lynnsport is a quality venue, in my view, even better than Oldham and many people will be hoping that the English National Championships will be held there as often as possible.

Playing conditions I am told,

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 7

SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS -2~~~~~~~

Mens Doubles presentation (left to right) ETTA Chairman Alan Ransome, winners Skylet Andrew and Nicky Mason, with runners up Alan Cooke and John Holland

are excellent and throughout the centre there is space. We are not crammed in amongst hordes of damp youngsters coming from the swimming pools and there is no dreadful smell of chlorine from the pools as at other centres. The huge first floor viewing area is the jewel in the crown. The organis­ing teams at Kings Lynn deserve praise for their efforts. Because Kings Lynn is roughly forty miles from the motorways it is not easy to attract sporting events. Centre manager Neil Anthony gets my vote as the centre manager of the season, whilst Nick Gollaglea the local Development Programme Manager also led a team of willing helpers.

Hotels in the town proved to be small but friendly and the abundance of ethnic restaurants and take-aways was also a major plus factor.

THE SCHEDULE Tne timing of the events for most of the time was accept­able, but I believe there is no reason why quarter finals could not be run together - stringing them out one-by-one, two-by­two, left gaps for the spectators. An hour could have been shaved off the programme so that the finals of the singles could be staged singly, starting at around 4pm.

Someone said, Lisa Lomas adds an hour to most schedules; surely, with many miles to travel for most people, because Kings Lynn is well off the

.beaten track, I am sure that players, spectators would liked to have finished an hour or so earlier, rather than having to run the two singles finals together.

Of course, the media want early finishes - we lose space, as we did this time, because it was getting on for 7pm when play finished. Spectators would still get plenty of value, but there is a need to get through to the later stages earlier.

EYES ON THE WOMEN It has been good to see the women get as much attention as the men this season.. Lisa Lomas and Andrea Holt have produced some splendid wins and have led England to the final of the European League for the first time, and so it was always likely they would again capture much of the limelight when each came through to the final of the English National Championships at Kings Lynn.

Womens Doubles champions Fiona Elliot-Mommessin and Lisa Lomas (centre), whilst pictured below are Veteran Singles champions Doreen Schofield and Nigel Eckersley

PAGE 8 MAY1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

From the spectators too they get plenty of attention. The women did after all produce the more dramatic of the two singles finals. For two players often labelled as defensive they began amidst a surprising welter of attack, with Lomas attempting a higher ratio of forehand loops and backhand hits than usual. It had been the encouraging improvement with her forehand attack which had helped her to a stirring victory over former European champion Csilla Batorfi in the European League.

In the final against Holt she took the first two games, and then her aggressive intentions became less frequent. It was a hard match, and it has been a hard season. Was it tiredness or was it caution? Either way, as the match wore on the top seed

SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS .. 3~~~~~~~

relied increasingly on her stock-in-trade backspin and float, and the champion threat­ened to get on top. Indeed Holt looked as though she might produce a great escape. She saved two game points in the third and advanced to 13-7 and 15-11 in the fourth.

But Lomas can be a sturdy fighter. She defended patiently, timed her counter-attacks more carefully, gave little away, and showed her concentration to be the superior. Remarkably for an excellent a player it was only her third singles title, and her first for five years.

It was a good time to have returned to something like her best form.

SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

MENS SINGLES - Quarter Finals WOMENS SINGLES - Quarter Finals X. Chen beat A. Eden 12, 6, 11 L. Lomas beat L. Radford 11, 16, 4 M. Syed beat G. Solder 6,17,7 S. Marling beat K. Goodall 20, 15, -18, -19, 19 A. Cooke beat S. Andrew 15, 14, 10 A. Gordon beat F. Mommessin 10, 18, -13, -18, 19 N. Mason beat C. Prean 16, -15, 16, 17 A. Holt beat N. Deaton 14, -20, 13, 13 Semi Finals Semi Finals Chen beat Syed -15, 14, -14, 14, 15 Lomas beat Marling 7, 10, 12 Cooke beat Mason 15, 18, 15 Holt beat Gordon 20, -14, 14, 14 Final Final Chen beat Cooke 12, 13, -18, 8 Lomas beat Holt 17, 17, -22, 19

MENS DOUBLES - Semi Final WOMENS DOUBLES - Semi Final S. AndrewlN. Mason beat S. Dorking/A. Eden 18, 15 K. Goodall/A. Holt beat H. Lower/L. Radford 21, 18 J. Holland/A. Cooke beat A. Perry/R. Hyacinth 17, 19 L. Lomas/F. Mommessin beat N. Deaton/S. Marling 16,6 Final Final AndrewlMason beat Holland/Cooke 16,13 Lomas/Mommessin beat Goodall/Holt -19,20, 10

MIXED DOUBLES - Semi Final S. AndrewlF. Mommessin beat A. Eden/K. Goodall 15, 8 - A. Perry/So Marling beat J. Holland/L. Heywood 14, -19, 9 Final - Andrew/Mommessin beat Perry/Marling 19, 9

VETERANS MENS SINGLES - Final VETERANS WOMENS SINGLES - Final N. Eckersley beat J. Hilton -19 retired hurt D. Schofield beat M. Dawson 17, 14

VETERANS MENS DOUBLES - Final VETERANS WOMENS DOUBLES - Final J. HiltonlP. Bowen beat D. Harvey/G. Baldwin 17, 11 C. MoranlD. Schofield beat M. Dignum/P. Perry 15, 16

Green-cladstalwartsofRobin Hood I.A.P.S. '94 - WELLOW, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE - Saturday 5th March

ONCE again the annual Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools National Championships were hosted by Wellow House School in the village of Wellow. Where once the green clad stalwarts of Robin Hood and his merry band outwitted the Sheriff of Nottingham, now the Wellow students in their green sports gear take on the equally determined'insurgents from other Preparatory Schools - at table tennis writes Neil Houghton.

Thanks to the support of Jarvis Sports and the customary efficient organisation of Mr. Brian Jones of Wellow, the battle­ground was well prepared without any need to rob the rich. We are also grateful for generous financial support and practical help from parents towards the running of the tournament. Also for the backing of the Headteacher, Mr. Mark Jones and further help from other adult workers, including Nottingham ETTA Coach, Ralph Green and Notts, Schools' Secretary John Wilde, ETTA Regional Development Officer, Harold Taylor attended, joining the Wellow parents together with visitors from the other schools.

Guest umpire Mr. Wilt Rhodes of Burton was able to witness a hard fought but

convivial event. All were pleased to see a greater number of under lls as well as more girls than before. Resident ETIA Senior Coach Neil Houghton observed that the overall standard was higher than previously, contributing to some excellent play.

Wellow House has included table tennis in extra-curricular activities for many years and often plays host to local events such as some league tournaments and Notting­hamshire Schools events. In local league, the under 12 year olds were last year's Worksop 3rd Division winners and were runners up this season. Thanks to Brian Jones' continous hard work, eight tables can be used in the sports hall. Monday advanced coaching sessions, also open to visiting players, have been held for the last three years and continue into the summer terrri.

RESULTS Under 14 Team 1. Downside, Surrey 2. King's College Junior, Wimbledon 3. Wellow House School, Notts.

Under 11 Team 1. King's College Junior 2. Ipswich Preparatory 3. Downside

Under 14 Boys Championship Winner Alex Goward, Downside - RlUJames McGowan, King's College 1st Plate Stuart Farl, Downside - RIU James Kirk, King's College

Under 11 Boys Championship Winner Richard Mann, Ipswich Prep. - RIU Zahid Hussein, King's College 1st Plate Ben Durrant, Downside - RIU Pedro Del Castillo, St. Mary's Hall, Stoneyhurst

Under 14 Girls Championship Winner Goldie Sayers, King's Junior School, Ely - RIU Lavinia Pavis, Wellow House

Under 11 Girls Championship Winner Tasneem Verjee, Willow House­RID Sarah Rhodes, Wellow House

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 9

VETERANS BRITISH LEAGUE~~~~~~~~~~~

Sedgefield retain Premier title SEDGEFIELD duly retained the Veterans British League Premier Division title when this season's event was concluded at the Meadowside Centre, Burton Upon Trent. With Ian Robertson unavailable the inclusion of Scotland's Richard Yule hardly weakened the team. As John Hilton took his customary maximum despite being taken to three on four occasions (Eckersley, Wellsman, Clayton & McGilvray) Yule was beaten only by Stuart Gibbs of British Gas. Tony Clayton's seven from 10 lifted Trend & Blend Boumemouth out of the relegation places writes Brian Lamerton.

In Division One despite five straight wins including the five sets to one demolition of leaders Vymura International, Olton & West Warick 'A' had to settle for silver. Nine out of ten for Vymura's Roger Hampson Oosing to Mike Short) and The ladies of Caldervale

FINAL LEAGUE TABLES 1993-4 MEN PREMIER DIVISION P W D L F A PTS Sedgefield District 10 9 1 0 49 11 19 Peterborough 10 8 1 1 48 12 17 British Gas 'Failand' 10 3 3 4 24 36 9 Trend & Blend Boumemouth 10 2 2 6 20 40 6 Larkhall Spicer 10 1 3 6 23 37 5 Bribar Humberside 10 1 2 7 16 44 4 DIVISION ONE Vymura International 10 9 0 1 47 13 18 Olton & West Warwick 'A' 10 7 2 1 43 17 16 FulIerians 10 5 2 3 33 27 12 PM TIC 10 1 3 5 28 32 7 Shamrocks (Ireland) 10 2 2 6 18 42 6 Bribar Kingfisher 10 0 1 9 11 49 1 DIVISION TWO OWP 10 6 3 1 38 22 15 Graham Spicer 10 6 2 2 35 25 14 Reading YMCA 10 5 3 2 38 22 13 A1dborough 10 4 2 4 31 29 10 Portsmouth 10 4 0 6 27 33 8 Thompson Insurance 10 0 0 10 11 49 0 DIVISION THREE Olton & West Warwick 'B' 10 10 0 0 55 5 20 Barclays Bank 10 8 0 2 44 16 16 Letchworth Lawn Tennis 10 3 2 5 22 38 8 Lillington Free Church 10 3 1 6 22 38 7 Great Grimsby 10 2 2 6 23 37 6 Seasiders (Blackpool) 10 1 1 8 14 46 3 WOMEN Caldervale 7 7 0 0 35 7 14 The Bombers 7 4 1 2 26 16 9 Dagenham 7 3 3 1 25 17 9 Worcester Ladies 7 4 0 3 24 18 8 Olton & West Warwicks 7 3 1 3 23 19 7 BOOar Belles 7 3 0 4 19 23 6 Letchworth Lawn Tennis 7 1 0 6 6 36 2 Merseyside Pacemakers 7 0 1 6 10 32 1

TEAM OF THE WEEKEND - OWP - PLAYERS OF THE WEEKEND - Tony Taylor (B. Bank)/Connie Moran (M/side)

Warwick's Trevor Washington (Hampson) & Short (Stuart Seaholme).

Team of the weekend OLOP stepped up again to take gold after a final session three sets all draw with neighbours Reading YMCA in Division Two, the closest contested division of all. Top performance of this second weekend was that of Graham Spicer, four wins and a draw (4-2 against OLOP) with seven from Gordon Chapman and six each Frank Hams and Tony Adams. OLOP who also played unchanged returned seven from Andy Meads and five each Graham Outrim and John Millward. Portsmouth (Maurice Shave six from eight) can count themselves unlucky to be relegated after four wins.

Olton & West Warwick 'B', the only team to return 100% from both weekends, are clearly out of their class in Division Three; Alan Philpott and Steve White both returned eight from eight and Barry Russ seven. This division produced the male player of the weekend Tony Taylor (Barclays Bank) and also useful performances from '!TN Editor John Wood (four wins), Euro computer expert Malcolm MacFarlane (five) and newly

qualified International Referee John Jermyn (two).

With the ladies leagues carrying on where they left off at Grirnsby so that 'all played all' the 'mini league' competition did not get going until Saturday evening when Caldervale, the eventual winners, found themselves one down to Dagenham but recovered to three sets all and took the remaining two fixtures each by 4-2; but with six of their nine opponents taking at least one set off them theirs was quite a close run. Doreen Schofield and Ruth Bentley with four wins apiece (from six) and Sandra Rider stepped up for the medals. Jutta Trapp of the Bombers won six out of six. In the second group Olton & West Warwick were too strong for the others but Karen Tonge's Merseyside won their first ever veteran league match spear­headed by woman of the weekend Connie Moran.

As ever magnificent support from the local authority, East Staffordshire Borough Council; Mayor Councillor George Callister graced us with his presence on both days and centre manager Christine Clayton and her team excelled.

PAGE 10 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

FRIENDLY HOTELS BRITISHLEAGUE~~~~~~~~~

8FL Grove clinch title BFL Grove of Market Drayton I .. • t I clinched the championship of Supported by Schildkro the Friendly Hotels British . League for the third year in succession by beating Horsham Angels in the penultimate match of the season. Desmond Douglas, Alan Cooke, Chris Oldfield and Steve Ward were all unbeaten as BFL ran up a 14-0 scoreline writes Aubrey Drapkin.

Team Peniel of Brentwood are once again assured of second place with the North Eastern outfit, Sedgefield and District certain to be third.

The relegation issue is, . however, not settled, Bathwick Tyres having defeated Vymura International 8-6 to change places with them at the foot of the table, but only one point separates the two clubs.

In the first division North, BFL Grove second string need only one point from their visit to Chris Oldfield

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It pays to have friends in .all the right places.

Bribar Hurnberside on the last day of the season to win the title. Olton and West Warwicks are two points behind Grove and they visit Eritish Gas Milton Keynes in their final match knowing that should they fail to overhaul the Market Drayton side they have already qualified for the right to chiillenge for a place in the Premier Division next season.

The battle is still on in the first division South to decide who will be runners up to BFL Grove thirds. The match between OLOP and Bribar Colley Toyota was drawn 4-4 leaving BCT one point ahead of OLOP and two in front of Edison TIC. John Souter and Jimmy Stokes were both unbeaten for OLOP, Ryan Owen got two for the Welshmen with Michael Owen and David Reeves taking one set each. The last day's fixtures see Bribar Colley Toyota at home to BFL Grove, OLOP away to Rejects and Edison at home to Graham Spicer Larkhall.

The title race in the second division North has been nar­rowed down on two teams, Vymura International seconds and Uxbridge (Burton), following Vymura's 5-3 victory over Levis Westfield and a 7-1 win for

Uxbridge over Derwent TIC. With one to play Vymura are one point in front and favourites, having Derwent to play albeit away from home. Uxbridge have to go to Warrington.

In the second division South East, Linda Farrow, who had already won the division ran out 5-3 winners over Fellows Cranleigh, with Grant Solder and Costas Papantoniou both unbeaten. Byng Hall made sure of finishing in runners up spot with a 7-1 home success against JAGS, Paul Rainford, Mark Brown and Mark Romano all winning two sets each.

Horsham Angels played a draw at VRS Fareham and followed, up with a 5-3 home win over Bathwick Tyres II to take the second division South West title. VRS were surpris­ingly held to a 4-4 draw by BFL Grove Colts who had Andy Frain in excellent form, beating both Miki Sinanan and Errol Skete. DML White Hart Launceston seconds beat Kingshurst Bribar to go into second place above VRS on set difference. . Peterborough's team of Dennis Neale, Chris Bryan, Paul Spittlehouse and Brian Hill were too strong for Norwich Todd Foxwood running out 8-0 winners to retain a two point advantage over BSG Brentwood at the top of division three East. With an away fixture to follow against bottom club Britannia Ipswich, the Peterborough side are now clear favourites to win the division, Brentwood's hopes having been dashed when the Chelmsford League held them to a draw.

The battle between Bribar Colley Toyota seconds and DML Whitehart Launceston thirds continues into the last session of matches in the Midlands section of the Third division. The Welsh side beat Bromsgrove 6-2 whilst DML received maximum points and sets when OLOP seconds failed to turn up. This means that not only must Colley beat their Welsh rivals Parkside Dragons Newport but they must go all out for every set to ensure they win the division.

Moorland Seasiders of Blackpool are now nearly sure of finishing second behind

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PAGE 12 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

FRIENDLY HOTELS BRITISH LEAGUE - 2

Drumchapel Glasgow in the third division North after playing a draw with third place Sedgefield thirds. Natasha Williams won both of her matches and Scott Gilbert got two for Sedgefield. Co-op picked up two vital points with a 5-3 victory over BFL Grove in their attempt to avoid the 'wooden spoon'.

Runaway leaders Barclays Bank finished their Third division South campaign in style with an 8-0 triumph at Adeyfield. Linda Farrow sec­onds moved into second place when they won 5-3 away to Rejects seconds who drop to third. David Baker and David Seaholrne did the damage with two victories apiece.

PLACINGS AT

13th MARCH 1994 PREMIER DIVISION P BFL Grove 13 Team Peniel 13 Sedgefield 13 DML Launceston 13 Horsham Angels 13 St. Neots 13 Bathwick Tyres 13 Vymura International 13

DIVISION ONE NORTH BFL Grove II 13 WestWarwicks 13 Sedgefield II 13 R: M. Lincoln 13 Sunderland 13 Humberside 13 British Gas CMK 13 Cheltenham Saracens 13

DIVISION ONE SOUTH BFL Grove III 11 BOOar Colley Toyota 11 OLOP 11 Edison 11 BSG Brentwood 12 Larkhall 11 Rejects 11

DIVISION TWO NORTH Vymura International II 13 Uxbridge 13 Leicester 13 Leeds 13 Derwent T.T.C. 13 V.R. Warrington 13 Levis Westfield 13 Leckie T.T.C. 13

DIVISION TWO SOUTH EAST Linda Farrow 13 Byng Hall 13 Ashford 13 P.A. Croydon 13 Team Peniel II 13

W 13 11 7 6 4 4 2 2

12 10 7 5 5 2 2 1

8 5 5 5 4 2 2

8 8 7 6 3 3 3 1

12 9 7 6 4

D

1 2

2 4 2 1 4 3

1 4 3 2 1 3 2

3 2 2 2 5 3 3 6

1 1 1 3

L

1 4 7 8 8 10 11

1 1 2 6 7 7 8 12

2 2 3 4 7 6 7

2 3 4 5 5 7 7 6

1 3 5 6 6

F 173 126 94 76 77 72 52 58

79 79 67 51 53 34 39 14 ­

58 52 47 42 43 37 33

65 66 59 53 49 42 40 42

72 67 56 54 43

A 9 56 88 106 105 110 130 124

25 25 37 53 51 70 65 90

30 36 41 46 53 51 55

39 38 45 51 55 62 64 62

31 37 48 50 61

PTS 26 23 16 12 9 9 5 4

24 22 18 12 11 8 7 2

17 14 13 12 9 7 6

19 18 16 14 11 9 9 8

24 19 15 13 11

JAGS 13 3 3 7 42 62 9 Fellows Cranleigh 13 3 2 8 45 59 8 Norwich Todd Foxwood 13 1 3 9 36 68 5

I Supported by"Schildkrot I

0

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DIVISION TWO S.W. Horsham Angels II DML Launceston II VRS Fareham Bathwick Tyres II Jolliffe Poole BFL Grove Colts Kingshurst Bribar A. G. Fareham

DIVISION THREE EAST Peterborough BSG Brentwood II Gridfine St. Neots Brent Juniors Fellows Cranleigh II Chelmsford League Norwich Todd Foxwood II Britannia Ipswich

P 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13

13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13

DIVISION THREE MIDLANDS BOOar Colley Toyota II Launceston III Hawbush Horsham Angells III OLOP II P.D.Newport Bathwick Tyres III Bromsgrove

13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13

DIVISION THREE NORTH Drumchapel 13 Moorland Seasiders 13 Sedgefield III 13 Uxbridge II 13 BFLGrove N 13 AALCO Leeds 13 Crusaders 13 Co-op 13

DIVISION THREE SOUTH Barclays 12 Linda Farrow II 11 Rejects II 11 WSIHE 11 Larkhall II 11 Ellenborough 11 Adeyfield 11

W D L F A PTS 10 3 75 29 23 7 3 3 64 40 17 6 5 2 63 41 17 4 3 6 46 58 11 4 3 6 45 59 11 3 5 5 43 61 11 3 4 6 46 58 10 1 2 10 34 70 4

10 1 2 71 33 21 9 1 3 70 34 19 8 1 4 57 47 17 7 · 1 5 61 43 15 5 3 2 1

11 10 8 6 4 5 2 1

12 7 6 6 4 4 3 2

11 6 5 4 2 3 2

1 7 50 54 11 4 6 46 58 10 2 9 32 72 6 3 9 29 75 5

2 67 37 22 3 66 38 20

2 3 59 45 18 2 5 61 43 14 3 6 53 51 11 1 7 44 60 11 2 9 35 69 6

12 31 73 2

1 84 20 24 4 2 61 43 18 4 3 57 47 16 1 6 55 49 13 3 6 48 56 11 2 7 42 62 10

10 35 69 6 2 9 34 70 6

1 81 15 23 1 4 50 38 13 2 4 48 40 12 2 5 40 48 10 3 6 35 53 7 1 7 29 59 7 2 7 29 59 6

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 13

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1994~~~~~~~~~~

Saive &Svensson succeed

The new European Singles Champions, Belgium's Jean Michel Saive and Sweden's Marie Svensson

JEAN MICHEL SANE went some way to proving that he is worth the world number one ranking by beating the Olympic champion Jan-Ove Waldner in a European final that was always absorbing but rarely great at the Nat­ional Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Saive's win was achieved under considerable personal pressure. He had lost in the previous European final, and he lost in last year's World final. There were those prepared to doubt his ability to handle the really big occasion. "I came to the last final with my mind blocked, but now I think if I just try to push all the time and if I play well the result doesn't matter so much," said Saive. "So"this time I was more relaxed."

And this time he won in four games. Jan-Ove Waldner still looked the most elegant and gifted player in the world, but Saive suggested he is the most forceful and energetic.

Words by JOHN WOODFORD

RICHARD EATON COLIN FUllER

GRAHAM CARTER Pictures by

JOHN WOOD

He beat Waldner partly be­cause his topspin, usually on the forehand, enabled him to attack most of the time, even from difficult positions over the table.

He won too because he kept up the psychological pressure, hustling into the next points as quickly as possible and taking chances to gain the initiative, even against Waldner's excellent service.

Nevertheless Waldner's supporters may be uncon­vinced that Saive really is the better. The Swede had to play a long and brilliant semi final with Zoran Primorac, the World Cup winner from Croatia, in

the morning, and just about had time to digest a sandwich before taking on Saive.

Waldner also cut his hand at 20-20 in the first game of the final, and after a four minute pause early in the second game, played on with a finger bandaged. His touch and feel left him after that until halfway through the third game, by which time Saive was on the rampage.

Sweden had consolation in the women's singles, won by Marie Svensson against the

unseeded Dutch player Gerdie Keen in a one-sided final. Indeed it was the most surprising pair of finalists the women's singles has had ­raising the question yet again as to whether they are too long (and now, with a record 46 countries at the Birmingham event), too big.

Svensson, who played at her best and may be good enough to build on this success, penetrated Keen's close-to-the-table blocking right from the start with her

_~EURO 94

BIRMINGHAM

---\

PAGE 14 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1994 -2~~~~~~~~

powerful forehand loop and there was never a change in this pattern.

Svensson's friend from her Swedish League exploits, Lisa Lomas, never got near to a medal. She was emotionally drained after her team event efforts for England, and her defeat was perhaps the tournament's biggest disap­pointment. The biggest thrill? Probably the way 4,000 people suddenly got behind Chen Xinhua when he was two games down in the quarter final against Saive.

That lifted the China-born England number one amaz­ingly and created the most adrenalin-filled entertainment of the tournament. "For the first time in England I felt I had a lot of table tennis friends," said Chen. Had they made so much noise from the start Chen might well have beaten the world number one, won a medal and created a sensation.

French celebrate an historic

victory CHAMPAGNE celebrations continued most of the night in Birmingham hotels as players, officials and supporters danced the night away having brought down mighty Sweden 4-3 in a magnificent final. Joining in the jamboree was TTN Editor John Wood complete with his French beret. His act posing as a Frenchman needs only a string of onions round his camera case and he could have a new career in showbiz!

Back to the action on centre court at the NIA - lasting for the best part of four hours the quality of exchanges was enthralling. The battle was packed with surprise results. The greatest shock of all was that the world title holder Jean-Philippe Gatien lost both his games to Peter Karlsson and Jan-Ove Waldner, but the French still triumphed due principally to the skills of

Jubilant French men's team that won gold

Patrick Chila and Christophe Legout who won the decisive seventh game against the fading star Erik Lindh -18, 10, 17.

Sweden have their problems at this time. Jorgen Persson's car crash in Sweden a couple of months back left him with whiplash injuries and out of the firing line. That left a gap which Sweden were hoping would be filled by Peter Karlsson. In that match Karlsson with his magnificent attack especially on the backhand floored Gatien 15, 16 but in the penultimate game incredibly lost to Chila 14, -19,

-19, who has made enormous progress this season and at one stage in Birmingham was even tipped to win the mens singles crown.

Even the tiny Damien Eloi did his vital bit for France when with Gatien they stormed through to win the doubles 16, 16 against Waldner and Lindh.

The French knew from the start that they had a chance to win the tournament and to beat Sweden in the final. They regarded the absence of Persson as their main chance and the return of Lindh gave them further hope. What the French cannot have anticipated

was Gatien losing two and having to rely on Chila, Lagout and Eloi.

There was an interesting comment by Gatien, he said: "Christophe Legout has never let us down in a crucial match. M That was remarkably correct as it was Legout who won the vital seventh game against the injured Stefan Fetzner 16, -20, 18 when France beat German 4-3 and Legout did the same again in the final over Lindh. What a tremendous performance by the French team, they really earned their gold medals.

This question is already

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 15

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1994 -3~~~~~~~~

Russia's Elena Timina

being asked about Sweden ­with Waldner, Persson and Lindh clearly past their best, Karlsson looking sharp at times but not consistent, their chances of holding on to the Swaythling Cup in Tianjin a year from now must be slim?

ENGLAND BRONZE MEDALS

AT least our two teams won bronze medals. Some support­ers were mystified as to how England men got through to the semi finals with only three wins. Hungary also had three wins, but by narrower margins and we beat them 4-0. One extraordinary happening was that Austria who beat England 4-2 at the end in a 'dead' match were relegated after four inexplicable defeats.

The Austrian captain said, "I have never seen a team lose confidence like mine." Their training camp before Birming­ham was in Belgium - the power of the Saive brothers might have been a factor in their minds.

Carl Frean was the special England hero in the vital

defeat of Russia for whom the Mazunov brothers are still extremely powerful. Frean defeated both the brothers Andrei and Dimtri and won the doubles with Alan Cooke, who once again performed a vital role in the doubles.

In the match between England and Russia, Chen Xinhua showed the first signs of being jaded. He said "Eleven day tournaments are not for me," but many other players also found the programme exhausting including of course Lisa Lomas who will never admit to being tired, but the results tell the truth when the she lost later to the average Russian chopper from Belarus Tatiana Costrarnina.

RUSSIAN SUCCESS THE 4-1 defeat of Germany in the womens final by Russia was to many fans a shock. German fans seemed assured the power-trio of Jie Schopp, Nicole Struse and Olga Nemes the European League champi­ons would win the gold.

But Elena Timina, now on her way to live in Holland from

Market Drayton, was one of the stars on a golden night. Jie Schopp in the final took first blood for the Germans when she stopped Tirnina but the Russians bounced back when Galina Melnik up-ended Struse and Palina halted Nemes.

Tirnina and Palina secured the doubles over Struse and Christian Fischer, leaving Tirnina to chop off Nicole Struse 19, -19, 16, a revenge of earlier defeats by the German girl in the European Club Cup of Champions in Steinhagen.

Lisa leads England to

bronze ENGUSH champion Lisa Lomas, 27, from Luton, led the England women's team to a bronze medal.

The event was a triumph for women's table tennis, and the sport in general as female representatives from 41

countries fought out who will become the European Champi­ons in individual and team events.

Russia and Germany finished first and second respectively, but the achieve­ment of England women attaining fourth position was most unexpected. With the men's team also gaining a similar position, this was the first time in 16 years that both England teams won medals at the European Championships.

England were in a strong group. Pitted against Hungary, France, Netherlands and Italy, they were not expected to finish in the top two and thereby qualify for the semi final. However touches of brilliance from Lomas, Andrea Holt (Bury near Manchester) and Alison Gordon (Reading) showed what could be done in difficult circumstances.

They started well with a comfortable 4-1 win against Slovakia. There was then a hiccup with a narrow 4-3 loss

England's Lisa Lomas

PAGE 16 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1994 -4~~~~~~~~

against Italy. This was despite an unexpected doubles win for Lomas and Holt against a pair ranked number nine and 20 in Europe: Arisi and Abbate­Bulatova.

England women then registered another three victories against top class opposition: 4-2 against Hun­gary, 4-2 over France and the Netherlands by 4-1.

Highlights here were Holt and Lomas' five wins out of five in doubles matches. In singles, Andrea Holt collected great wins against Hungary's Toth, ranked 23 in Europe to her own position of 42, and a straight game victory over the eventual\vomen's singles finalist from the Netherlands, Gerdie Keen.

Lisa Lomas fought hard to beat the number six in Europe, Wang - Drechou of France, and herself overcame Keen.

After this run of success, England finished a creditable second place in their group, behind Hungary, oddly enough a team they had beaten.

The semi final against Russia did not go England's way, they lost 4-1 after a marathon battle. They did well in defeat, and Andrea Holt was resplendent against Russian number one Elena Tirnina, whom she outstandingly beat 19-21,27-25,21-17.

England then played Hungary for the second time to decide third and fourth place. They lost 4-0. This was strange as they had beaten the same players earlier in the group matches. However this contest was academic and I'm sure exhaustion after a week's gruelling competition played a part.

It was encouraging also to see the appearance of Eng­land's players of the future in the form of a trio of teenagers who were in the England squad: Nicola Deaton, Sally Marling and Kate Goodall. They played in the individual events which would have given them tremendous experience of international competition.

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TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 17

The victorious England men and womens team that won bronze medals in their respective team events. (Men left to right) Carl Frean, Chen Xinhua, Andrew Eden. MatthewSyedandAlan Cooke. (Women left to right) Kate Goodall, Nicola Deaton, AlisonGordon, Lisa Lomas, Andrea Holt and Sally Marling

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS -7~~~~~~~~~~

At the double

ENGLAND'S various pairings tumbled out of the doubles competitions at the double in Euro 94.

Out best hopes for a medal lay with Lisa Lomas and Andrea Holt, who had proved such a successful partnership in the women's team event, notching five wins from seven matches.

Their eighth seeding ensured a first round bye and a comfortable 21-14,21-19 second round win over Dai-Yong Tu of Switzerland and Germany's Christiane Praedel was reason for further optimism.

But the girls made a disappoint­ing exit in the next round against French pair Sylvie Plaisant and Anne Boileau, 17-21, 18-21.

Carl Prean and Alan Cooke also enjoyed the advantage of a number eight seeding and therefore a first round bye. They then polished off

Pictured (left) is losing mens sin­gles finalist Jan Ove Waldner of Sweden

UK & Ireland

Daniel Wintersdorff and Michel Oth of Luxembourg 21-10,21-10.

But their third round opponents were a different proposition. Calin Creanga of Greece and Zoran Kalinic, the Independent Federation player, were on a roll that was to take them all the way to the title. It was to the English pair's credit that they took the eventual champions to 19 in both games.

Skylet Andrew and Brad Billington, who had never played together before, tasted brief success by reaching round two with an exciting 21-18,21-23,21­14 victory over Bulgarian's Marin Kostadinov and Ivan Stoyanov.

Belgium's Thierry Cabrera and Frederic Sonnet brought down their downfall despite the Englishmen winning the first game 21-13. The Belgian's bounced back to take the next two 21-15, 21-9.

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EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS -8~~~~~~~~~~

PRIZE TABLE - Ian Knights (centre) representing Granville Community School of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, is pictured receiving the table they won, watched by Geoff Twiss. The 11 to 16 years co­educational comprehensive has an extensive coaching programme for its pupils and has 10 teams in the localBurton andDerbyLeagues. Ithas entered a team in the newlyformed Woolwich JuniorLeague

DAY 3: The atmosphere hots up as Lisa Lomas has the crowd roaring her way to victory over French star Wang­Drechou....but there is cause for concern as Chen Xinhua concedes his second singles against Austria and heads for the treatment room with a stiff back. DAY 4: Andrew Eden makes a nervous Euro debut....clarion call for Andrea Holt from her number one fan (her dad)....and she reaches a high note herself by beating Russia's Timina. DAY 5: Matt Syed grabs the spotlight by defeating Karlsson of Sweden... Chen ends up on the floor as Von Scheele causes an upset. ...and our marathon women finally run out of steam in the third place play-offs. DAY 6: No sign of nerves this time for Eden who puts on a 'wicked' performance against Rosskopf. ... the youngster loses but has the England bench in stitches and succeeds in extracting a smile or two from the stone-faced German. DAY 7: So close to tears....teenager Gemma Schwartz's long wait for the individual events ends in a first match exit....and agony of a different sort for Skylet Andrew as he smashes his thumb on the edge of the table. He recovers and beats a Romanian. DAY 8: Enter the old master, Desmond Douglas delights his home crowd' with a victory....Andrew Eden delights his American girlfriend by proposing to her via the giant video screen....but coach Paul Day sees red over Marmurek's serve against Sky and storms onto the court three times. DAY 9: FarewelNo the legend, Des bows out....Carl Prean falls out, literally, in a doubles match but amazingly recovers to play the next shot....and later comes back from looking down and out in the singles to reach the last 16. DAY 10: Cheeky Chen... .laughs all round as he tries to change ends a point too soon in his second game against Dutchman Heister....then the pleas go out for the crowd to cheer oo-ah-Chen Xinhua against Jean-Michel Saive....the crowd responds but Chen Just fails to force a fifth game. DAY 11: The final day and sadly not an English player on centre stage....but the fans salute Saive and Svensson the new champions.

Ladies' finalist Gerdie Keen ofHolland

Courtside by Colin Fuller

COIJN Fuller, a press officer at Euro 94, captures some courtside moments from the England squad in the NIA. DAY 1: And the first English point of the 19th European Championships goes to Alison Gordon... .four hours later England are still playing Italy....but the men don't hang around in thrashing Hungary 4-0. DAY 2: The men catch the marathon bug against Russia....the Russian coach gets a yellow card....master server Chen Xinhua serves up ahat-trick of faults against Dmitri Mazunov but still wins.

19th EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS Men's Singles Semi Finals: Jean-Michel Saive (Bel) beat Patrick Chila (Fra) 12, 15, 8 Jan-Ove Waldner (Swe) beat Zoran Primorac (Cra) 18, -26, -17, 19, 16 Men's Singles Final: Jean-Michel Saive (Bel) beat Jan-Ove Waldner (Swe) -23, 10, 17, 16 Women's Singles Semi Finals: Marie Svensson (Swe) beat Jie Schopp (Ger) -16, 14, 18, 17 Women's Singles Final: Marie Svensson (Swe) beat Gerdie Keen (Ned) 12, 14, 18 Men's Doubles Final: Calin Creanga (Gre)/Zoran Kalinic (lFP) beat Jean-Michel Saive (Bel)1 Zoran Primorac (Cra) 17, 23 Women's Doubles Final: Csilla Batorfi/Krisztina (Hun) beat Elena Timinallrina Palina (Rus) 14, 9 Mixed Doubles Final: Zoran Primorac (Cra)/Csilla Batorfi (Hun) beat Calin Creanga (Gre)/e. Badescu (Rom) 16, 13

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 21

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1994 -9~~~~~~~~

KATIIYKINGofAmerica. the new girl in Andrew Eden's life said. "I just loved Farewell being here, I never expected the tourna­ment to be so big and the National Indoor Arena is huge.

. This is my first visit to England it's a lot different from the USA.

party quotes byJohn Wood

I'm just having the time of my life. DURING the Farewell Dinner party held at especially because I love Andrew!' the International Convention Centre, on Monday night the 4th April, 1994, the following people were asked to comment Goodon the European Championships held at Birmingham, by Table Tennis News Edi­tor John Wood. vibes from

The new ladies singles champion MARIE SVENSSON from Sweden said, "I'm unbelievably happy to have won the the new title. The playing conditions and food was good and the organisation was also good.'

Referring to the inclement weather President conditions during the second week of the championships she exclaimed 'I don't like by John Woodford snow I' NILS BERGSTROM the newly elected

Ladies singles finalist from Holland, President of the ETTU is a strong sup­GERDIE KEENsaid "The team event for us porter of England was disappointed that was very disappointing especially being ETTA Chairman Alan Ransome failed to relegated. But the singles was good for get a second term as Vice President. Time me. The organisation was fine and getting is on Mr. Ransome's side was the view information for the schedules was good expressed by Mr. Bergstrom at a special but always late. The hotel. stadium, food interview for the'English journalists in and training facilities was good plus I Birmingham.enjoyed shopping in Birmingham when I had the time."

PATRICK BIROCHEAU. the second coach of France said. 'I am very happy that we won the gold medal in the mens team event. the players showed that they had the true fighting spirit. The feeling for me was the same as when I was a playing member of the team when we won ten years ago.

The draw for Jean Philippe Gatien was a bad one because he doesn't play too good against defenders. and Igor Solopov is one of the best choppers in Europe.

But we will improve Gatien's tech­nique against choppers because at the Nils Bergstrom end of the season we start a training programme where one week every month The President indicated that he was for a whole year will be for practice against 'surprised' that his new team will not choppers. include the English Chairman.

With regard to this tournament I The Swedish administrator said that thought the Stadium conditions were per­ something will have to be done on the feet for playing no trouble with the Door increasing number of teams and countries and the tables were very good. The or­ appearing in the European Champion­ganisation and scheduling was good but ships. The problem is he said, as you well the mixed doubles were too late in the know. the voting situation has changed. evening especially if you had an early start The former Soviet Union bloc now has an in the morning. increased number of votes. How can you

The hotel was okay and the food was persuade these new nations to vote them­good but not wonderful. selves into a preliminary event. so bring­

With regard to the number of specta­ ing down the European Championships to tors in attendance. I was a little disap­ about 16 or 20 Associations? Very difficult pointed. the attendance was better in is the answer. The same thing is happen­Stuttgart and previously in Paris. ing in a number of other sports. Mr.

Apart from the spectators I was very Bergstrom has sympathy with the ETTA's happy with Birmingham for it was near financial problems in Birmingham perfect for organisation.' He suggested that Eastern bloc coun­

JEAN DEVYS of France and ETTU tries especially might have trouble financ­Vice President, said 'I think the organisa­ ing a European Championships at thetion was very good and the food was very

standard now required. Germany only nice. As you know 'we French are particu­manage to stage events at a high standard 1ar about our food. with a consortium of sponsors. The venue is superb and Birmingham

Asked for a comment on the highly is an ideal location for the European Cham­unusual sponsorship of the Swedish na­pionships. ' tional team bya German newspaper 'Neue JORG ROSSKOPF of Germany said 'It Zeit' (New Times) he indicated some sur­was a good tournament, but Inow long for

a couple of days to rest. prise at the deal but indicated that spon­

It was well organised everything was sorship is so hard to come by that money near perfect but Ididn't like the solid barriers from anywhere these deals often has to be on the show oourts, these hard wooden accepted. barriers are dangerous for players.'

PAGE 22 MA Y1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

Coaching experts Michel Gadal (left) ofCanada and Glenn Osth from Sweden

Euro 94 coaching course

by Gail McCUlloch AN advanced coaching course was each session. The success of the run during Euro 94. The course was in course leaves one problem - What three parts:- A six day course; a five next? day course; and for those with Coaches Conference stamina. a full 11 day course.

A one day conference will be held onAlthough it proved to be very tiring. it May 22nd at Milton Keynes. This was undoubtedly those who conference is open to all coaches and

participated in the full course. that there will be a debrief of the Europe­gained the most. ans along with discussion of manyThere were 50 participants, current issues. SUggestions arising including coaches from Denmark, from this conference will be used toFinland. Algeria. Holland. Scotland plan the coaching programme for 941and Trinidad and Tobago in addition 95.to our English coaches.

If you care about coaching - beWe were fortunate to have two there. Details are available from Jill excellent course leaders: Glenn Osth. Parker. tel: OTl2 715216. fax: CJT72the former Swedish National Coach 712678.and current coach of Marie Svensson.

the European Champion. and Michel Gadal the former French National Coach and coach to world champion MediaJean Philippe Gatien. who is currently National Coach in Canada. They were both superb throughout the course ­ memories despite at times having to work in very poor conditions. New topics and byJohn Pike ideas were introduced to the coaches and it was interesting to see how two WORKING on the principal that top coaches have achieved great nothing goes on for ever. the 19th success via different routes. European Table Tennis Champion-

In addition the course was enriched by visiting speakers: Andrzej Grubba, Jean Philippe Gatien. More Euro 94Matthew Syed, Lisa Lomas, Marie Svensson. Ali Gordon who gave the players views; Anders Thonstrum photographs who spoke about the mF (and the politeness of the English) and Nicky will appear in Jarvis who spoke on equipment.

I'm sure that all who attended June 1994 would agree that the course was highly beneficial and have widened issue of Table their outlook on coaching. I am most grateful to Reg Rockall who helped with the organisation and to Mandy Tennis News Winskill who produced the notes from

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1994 -10 ~~~~~~~~

ships have come and gone, but the memory will linger on with th1s event, an event that will rate surely with the 'Worlds', that were held in the same city, some 17 years earlier.

The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham is no doubt one of the finest venues in the country and that was obvious to players and officials alike. I was interested to hear from Jim Beckley, the PR Director at the championships, that a new sporting arena was being built in Manchester. Like Birmingham, that must have a good future and can only be good for major table tennis events. That is in the years to come, but now, I want to reflect on the happenings at the NIA from March 25th to April 4th, at least from the media view­point.

For more years than I care to remember, we have always struggled to get good media coverage, but I thought we got more than our fair share at Euro 94. Both BBC and Eurosport looked after the television side well, and I must say, the local BBC Radio WM station showed more than a passing interest.

Desmond Douglas, it was good to see h1m back in action again at th1s level, appeared on the late night John Taynton Show, the Championships Director, Clive Oakman, did a good ten minute live interview with Jenny Wilkes, while Johnny Leach and I both made it onto the Tony Butler Show.

The press cuttings around the NIA told its own story and for th1s we can thank John Woodford and Richard Eaton, and the other scribes I had the pleasure to work with over ten very exciting days.

The Media Centre was excellent, I have already mentioned Jim Beckley, the man for the job, and a word for Caroline Searle, who again showed her quality throughout the champion­ships.

Another member of the Media Centre team that was always very helpful to me was a young 45 year old Scot from Dundee called Brian Webster. He covered more miles in the NIA than any other official, and yet, he always had time to cater for our every need. When he is not working at major sporting events, Brian spends a lot of h1s time in the church, and away from that, he is a collector of sports ties. I was glad I could add to h1s collection.

George Williams from Cardiff was another man of great help with h1s result service and it was good talking to h1m about the golden days of Welsh rugby. Euro 94 was all about the great army of helpers and what a credit they were to this game of table tennis we all love so mUCh. From the time I collected my Accreditation pass and Nittaku bag, one sensed the organisation was spot on, and that was just the way it turned out to be.

From the media, congratulations to all concerned. My last table tennis was two years ago at the English Open in the same venue, and now, the bug has struck again. The fellowship that th1s great sport has given us, or rather me, over the past 40 years, was there in abundance when you met old players and officials.

For me it was ten days of table tennis bliss, but I did make one mistake. After spending so much time at the NIA, it was a 30 miles round trip every day, I even went on Tuesday, April 5th to find alas, Euro 94 was no more.

EURO 94 MAILBOX

Grateful I would be grateful if I could use your columns to convey my appreciation of the exceptional presentation and organisation of Euro 94.

In particular I wish to thank the officials and umpires who gave my wife and I such a warm reception.

After serving table tennis in England for many years I have lived in Belgium for 13% years, and it was a wonderful opportu­nity to greet old friends.

My umpire assessment work was a real pleasure - it was accepted in the right spirit. Thank you all so much.

Derek M. Tyler Vice President ETTA

END OF ~EA~ON OmR~

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TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY1994 PAGE23

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS~'~~~~~~~~~~~~

Essex -Premier champions THE final round of Senior Premier matches were played at Milton Keynes T.T.C. Essex. clear leaders with three 8-2 wins from the first senes. declared their intent with Skylet Andrew playing in all four matches! On the Saturday Essex beat Deroo 6-4 and Surrey 8-2. with Nicky Mason getting the two events for Surrey write. Doug Mo••.

Essex started in the same vein on Sunday morning with another 8-2 win - this time over Sussex. Teresa Bennett (Sx) got a 22 in third win over Shelley Ruocco. Going into the final round Essex. who had already won the championship, were held to a draw by Lancs. Jonathan Taylor and Maria Thornley got four of the wins and Sean Gibson beat Steve Dorking 18, -20, 231 It was certainly a very good team performance by Essex. In the final series Grant Solder. Linda Radiord and Shelley Ruocco won six of their eight matches. The Essex team was relegated two seasons ago but recovered well to take fourth place last season and now win the championship Derbys. in fifth position after the iirst series, fought very well with three wins and took the runners-up spot. Their only loss in the final series was to Essex despite Bradley Billington and Theresa Butler having two straight wins over Skylet Andrew and Linda Radiord. Bradley Billington (Dy) was certainly the star of the Premier Division being the only player to get 100% wins over the season. Middlesex, champions last season, slipped into third place and, surprisingly lost 3-7 to Sussex. Richie Venner (Sx) beat Nigel Taylor 19, -19, 20 and Sally Weston (Sx) had a 20, -17,20 win over Lesley Keast. ...Lancs, with Jonathan Taylor and Maria Thornley in this final senes, gained fourth place. Jonathan Taylor and Maria Thornley lost only once ­to Lynsey Heyward (Dv). Staffs fought well for fifth place with Jill Harris and Helen Lower very much to the fore. Devon with one win and three drawn matches escaped relegation. In this series they were well served by Paul Giles and Lynsey Heyward. who each got three wins.

Surrey did not get a point in the second series, despite having Nicky Mason with seven wins, and are for relegation. Sussex, with four points. have to join Surrey. Sussex put up a great fight especially against Staffs in their last match, which lasted five hours, but went down 3-7.

RESULTS E 6 Dy 4, Dy 6 Dv 4, St 5 Dv 5, St 6 Sy 4. Mi 7 Sy 3, E 8 Sx 2, La 6 Sx 4. Mi 4 La 6. Sy 2 E 8, Sy 4 Dy 5, Dy 7 St 3, La 5 E 5, Sx 7 Mi 3, Dv 4 Mi 6, Dv 5 La 5, Sx 3 St 7.

FINAL LEAGUE TABLE P W D L F A PTS

E 7 6 1 0 51 19 13 Dy 7 4 1 2 36 34 9 Mi 7 4 0 3 36 34 8 La 7 2 3 2 35 35 7 St 7 3 1 3 33 37 7 Dv 7 1 3 3 32 38 5 Sx 7 1 2 4 30 40 4 Sy 7 1 1 5 27 43 3

LEICESTER WIN PREMIER STATUS

SENIOR tA DMSION: He 1 Le 9, Nd 5 Y 5, Wa 5 E2 5. Ca 8 Sk 2, Y 5 Wa 5. Le 6 Sk 4. E2 7 He 3. Nd 6 Ca 4. He 4 Y 6, Wa 5 Nd 5. Sk 1 E2 9, Ca 4 Le 6.

Victorious Essex team (left to right) Shelley Ruocco, Steve Dorking, Skylet Andrew, Linda Radford and Grant Solder

12 matches were played at Grantham T.T. Centre to wind up the Divisional programme. Leies. kept up their winning ways from the first senes. They went through the season unbeaten, despite not having Chris Rogers in two of their matches, and will return to the Premier Division. It was a good all­round performance from Chris rogers, Dave Gannon, Mark Illingworth, Phil Smith and Karen Smith. Yorks. were runners-up and lost only to Leics. They were surprising to see Suffolk not getting a point and Stuart Palmer not registering a win in the final matches. Suffolk however avoid relegation. Essex 2nOO improved their situation with wins over Herts and Suffolk but with only four points are for the drop. Herts is the other team for relegation.

SENIOR tB DMSION: Mi 2 9 Bk 2 1, Sx 2 10 Bk 2 0, Bk 1 8 Sy 2 2.

Middlesex 2nOO concluded their season with a 9-1 win over Berks 2nOO and won the championship. The Middlesex team dropped just one point - to Gwent. David Goode was their star with 100% success over the season. There was success for the Berks 1st team who dropped only two points ­having lost to Middx 2nOO. In their final match they had a good 8-2 win over Surrey 2nOO. With Middx already represented at Senior Premier level Berks will get promotion. Berks 2nOO (two points) and Gwent (three points) are the teams for demotion.

SENIOR 2A DMSION: La 2 5 Ng 5, Ch 8 Cu 2, Ng 9 Le 2 1, Le 2 2 St 2 8, Le 2 4 St 2 6, Cw 2 Wa 8.

The Lanes 2INotts clash in the final round was going to decide the championship. Lanes getting a point from a draw gave them the title - they finished one point ahead of Notts. Steve Scowcroft (La) won his matches. Graham Clarke, who was not in the final match, got 100% wins over the season. Notts gave a good all-round team performance. Notts 4-6 loss to Staffs 2nOO in January was the main reason for not finishing on top.­

SENIOR 2B DMSION: Wo 8 Wi 2, Av 2 2 Gs 8, So 3 Co 7,So 9 Co2 1.

Wores 1st team finished unbeaten after their 8-2 win over Wilts. They win the championship and promotion to Division 1. This was another good all­round team performance with Malcolm Green and Sandra Roden outstanding with 100% wins. Cornwall 1st team put up a good performance losing only to Wores. Gary Wilson (Co) lost only once. Darren Griffin gave a similar performance for Glos.

SENIOR 2D DMSION: Bd 10 Sk 2 0, Sk 2 2 Li 8, K 10 He 3 0, Do 2 K 3 8.

Bucks was the unbeaten team in this Division and had already won the championship before this final round of matches. All the players contributed well for the success with Clare Plumridge to the fore having just one loss - and that at 22 in a deciding game against Clare Lowe (Sk2)1 Essex 3rOO took the runners-up spot - they were beaten only by Bucks. Kent 2nOO were not far behind with two defeats and a draw with Essex 3rOO. Hunts got the 'wooden spoon'.

SENIOR 2D DMSION: K 1 10 He 3 0, Do 2 K 3 8.

There was Ii great performance from Kent lsts. They had three 10-nil wins and dropped only seven events over the seven months. Kent are the champions and should fare well in Division 1 next season. There were two 100% players - Paul Rainford and Ian Girdler - but all the team, which included Andy Cunningham, Jason Goodall, Juliet Houghton and Lesley Hollingsworth made excellent contribu­tions. In their final match against Herts 3rOO team three events went to 17 and 18 in 3rd games, but Kent got the 10-nil win. Sussex 3rd team were runners-up having lost only to Kent - but the scoreline was 10-01

BERKSHIRE - SURPEME CHAMPIONS!

JUNIOR PREMIER DMSION: More success for Berkshirel They went through

the season undefeated and won the championship at first attempt. Berks were promoted after wining Division 1 last season. It was a supreme perform­ance. The boys - Ben Johnson, Terry Young, Gareth Herbert and Ali Subhan - dropped only three of the boys 42 singles! Gareth Herbert kept his 100% record when, in the final match 'against Ches., he beat Ian Eaton at 20 in 3rd game. Gemma Schwartz won nine of her 11 singles events.

Essex took the runners-up spot having lost only to Berks and dropping a point to Yorks. Yorks got 3rd place having lost to Berks and drawing with Essex and Surrey. Sally Marling was unbeaten for the 3rd consecutive season. Shelley Ruocco (L) had a very good season at Junior and Senior level. She lost two junior events - to Sally Marling 19 and 19 and to Clare Newns (Ch) at 12 and 15. Devon got the 'wooden spoon' and, with Lanes (three points) are for demotion.

PAGE 24 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS -2~~~~~~~~~~~

RESULTS Y 10 Mi 0, La 4 Ch 6, Essex 3 were beaten 7-3 by Norfolk 2nds and then, La 5 Sy 5, Y 5 E 5, in a hard fought match against Norfolk 3rds, also E 6 Ch 4, Sy 6 Dv 4, went down 4-6. This clinched the championship for Bk 10 Dv 0, Bk 8 Mi 2, Norfolk 2nds and put Essex 3rds into runners-up Mi 7 La 3, E 10 La 0, spot. Bucks 2nds got 3rd place. Top players were Sy 3 Bk 7, Mi 5 Sy 5, unbeaten Martine Whittaker (Bd) and Jamie Vasco Ch 1 Y 9, Dv 1 Y 9, (Nk 2) and Kevin Holton (Hu), who both lost only one Dv 4 E 6, Ch 4 Bk 6. match.

FINAL LEAGUE TABLE JUNIOR 2C DIVISION: P W D L F A PTS Dv 2 7 Do 3, Dv 3 6 Do 4,

Bk 7 7 0 0 51 19 14 Wo 2 Dv 2 8, Wo 7 Dv 3 3, E 7 5 1 1 44 26 11 Do 4 Wi 6, Gn 2 7 Gs 3, Y 7 4 2 1 50 20 10 Co 2 Av 8, Gs 5 Co 5, Sy 7 2 3 2 35 35 7 Av 7 Wo 3, Wi 6 Gn 2 4. Mi 7 3 1 3 31 39 7 Devon 2nds finished strongly with good Wins Ch 7 2 0 5 29 41 4 over Dorset and Wores. This gave them the Buck's Ken Muhr La .7 1 1 5 22 48 3 championship and promotion. Avon also had two Dv 7 0 0 7 18 52 0 good Wins and finished level on points with Devon

DaVid Hyde -17, -19. Hyde (Bd) was in great form.

JUNIOR lA DIVISION: 2nds. These two teams met in January when they drew. However Devon 2 won more sets and Avon Norfolk 2nd team is for demotion.

Cw 2 Nd 8, Nk 6 He 4, had to be content with runners-up spot. It was an Nd 5 Ng 5, Ng 4 SK 6, exceptionally close match between Glam. 2nds and Cw 6 SK 4, Sk 6 Nk 4, Glos. Seven events went to a decider with three VETERANS 2C DIVISION: He 8 St 2, Ng 8 St 2, ending after deuce and one at 191 Glos. were a little K 3 2 Ox 1 7, Mi 2 2 Sy 2 7, St 2 Cw 8, Y 2 7 He 3, unfortunate to go down by a 7-3 margin. Ox 2 4 Sx 3 5. Nk 3 Y 2 7, Nd 4 Y 2 6. axon 1st team concluded with a 7-2 Win over

12 matches played at Granville School, Swadlincote to complete the fixtures. Four teams started with six points but it was Yorks 2nds who came out on top with three more Wins. This included defeats of near rivals Norfolk and N'berland. Yorks lost only one match - to Notts at the start of the season. The team of Simon James, Darren Ashall, DaVid Smith, Zoe FIsher and Emma Smith all performed well. N'berland were runners-up, being much indebted to Andrew Wilkinson who went through the season unbeaten. Gary Pestka's (Ng) only defeat was at the hands of Wilkinson. Staffs failed to get a point and are for demotion together with Herts, with five points.

JUNIOR lB DIVISION: E 2 0 K 1 10, Gw 8 So 2, Bu 1 3 Cn 1 7, K 1 6 Sx 1 4.

More success for Kent. In the final series they had Wins over Essex 2nds and Sussex. Over the season they dropped just one point - to Glamorgan. Champions Kent will feature in Premier Division next season. The team of Glen Ritchie, Christian Thompson, Paul Smith, Crystal Hall and Angie Bristow all contributed well to the success. Glam. were worthy runners-up. The only points dropped were from drawn matches with Kent and Clwyd. Bethan Daunton (Gn) was the only player in the Div. with 100% Wins. Somerset, on promotion, lost some of their best players and failed to get a point and, with Essex 2nds, are for demotion.

JUNIOR 2A DIVISION: Dy 8 Wa 1 2, Wa2 3 Np 7, Ch2 6 Ox 4, Le 4 La 2 6, Dy 8 Le 2, La2 7 Ch 2 3, Np 5 Li 5, Ox 1 Wa 1 9, Ox 2 Wa2 8, Wa 1 5 Np 5, Li 1 Dy 9.

11 matches played at Grantham T. T. Centre to conclude this Div. Derbys, with Nicola Deaton in the team, were invincible with three good Wins - having won their preVious five matches. They dropped only 15 events over the eight match programme. Nicola Deaton was, of course, unbeaten but all the team of - DaVid Purdy, Michael Isherwood, Scott Habershon, Matthew Worthy, Sarah Milnes and Michelle Martin performed very well. Champions Derby will be in Division 1 next season. Warwicks 1st team were runners-up having lost only to Derbys and made a draw with 3rd placed Northants.

JUNIOR 2B DIVISION: Nk 2 7 E 3 3, Nk 3 6 E 3 4, Sk 2 5 Nk 2 5, Bd 4 Hu 6, Hu 8 He 2 2, Ca 3 Bd 7, Bu 2 7 Sk 2 3, E 3 10 Ca 0, He 2 4 Bu 2 6, Sk 2 2 Nk 3 8.

Essex 3rd team's visit to Norwich Norman Centre

was crucial in deciding the championship of this Div.

JUNIOR 2D DIVISION: K 2 9 Ha 2 1, K 3 6 Ha 2 4, Sx 3 3 K 2 7, K 2 10 Sy 3 0, K 3 4 Sy 2 6, Sx 3 4 Bk 2 6, Sy 2 0 Sy 3 2, Sx 2 7 Bk 2 3, Mi 2 4 K 3 6, Bk 2 6 Mi 4, Ha 2 1 Sx 2 9, Sx 3 7 Ha 2 3.

Another success for Kent their 2nd team dominating this Div. They won all eight matches dropping only 18 events. It was an excellent team performance with Scott Dawtry and Chris Hald both undefeated. Sussex 2nds, who lost only to Kent 2nds, were runners-up. For Sussex Clare Brown got 100% wins. Surrey 2nds, who lost only to the two top teams, took 3rd place.

VETERANS lA DIVISION: La 1 6 Wo 3, Wo 2 Ch 2 7.

Lanes 1st team concluded with a 6-3 Win over Wores. Barry Crook and Derek Watmough were promoted from the 2nd team and won all their four events. For Worcs. Roy NortonlMervyn Wood retained their 100% record in mens doubles. This Win gave Lanes 1 the championship and an immediate return to Premier Division. There were three tearns on 10 points - Ches 2, Leies and Lines. Lines won the most sets and take runners-up spot.

VETERANS lB DIVISION: K 2 5 E 3 4, Bk 1 6 Gs 1 3, So 1 4 E 2 5, M 1 5 Ha 1.

Even more success for Kent. Kent 2nds won all their matches - four of them with a 5-4 scoreline, which is not unusual in Vets matchesl Kent 1st team won this Div. last season. As Kent is already represented at Premier level it will be runners-up Hants 1st team who will get promotiQn. Glos (four points) and Middx 1 (two points) are the teams for demotion.

VETERANS 2A DIVISION: Nberland team was never in difficulty in this Div.

They won six matches and dropped only 13 events. Warwick 2nds conlcuded with a 7-2 Win over Northants 2nds and took the runners-up spot. Warwick lost to N'berland. By the narrowest of margins only Staffs is the team for demotion.

VETERANS 2B DIVISION: Nk 1 4 Bd 5, Nk 2 2 E 4 7

Undefeated Bucks won this Div. and get an immediate return to Div. 1. Three of their Wins were at 5-4! It was a good all-round performance from Ken Moor, Geoff Giles, Mike Atkinson, Dave Wackrill and Muriel Hooker. Beds got the runners-up spot. In Norfolk 1st teams last match they lost 4-5 to Beds, and Mick Broughton (Nk) lost his unbeaten record to

Kent 3rds to remain unbeaten. They dropped just 12 events over the six matches. axon is another team to get an immediate return to Division 1. Surrey 2nds lost to axon lsts and get the runners-up spot. axon 2nds failed to get a point and are for demotion.

VETERANS 2D DIVISION: Ha 2 4 Sy 3 5, Dv 7 Do 2 2, Wi 2 Av 7.

Surrey 3rd team, Division 3 Winners last season, got a 'clean sheet' in Division 2D. They again Win a championship and will now proceed to Division 1. The Surrey team's hardest match was against Hants 2nds, when they won 5-4. Maurice Shave (Ha) won both his singles matches at 19 in 3rd games. This left Hants 2nds in runners-up spot - a repeat of their situation last season. Somerset 2nds did not get a point and are for demotion.

VETERANS 3A DIVISION: Wa 3 7 Bd 3 2, Hu 1 5 Ch 3 4, Bd 2 7 Hu 2 2, Hf 4 5 Wi 2 4.

Newcomers Warwick 3rds dominated this Division with seven clear wins. It was a good team performance the main contenders being Neal Wheatley, Barry Hunt, Graham Hoskin and Dot Macfarlane. Warwicks 3rds Win the championship and will move to Division 2. Beds 2nds improved their position this season to take runners-up spot.

VETERANS 3B DIVISION: Ha 3 3 K 4 6, Ha 4 Bk 2 8, Do 3 3 Ha 4 6, Bk 4 He3 8, Sx 4 2 Do 3 7.

Kent 4ths is another new team to Win a Division and this gives Kent their 5th title this season I Again success was due to a good all-round team perform­ance from Ted Tydeman, Roger Pingram, Barry Grimwade, Mel Dison and Marian Garlinge. Berks 2nds demoted last season, got the runners-up spot. They lost only to Kent 4 and Hants 3 teams. Berks 4th team, with no points, got the 'wooden spoon.

VETERANS 3C DIVISION: Dv 3 4 Gs 2 5, He 5 3 Bk 3 6 Dv 2 7 Hr 2, Wi 3 0 No 3 9.

There was an exciting finish to this Division. The championship was not decided until the end of the Dv3/Gs2 match in this final round. Newcomers Devon 3 were unbeaten but Glos 2 had lost one match. However, Glos got home by a 5-4 margin and finished level on points with Devon 3 - but won 39 sets against Devon's 381 Devon 3rd team had to be content with runners-up spot. Pat Lyon got 100% Wins in ladies singles events for Devon.

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 25

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS - 3

FINAL LEAGUETABLES SEASON 1993/94 - CompiledbyLeslieSmith SENIORS PREMIER DMSION P WD L F A PTS

Suffolk 2nd Huntingdonshire DMSION2D

7 7

1 0

0 0

6 7

18 52 23 47

2 0

Cheshire Dorset Kent

7 7 7

6 4 3

1 3 4

42 21 34 29 30 33

12 8 6

Essex 7 6 1 o 51 19 13 Kent 7 7 0 0 63 7 14 Sussex 7 3 4 26 37 6 Derbyshire 7 4 1 2 36 34 9 Sussex 3rd 7 6 0 1 52 18 12 Essex 7 3 4 25 38 6 Middlesex Lancashire

7 7

4 2

0 3

3 2

36 34 35 35

8 7

Hampshire Hertfordshire 3rd

7 7

5 3

0 0

2 4

46 24 28 42

10 6

Hertfordshire Surrey

7 7

2 1

5 6

27 36 25 38

4 2

Staffordshire Devonshire

7 7

3 1

1 3

3 3

33 37 32 38

7 5

Hampshire 2nd Oxfordshire

7 6

2 1

1 2

4 3

30 40 23 37

5 4

DMSION1A Lancashire *7 6 0 41 21 13

Sussex 7 1 2 4 30 40 4 Kent 3rd 7 1 1 5 21 49 3 LiRGolilshire 7 5 2 40 23 10 Surrey 7 1 1 5 27 43 3 Dorset 6 0 0 6 7 53 0 Cheshire 2nd 7 5 2 38 25 10 DMSION1A Leicestershire Yorkshire

7 7

7 4

0 2

0 1

49 21 40 30

14 10

Outstanding match, Oxfordshire v Dorset

JUNIORS Leicestershire Worcestershire Warwickshire

7 7 *7

5 3 2

2 4 4

35 28 27 35 31 31

10 6 5

Warwickshire Northumberland Cambridgeshire Suffolk

7 7 7 7

3 3 3 2

2 2 0 1

2 2 4 4

40 30 35 35 36 34 28 42

8 8 6 5

PREMIER DMSION Berkshire 7 Essex 7 Yorkshire 7

7 5 4

0 1 2

0 1 1

51 19 44 26 50 20

14 11 10

Hertfortlshire 2nd 7 1 6 21 42 Lancashire 2nd 7 0 7 18 45

'" includes one drawn match DMSION1B

2 .f)

Essex 2nd 7 2 0 5 30 40 4 Surrey 7 2 3 2 35 35 7 Kent 2nd 7 7 0 40 23 14 Hertfordshire DMSION1B Middlesex 2nd Berkshire

7

7 7

0

6 6

1

1 0

6

0 1

22 48

48 22 56 14

1

13 13

Middlesex Cheshire Lancashire Devonshire

7 7 7 7

3 2 1 0

1 0 1 0

3 5 5 7

31 39 29 43 22 48 18 52

7 4 3 0

Hampshire Essex 2nd Essex 3rd Berkshiure

7 7 7 7

5 5 3 3

2 2 4 4

40 23 35 28 31 32 29 34

10 10 6 6

Sussex 2nd Devonshire 2nd Avon

7 7 7

3 3 2

2 2 2

2 2 3

36 34 35 35 34 36

8 8 6

DMSION1A Yorkshire 2nd Northumberland

7 7

6 4

0 1

1 2

48 22 44 26

12 9

Somerset Gloucestershire Middlesex

7 7 7

2 2 1

5 5 6

30 33 25 38 22 41

4 4. 2

Surrey 2nd Gwent

7 7

2 1

0 1

5 5

28 43 26 44

4 8

Nottinghamshire Norfolk

7 7

4 4

1 0

2 3

39 31 39 31

9 8

DMSION2A NorthuInberland 6 6 0 41 13 12

Berkshire 2nd DMSION2A Lancashire 2nd Nottinghamshire Staffordshire 2nd Cheshire

7

8 8 8 8

1

6 6 6 5

0

2 1 0 1

()

0 1 2 2

17 .53

59 21 59 21 55 25 48 32

2

14 13 12 11

Suffolk CIWVd Hertfordshire Staffordshire DMSION 1B Kent

7 7 7 7

7

3 3 2 0

6

1 0 1 0

1

3 4 4 7

0

34 36 28 42 34 36 14 56

53 17

7 6 5 0

13

Warwickshire 2nd Nottinghamshire Northamptonshire Northamptonshire 2nd Clwyd Staffordshire

6 6 6 6 6 6

5 3 3 2 1 1

1 3 3 4 5 5

37 17 29 25 27 27 17 37 19 35 19 25

10 6 6 4 2 2

Warwickshire 2nd 8 3 1 4 39 41 7 Glamorgan 7 5 2 0 50 20 12 DMSION2B Leicestershire 2nd Staffordshire 3rd Cumbria

8 8 8

3 2 1

1 0 1

4 6 6

37 43 24 56 18 62

7 4 3

Sussex Buckinghamshire Gwent

7 7 7

4 4 3

1 0 2

2 3 2

47 23 42 28 38 32

9 8 8

Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Norfolk

6 6 6

6 5 3

6 1 3

30 15 36 13 34 20

12 10 6

Clwyd DMSION2B Worcestershire Cornwall

8

8 8

0

8 7

1

0 0

7

0 1

21 59

65 15 55 25

1

16 14

Hampshire Essex 2nd Somerset DMSION2A

7 7 7

2 1 0

0 0 0

5 6 7

21 49 17 53 12 58

4 2 0

Essex 4th Buckinghamshire 2nd CaInbridgeshire Norfolk 2nd

6 6 6 6

3 3 1 0

3 3 5 6

27 27 22 33 22 32 9 45

6 6 2 0

Worcestershire 2nd 8 4 2 2 45 35 10 Derbyshire 8 8 0 0 65 15 16 DMSION2C Wiltshire 8 3 2 3 43 37 8 Warwickshire 8 6 1 1 56 24 13 Oxfordshire 6 6 0 42 13 12 Gloucestershire Devonshire 3rd Somerset

8 8 8

3 3 3

1 1 0

4 4 5

43 37 37 43 35 45

7 7 6

Northamptonshire Lincolnshire Cheshire 2nd

8 8 8

5 3 3

2 3 1

1 2 4

50 30 12 40 40 .9 35 45 7

Surrey 2nd Sussex 2nd Middlesex 2nd

6 6 6

5 4 3

1 2 3

40 14 34 20 27 27

10 8 6

Avon 2nd 8 0 2 6 21 59 2 Lancashire 2nd 8 3 1 4 33 47 7 Sussex 3rd 6 2 4 18 36 4 Cornwall 2nd 8 1 0 7 16 64 2 Leicestershire 8 1 1 6 30 50 3 Kent 3rd 6 1 5 18 36 3 DMSION2C Oxfordshire 8 0 3 5 24 56 3 Oxfordshire 2nd 6 0 6 10 44 0 Buckinghamshire Essex 3rd Kent 2nd Hertfordshire 2nd

7 7 7 7

7 4 4 3

0 2 1 1

0 1 2 3

49 21 40 30 42 28 33 37

14 10 9 7

Warwickshire 2nd DMSION2B Norfolk 2nd Essex 3rd

8

8 8

1

6 6

0

2 0

7

0 2

27 53

57 23 48 32

2

14 12

DMSION2D Surrey 3rd Hampshire 2nd Avon

6 6 6

6 5 2

0 1 3

39 15 38 16 31 23

12 10 6

Lincolnshire 6 Bedfordshire 6 Suffolk 2nd 5 Huntingdonshire 7 DMSION2D Kent 6 Sussex 3rd 7 Hampshire 7 Hertfordshire 3rd 6 Hampshire 2nd 7 Oxfordshire 6 Kent 3rd 6 Dorset 5

JUNIORS PREMIER DMSION Berkshire 3 E-ssex 3 Middlesex 3

2 2 1 0

6 6 5 3 2 1 0 0

3 2 2

1 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0

0 0 0

3 3 4 7

0 1 2 3 4 3 5 5

0 1 1

29 31 28 32 16 34 23 47

53 7 52 18 46 24 28 32 30 40 23 37 13 47 5 45

20 10 17 13 17 13

5 5 2 0

12 12 10 6 5 4 1 0

6 4 4

Huntinghamshire Buckinghamshire 2nd Bedfordshire Hertfordshire 2nd Norfolk 3rd Suffolk 2nd Cambridgeshire DMSION2C Devonshire 2nd Avon Glamorgan 2nd Worcestershire Wiltshire Gloucestershire Devonshire 3rd Cornwall Dorset DMSION2D Kent 2nd

8 5 1 8 5 1 8 3 2 8 3 0 8 3 0 8 1 2 8 0 0

8 6 2 8 6 2 8 4 2 8 3 2 8 3 2 8 2 2 8 3 0 8 1 3 8 0 1 PWD 8 8 0

2 49 31 11 2 48 32 11 3 42 38 8 5 40 40 6 5 30 50 6 5 33 47 4 8 13 67 0

0 62 18 14 0 54 26 14 2 47 33 10 3 39 41 8 3 35 45 8 4 35 45 6 5 31 49 6 4 30 50 5 7 27 53 1 L F A PTS o 62 18 16

Devonshire Wiltshire Dorset 2nd Somerset 2nd DMSION3A Warwickshire 3rd Bedfordshire 2nd Huntingdonshire Bedfordshire 3rd Cheshire 3rd Hertfordshire 4th Wiltshire 2nd Huntingdonshire 3rd DMSION3B Kent 4th Berkshire 2nd Hampshire 3rd Hertfordshire 3rd Dorset 3rd

6 6 6 6

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

7 7 7 7 7

3 3 1 0

7 6 5 4 3 3 1 0

6 5 4 4 4

3 3 5 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 3 3

36 28 36 28 20 34 5 49

48 15 39 24 40 33 37 30 33 31 26 37 20 43 14 49

40 33 41 22 40 23 33 30 30 33

6 6 2 0

14 13 10 8 6 4 2 0

12 10 8 8 6

Yorkshire Surrey Cheshire

3 3 3

1 1 1

1 1 0

1 1 2

17 13 16 14 14 16

3 3 2

Sussex 2nd Surrey 2nd Berkshire 2nd

8 8 8

7 6 5

0 0 0

1 2 3

59 21 49 31 42 38

14 12 10

Hampshire 4th Sussex 4th Berkshire 4th

7 7 7

3 2 0

4 5 7

33 31 23 40 13 50

6 4 0

Lancashire 3 1 0 2 10 20 2 Kent 3rd 8 2 1 5 31 49 5 DMSION3C Devonshire 3 0 0 3 9 21 0 Surrey 3rd 8 2 1 5 26 54 5 Gloucestershire 2nd 7 6 1 39 34 13 DMSION2C Sussex 3rd 8 1 2 5 33 47 4 Devonshire 3rd 7 6 1 38 25 12 Buckinghamshire Essex 3rd

7 7

7 4

0 2

0 1

49 21 40 30

14 10

Hampshire 2nd Middlesex 2nd

8 8

1 1

1 1

6 6

29 51 29 51

3 3

Northamptonshire 3rd Hertfordshire 5th

7 7

5 4

2 3

41 22 37 26

10 8

Kent 2nd Bedfordshire Lincolnshire Hertfordshire 2nd

7 7 7 7

4 3 3 3

1 1 1 1

2 3 3 3

42 28 38 32 37 33 33 37

9 7 7 7

VETERANS PREMIER DMSION Yorkshire

P 7

WL 6 1

F A PTS 43 20 12

Berkshire 3rd Devonshire 2nd Wiltshire 3rd Herefordshire

7 7 7 7

3 2 2 0

4 5 5 7

35 28 27 36 21 42 16 42

6 4 4 0

PAGE 26 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

COUNTY NOTES

News from the Counties West Cornwall Premier Division AVON P W D LPts Redruth Highway A 9 9 0 o 81

"County Notes" is for the publicity of county activities. The accuracy of what isBob Murray Mevagissey A 10 5 2 3 60

IT was our juniors who provided our CamborneA 970 2 56published is the responsibility of the St. Ives A 9 5 1 3 48

runners up spot in Division 2C. The only bright spot this season with the County Associations, as the Editor cannot Truro A 9 4 3 2 46 boys squad of Graham Long, Alex Falmouth Docks A 7 3 3 1 39possibly know what "facts" may be incor­

Redruth Highway B 8 3 1 4 38 have played consistently well all season Sheppard, Tom Orlik and Jon Thorn rect. Copy containing libelous or person­ CamborneB 10 1 1 8 30 and the improvement shown by the Palace (Truro) A 810 7 24ally abusive matter or "political" com­

Palace (Truro) B 9 0 1 8 18 especially Jessica Orlik, augers well for girls in the second half of the season, ment will not be published. next season. Their final match, a 7-3 Leading Averages: J. Williams victory over Worcestershire, was not (Falmouth A) 100%; G. Reed (Redruth quite good enough to secure top spot. A) 96%; J. Bassett (St. Ives A) 93%; S.every category at the ETTA National the Duchy than for quite some time.

The veterans completed their Lobb (Redruth A) 89%; M. PetersJUnior Trials. This year the usual format After that very disappointing 8-2 season with a 6-3 defeat by Hampshire (Redruth A) 85%; G. Lobb (Redruth B)has been changed. The top players in defeat at old rivals Worcestershire in 2nds and a 7-2 win over Wiltshire and 83%; J. Pocock (Camborne A) 79%.the ETTA Junior Ranking List have the opening match of the season, the finished in third place. been put straight into the National Cornwall Senlor first team has rallied

The Senior 2nds had a most Mid Cornwall Division One Masters. The winner of the Under 14 round to win all of their remaining disappointing season and only avoided PWDLPtsBoys and Under 14 girls at the National matches and clinch second place in the wooden spoon in Division 2B on Slades A 9 8 1 0 74Trials are also to get a place in the Division 2B, a feat last achieved in sets difference following a 8-2 defeat by Masters. Finally, the players in the 1989. Much of the success can be Roche A 9 8 0 1 73 Gloucestershire. National Trials Under 17 categories attributed to the overall team spirit in Mevagissey A 8 6 0 2 60

The Senior 1sts had completed their Siblyback A 9 6 0 3 57would compete to fill the remaining the side but also due to the return of season in January and a mid table Newquay 9 5 1 3 52places in the Junior Masters. former Devon champion Gary Wilson. finish was probably all that could be CubertA 8 3 1 4 36In the Under 14 Boys, Berkshire's Wilson's short journey across the Tamar expected from a team that was never BodminA 9 2 2 5 34Gareth Herbert was unbeaten in has added the much needed depth to able to field all the top ranked players. winning the championship and the Cornwall team with only one defeat Mount Charles A 9 2 1 6 25

BRISTOL LEAGUE qualified to compete in the Junior all season. Promotion, though, cannot Hospital A 9 1 0 8 16 Masters. In his group Robert Pountney be guaranteed and Cornwall must wait Hospital B 9 0 0 9 10

The Bristol league completed its two lost only to two players rated above to see if a vacancy arises in Division outstanding veterans finals at Failand him in the England Ranking List. One for next season. The junior teamTTC. Bob Murray took his first Bristol CUMBRIAUnfortunately this left him one place has, really, performed as well as couldtitle with a three set victory over Brian below the qualifying position for the be expected under the circumstancesReeves, but Brian took some revenge knock-out stage of the competition. and a mid table position in Division 2C Gordon Brown

by tearning up with Gary Baldwin to Berkshire's England number one cadet, has been consolidated. The inexperi­ Barrow brother and sister Katherine andbeat Bob and his Bristol Club team Ali Subhan was unlucky to miss the enced girls have tried hard and Truro's Tristran Swan flew away with titles in mate Dave Price in the doubles final. trials with flu. Avadh Srivastava has performed well the Cumbria Closed Championships, In the league, Knowle of Brislington

In the Under 14 Girls, Susan on occasions. The bulk of Cronwall's held for the first time at the newly­'A' have all but clinched the title and it Johnson came a very creditable third in individual wins though have come from opened Barrow Table Tennis Centre atlooks as though Failand will take the her group. She had some excellent wins Launceston brothers Kevin and Graham Parkview School. Barrow, on Sundayrunners up spot. including one over the England number Worth who have excelled this season ­ March 6th. BATH LEAGUE 10 cadet. This should move her several they have old heads on young Men's singles Kevin Hodgson

My information on the Bath Closed places up the ranking list. shoulders and at the moment look (Barrow) beat Steve Dixon (Kendal) championships is rather limited but I Gareth Herbert had a hard time in potential senior players of the near 22-24,21-17,21-13. Semi finals: understand that Trevor lloyd took both the Under 17 Boys event. He just future. Hodgson beat Steve Temple (Carlisle) major mens titles - the mens singles qualified for the knock-out stage but It has also been a successful 20-22,21-12,23-21; Dixon beat Neil championship and the Chronicle Cup. lost in the first round to Christian campaign for British League club DML Yardley (Barrow) 21-18, 21-12. Linda furter won the ladies title again and Thompson (whom he beat later in White Hart Launceston, now the only Women's singles: Katherine Swan must be close to double figures now and winning the under 14s). Praveen Reddy club west of Bath and Poole. The first (Barrow) beat Claire Largue (Barrow) Mike Oxley took the veterans title. had a tough group in which he won tearn of Alex Perry, Paul Whiting, Paul 21-18,21-15. Semi finals: Swan beat

two and lost four matches. He beat one Giles and Gary Lambert will hopefully Catherine Corkill (Barrow) and LargueWESTON SUPER MARE player ranked above him but also lost finish in a creditable fourth position in beat Jade Kendall (Barrow). LEAGUE to a player ranked below him. the Premier Division - a far cry from the Junior boys: Tristran Swan (Barrow)

The Weston league is going through a The Berkshire Under 17 Girls Kay Division Three days of a few years beat Jamie Harris (Barrow) 21-12, 21­sort of renaissance and it was nice to Leslie and Helen Goatly both finished back. The second team who have been 19. Semi finals: Swan beat Mike Walker see Neil Bell going 'across the border' with two wins and three losses in their plagued by availability problems have (Barrow). Harris beat Phil Clarkson to take the Bridgewater mens singles groups. Kay came very close to beating still acquitted themselves well and (Carlisle). title to Weston. 18 year old Neil is a a player 24 places above her on the should finish in top three in Division 2 JUnior girls: Katherine Swan beat local Weston product have started his Junior Ranking List. In spite of this South West, whilst the third team look Catherine Corkill 19-21, 22-20, 21-14. table tennis in the Wode school club. Neil disappointment she still made a slight to have blown the championship titie in Semi finals: Swan Beat Jade Kendal and also reached the final of the doubles With improvement on her England Rating. Division 3 Midland. Having dominated Corkill beat Jane Coulthard (Barrow). team mate Rick White and there are signs Helen beat a player with a ranking 21 the division for much of the season a 6­ Under 14 singles: Mike Walker beat that the league'S roaching efforts are places above her and finished the day 2 home defeat at the hands of Horsham Lee Stagg (Barrow) 21-11,18-21,21-11. starting to be rewarded. with her England Ranking improved by Angels has all but blown the champion­ Semi finals: Walker beat Katherine

In the league, C & C Tigers are top 19 points. ship - although a creditable second Swan and Stagg beat Matthew Allen of the premier at the time of writing but place looks assured. (Barrow). both Worle C and Nailsea have games On the domestic scene Redruth in hand and it looks like being a close Highway A are still dominating theCORNWALL finish. Bleadon Magic (honestlyl) and West Cornwall League Premier Division Slashers head Divisions 1 and 2 Jeremy Williams and look certain to retain the title ­respectively. WELCOME back to the Cornwall their main rivals last season Falmouth

column, hack by popular demand after Docks A are well adrift follOWing the an absence of some two seasons or so. departure of Neville Road. St. Austell BERKSHIRE Cornwall remains one of Britain's based Siades A lead the Mid Cornwall remotest table tennis outposts Division One from Roche A whilst John Cunningham accessible only to the hardier souls, but Mevagissey A are still in with a shout

BERKSHIRE players were involved in this season has seen more success in having a game in hand.

TABLETENNISNEWS MAY1994 PAGE27

Under 12 singles: Jade Kendall beat CatheIine Swan 21-19,21-11.

Veterans I singles: Neil Honeyman (Barrow) beat Eddie O'Hara (Barrow) 21-17,23-21. Semi finals: O'Hara beat Colin Pratt (Barrow), previous year's winner, 21-9, 21-11. Honeyman beat Stan Halesworth (Barrow) 21-6, 10-21, 21-18.

Men's doubles: Kevin Hodgson and Neil Yardley beat Neil Smith and Arndy Paschull (Barrow) 21-13,28-26.

Mixed doubles: Christian Lidstone and Mike Walker (Barrow) beat Tristran Swan and Andy McKinnon (Barrow) 17-21,21-11, 21-16.

Congratulations to that academy of Barrow table tennis, Parkview, on finishing third in the under 16 national schools team championships. The team was: Sharon Kendall, Brette McKinley, Jane Coulthurst, Lauren Edwards and Catherine Corkill.

Carlisle and District League champions are Gates A from Dumfries in their first season in Division 1.

They clinched the title by beating Chancers 7-3. Previous champions, Royal Oak, Scotby, had to be content with runners up, but they finished the season on a high note with a 8-2 win over Penrith A.

County star Stephen Temple won . the first division averages with an unbeaten record.

Penrith B are champions of the second division, where two Norgas players, Ronnie Lawson and Mitch Haynes were topping the averages just before the season ended.

DERBYSHIRE Colin Deaton

AT the time of writing these notes, how pleasing it is to note the promo­tion in the National Senior Ranking List of Alan Cooke to number two.

We all feel that his rightful position is in the first three. Let us hope that he can stay there.

Bradley Billington by virtue of a string of brilliant performances is now promoted to number six in the ranking list.

Nicola Deaton moves down one place to number six in the woman's senior classification but 17 year old Nicola will not be too disappointed with the relegation.

Her big goal is the European Youth Championships in the Paris this July. If she can produce her top form she can be amongst the medals.

Top Derbyshire official Mike Payne and his dedicated wife Lillian are off to Australia for the world veterans event.

Lilian is to go as an official umpire and following this involvement in this prestigious event they are to stay over there for a two or three week holiday.

Their contribution to our game this season has been appreciated and we would like to wish them well on this very special trip.

The Derbyshire County Challenge Cup has reached the final stage and is to be played between Derby Uxbridge and Burton Granville.

This popular team competition has attracted teams from all pockets of the country and from players of all standards and ages.

Matlock are all set it appears to retain the senior Derbyshire league.

They have maximum points from four games with Buxton and Derby challenging for second place.

In the junior version of the county league there are three teams and each of these three teams play each other three times.

Burton should overcome the challenges of Matlock and Derby.

Most of the member leagues throughout the county are heading for completion in their respective divisions two and three.

Steve Yallop former Derbyshire county player has inspired his team St. Andrews to win the Derby Premier League.

Castle Donnington teams are the division one, three and four champion­ships with the Mackworth fourth team winning division two. County secretary Les Allwood being a member of this championship winning Mackworth side.

Huchnall fought off the challenge of llkeston to win the Eastwood and district leagues top diVision.

In the Chesterfield and district league World of Sport are all set to again collect the honours in division one with maximum points from fifteen games. During the season they featured ~ussian star Elina Tirnina in their side.

Elina has spent quite a lot of time in Derbyshire this season trying to get to the Chesterfield training sessions which I believe were really popular and were visited by several of our top ranked players.

Rowsley Village Hall was the packed venue for the finals night of the Matlock and district finals night.

Past players and invited guests were enthralled by a feast table tennis contested in excellent spirit.

Steve Porter of B.R. Insurance carried off the mens singles title defeating the popular Geoff Gill.

Brian Croasdale handicapped by the, company of unwelcomed flu lost the second division title to Tom Symes of the Dream Team .whilst the dedicated Tony Gregory retained his hard bat title by getting the better of Mark Gould winning 21-4 in this single game match.

The Under 21 final went to the talented Steve Tolley of Cromford Aces and widely travelled Alfreton Miners Welfare Stuart Morris also retained his title in winning the veterans event.

Trophies in this final night were presented by Norman Taylor the Matlock Mercury Sports Editor and he said to someone like myself who last saw live table tennis as a youth (many years ago) this new game is a revelation.Things have obViously moved on a great deal and it is thanks to the dedication of the organisers officials and players that such a stimulating evening can reveal the very best in sport.

Chesterfield senior coaches Derrick Marples and Neil Houghton saw a great deal of the action at Euro 194 in Birmingham and attended the International Coaches Course.

The course was held by the National Olympic Committee of Great Britain.

Derrick attended for the first week and Neil for the whole twelve day period under the guidance of Glen O'sth Michael Gadel and organised by Gail McCullock.

Glen is the eventual winner of the

womens event Maria Svenson and also coach to the Swedish dream team of Waldner, Persson, Appelgren and Lyndh.

Naturally both Derrick and Neil intend to pass on their knowledge gained to all followers of table tennis throughout our area.

Finally despite a complete new system of events the recently held Derby Junior 2 Star Open must be said to have been a success.

A record number games was played and this on Saturday caused consider­able delays but some good play was witnessed to an event which attracted entries from all over Britain.

Perhaps the biggest surprise result of this tournament was the defeat of Nicola Deaton in the Junior girls singles event. She lost to her best friend and doubles partner Michelle Martin who is now registered for the County of· Derbyshire and actually played for Derbyshire in their last matches.

DEVONSHIRE John Vincent

THE Plymouth Closed Championships received a good entry this year. Results were as follows:­

Mens Singles: Paul Whiting, Runner up - Steve Giles 21-11, 21-11 Ladies Singles: Sue Buddell, Runner up - Helen Wright 15-21, 21-18, 21-16 Veterans Singles: Mike Short, Runner up - Graham May 21-12,21-13 Super Veterans: John Underwood, Runner up - Pete Leslie 21-15, 21-7 Mens Doubles: Gary Lambert/Greg Bridgett, Runners up - Paul Whiting/Mike Shearman 15-21, 22-20, 21-19 Ladies Doubles: Jane Swabey/Sue Buddell,.Runners up - Helen Wright/Joanna Barraclough 21-9,21-8 Mixed Doubles: Greg Bridgett/Joanna Barraclough, Runners up - Mike ShortlHelen Wright 21-15, 22-20

DEVONSHIRE RANKINGS

SENIOR MEN 1. Alex Perry 2. ,Paul Whiting 3. Paul Giles 4. Gary Lambert 5. Steve Giles 6. Gregory Bridgett 7. Mike Short 8. Adrian Vincent 9. Tony Sweet 10. Jonath~ May 11. Kevin Buddell 12. Dennis Gibbs 13. Peter Thomas

SENIOR LADIES 1. Carol Giles 2. Lynsey Heyward 3. Helen Wright 4. Jan Swabey 5. Penny Perry 6. Sue Buddell 7. Dana Kratochvila

8. Nicola Potts 9. Joanna Barraclough

VETERAN MEN 1. Mike Short 2. Paul Freeman 3. Les Cole 4. Graham May 5. Brian Pengelly 6. Phil Reeves 7. Mike Putland 8. Roger Anniss 9. Kevin Rice 10. Peter Nicholson 11. Richard Avent

VETERAN LADIES 1. Penny Perry 2. Madeline Pittman 3. PatriCia Lyons 4. Stella Williams 5. Elizabeth Newman 6. Jackie Hare

Congratulations to Veterans 3 on coming runners up in their Division 3C and also to Junior 2 on winning their Division 2C.

ESSEX Steve Kerns

TOP performance since the last magazine was achieved by the Senior first team who won the Senior Premier title after a gap of 15 years, amassing 13 points out of a possible 14. Hopefully, details of the teams success will be reported elsewhere, but nevertheless it is well worth recording that the team achieved 8-2 wins over Sussex and Surrey, a narrow 6-4 success over runners up Derbyshire and a draw with sleeping giants Lancashire. A special mention for the youngest plflyer of the whole weekend, 16 year old Shelley Ruocco whose performance can be best judged in light of her 11-3 wins record. Congratulations to Shelley, Skylet Andrew, Linda Radford, Steve Dorking, Grant Solder and Cris Sladden, and to team manager Bill Wadling and team captain Brian Brumwell.

Sadly, the Senior second team had left themselves too much to do after scoring nil points in the first round of matches. Despite two convincing wins they will be relegated from Division lA.

The Senior third team placed second in Division 2C, scoring 10 points, behind Bucks who secured a maximum 14 points. Damian Holland and Ian Attridge both scored nine wins out of 12 games, but Alan Radford disappointed with three wins out of 12. Nevertheless, he did secure an excellent success over Buck's Ian Musk. So Man the newly crowned Romford champion was best lady player with eight wins out of 12.

The JUnior first team were also in the medals, finishing second in the Junior Premier Division, behind the exceptional Berkshire side. The second campaign of matches saw 6-4 wins over Cheshire and Devon, a 10-0 win over Lancashire and a 5-5 draw with Yorkshire. Alan Shepherd explained that the game with Yorkshire was the most significant. Yorkshire fielded Michael James, nationally ranked nine, Mark Smith 11 and Andrew Sugarman 25, Sally Marling (1) and Nicola Silburn (25). Alan describes the match as follows:­

PAGE 28 MAY1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

"The early exchanges were not promising to say the least, and we trailed 2-4, after James Wickens had beaten Sugarman and caused Mark Smith to pull out all the stops in order to beat him. Then Nikki Kennard stopped the rot with a superb win over Nicola Silburn, a game she knew she just had to win. Next, Reagan Nettleingham played out of his socks, and followed Bob Sladden's tactical plan precisely to beat Michael James 17, -18, 17. Shelley, then put up a marvellous fight against Sally Marling only losing -19, -19, and we trailed 4-5. This left Steve Joslin haVing to beat Sugarman to earn the draw and effectively second place. This he did after being thrashed 21-6 in the first game. To his eternal credit he kept his cool, played sensibly and won the next two legs 21-14,21-13."

Good news for County followers is that out of this team only James is too old next year, and for that reason top cadet Paul Lucas was blooded in the team against Devon. He did well to beat Marcus Cronin ranked 36 places above him. Finally, Alan paid tribute to Nikki Kennard who surpassed herself with a marvellous win over Lancashire's Lindsay Thornton.

The Eng"lish Closed saw further good Essex performances with Grant Solder following up his superb performance in the Euro Qualifying event by making the quarter finals in the mens singles. His new England No.15 ranking is definitely not too high....Also playing well was Peniers Vince Avery who beat top England junior rivals Jun Tsuji (Shropshire) and Andrew Wilkinson (Northumberland) in his group, an interesting group if ever there was oneI

February and March are tradition­ally the months when Essex leagues hold their Closed Tournaments. Tony Oswick reports from the Clacton league that their event reverted to a single day, followed by a separate Finals Night. Jenny Binns produced a star performance in beating Jenny Higgins in the Ladies Final, to make it three wins in a row, and she went on to take the Ladies Doubles for the fourth year, and with husband David the Mixed title. In the Mens Singles Nigel Hodder, who plays for the Brittania Ipswich National league side, in his first season in the Clacton league eliminated six­times champion Derek Wood in the semi finals and went on to beat lain Vine in the final, the second year that lain has finished as runner-up. Both games went to three ends.

The Colchester Tournament saw Sue Welham collect her eleventh ladies title in twelve years, beating Hazel Hume in the final. Hazel had earlier ousted NO.2 seed Janet Faiers in the semi finals. Welham also became the first lady to reach the Veterans final but she was no match for Derek Wood who beat her 8, 10. In the Mens Doubles John Andrews/Dave Moss won the title after a 12 year break with a 12, 11 final win over Colin Stallwood and Paul Adams. The Mixed doubles saw Hume and Moss just come out on top after an excellent three-set struggle against Faiers and Wood. Scores were 15, -20, 18. Finally, the big one, the Mens singles final saw former Essex star Bob Hellaby win his first Colchester title after a thrilling 17-21, 21-11, 21-19 final win over Derek Wood.

The Brentwood leagueIS tourna­ment held under the excellent conditions of Peniel Academy featured a Mens Singles final between Paul Sayer, a former county star, and David Cole current county player. An enthralling game featUring Cole's renowned forehand loop and Sayer's excellent backhand followed, with Sayer taking it 12, -15, 20. The Ladies Singles went to current England NO.2 Cadet player Tracey Davies who beat Sue Hickman 14, 15. Other results were as follows:­Veterans Singles: Ted Tydeman beat George Pavitt 15, 9 U21 Singles: Reagan Nettleingham beat Steve Joslin 16,20 Womens Doubles: DaviesNerity Cleminson beat Sue Cook/So Man -18, 17,9 Mixed Doubles: Davide Cole/So Man beat Dave Coleman!Anna Cheeseman 6, 6 Mens Doubles: Sayer/Nettleingham beat Joslin/Steve Kerns 20, 18 Mens Semi Finals: Paul Sayer beat Ben Linnecar 19, 9 David Cole beat Reagan Nettleingham ­20,17,8

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Alf Pepperd

THE last week of March was for me the busiest week of the entire season, after the Inter-Town League Championships at Cirencester, which Gloucester won by the narrow margin of one point and Cheltenham became the runners up, the following Monday evening I returned to Cirencester to cover their annual Final's Night, here are the results: Under 15 singles: Kit Pogson beat Richard Pettit 21-8,21­10 Open Doubles: Bob DavislMark Johnson beat Alan Duke/Ray Cordery 21-14, 21-13 Under 17 Singles: Tim Hills beat Lynn Holton 21-9,21-12 Division 3 Singles: Andrew Gillette beat Richard Pettit 21-19,21-15 Mixed Doubles: Alan DukelLynn Holton beat Mark and Liz Johnson 21-13, 23-21 Division 2 Singles: Anthony Rawlins beat Kit Pogson 13-21, 22-20, 21-17 Ladies Singles: Liz Johnson (Holder) beat Lynn Holton 21-18,21-13 Open Singles: Mark Johnson (Holder) beat Rob Willsher 21-17,21-11

After Cirencester 24 hours later found me at Nuclear Electric headquar­ters at Barnwood, Glos., covering the Gloucester City League Closed Championships - this event was marred by the unfortunate absence of Dennis Holland due to injury, Holland should have played in two events 'The Open Doubles and The Veterans Singles', both of course were not played - the rest of the results as follows: Open Singles Semi Finals: Darren Griffin beat Bill Dawe 21-18, 21-16 Dave Harvey beat Graham Slack 21-18, 21-16

Mixed Doubles: Bill DawelHeather Tyrer (Holders) beat Darren Griffin/Judy Morley 22-20, 16­21, 19-21 Boys Under 17: Daniel Nelmes beat Aaron Mortimer 21­16,21-17 Ladies Singles: Judy Morley (Holder) beat Heather Tyrer 21-13,21-14 Open Singles Final: Dave Harvey beat Darren Griffin (Holder) 21-16,14-21, 19-21,21-19,20­22, in this final Harvey was 13-17 down and pulled back to level at 20 all, and took the next two winning points.

48 hours later found me covering the Cheltenham Final's Night at St. Benedicts School in Cheltenham, and this proved to be a most exciting evening indeed, as you will see later.

The evening started with the semi finals in which Graham Slack beat Sylvester Callum 21-10, 21-10, in the other semi final Dave Harvey polished off veteran Roy (Foxey) Fowler 21-6 and 21-14, so it was to be a Slack (Holder) v Harvey the challenger Final - and what a final it was, Harvey took the first game 21-17, Slack cooly replied in the second 21-17, and in the third and final game playing superb controlled table tennis Graham Slack surged ahead to a 16-7 lead - and seemingly had the championship well within his grasp. AND THEN FOR SLACK IT ALL FELL APART, from the apparent impossible situation of being 7-16 down, Dave Harvey took the remaining 14 points in a row to run out once more as CheltenhamIS Singles champion. If ever this season a player deserved the 'title of a licence to thrill', then surely that title should be awarded to Chelten­ham's veteran Dave Harvey.

The Ladies Singles Final was a closely contested event with Jacquie Carver beating newcomer (to the Chelt league) Sue Labrum 24-22,21-19.

In the Open Doubles Final - Dave Harvey and Roy Fowler beat John Fannin and Graham Slack in straight games, 21-11, 21-16.

Meanwhile, in the Intermediate Singles (Under 21), a much improved Jon Roberts beat Paul Grinnell 21-15, 21-10.

Only the Stroud and District Final's now remain to be played, this will take place at The Maidenhall School Recreation Centre in Stonehouse on Friday 8th of April at 7pm, and of course hopefully will be reported in June's edition of T.T.N.

Entries for the Gloucestershire School's Championships at St. Benedicts School in Cheltenham were disappointingly low - the entire event finished at 1.15pm, where as in the past I have known it go on until 5pm.

RESULTS (the first three are groups only): Und6r 13" Boys Singles: Chris Roberts (Chelt), Runner up Daniel Nelmes (Gloucester) Under 16 Girls Singles: Ann Humble (Newent), Runner up Julia Mullarney (Chelt) Under 19 Boys Singles: Solomon Harris (Crypt). Runner up Martin Elliott (Crypt) Under 16 Boys Singles: (Out of six groups) Jon Roberts (Chelt) beat Robin Price (Crypt) 21-15, 21-14.

The winner of each event will qualify to play in the finals of the English Schools Individual Champion­ships on Saturday, May 7th at Coventry.

And finally, the Gloucestershire one star graded tournament took place at Maidenhill Recreation Centre in Stonehouse on 12th of March, organised by Dave Dean and refereed by Gill Smith, the tournament attracted youngsters from all over the country.

It was pleasing to see local players gain the upper hand in both the boys and girls banded sections and run· out winners.

RESULTS: Boys Band Two Final: Jon Roberts (Chelt) beat David Porter (Avon) 21-13, 21-14 Girls Band Two Final: Lisa Holloway (Kent) beat Melanie Garlick (Gloucester) 21-18,21-16 Boys Band One Final: Owen Clutterbuck (Glamorgan) beat James Getting (Avon) 21-12, 21-18 Girls Band One Final: Ann Humble (Gloucester) beat Sharon Gillette (Middlesex) 21-16, 21-13

HAMPSHIRE Brian Lamerton

THE end of the season, and it's congratulations time I First to the Veterans 'A' string of Chris Shetler, Bob Cox, Graham Outrim and Gill Larking who despite losing their final match look set for the premier division next season. Commiserations to the Veterans 'B' who in their final match stood at four sets all, needing only to win the final set to retain their 100% record and take the 'A's place in Division One but they lost and instead their victors' Surrey 3rds will take the promotion spot. But still, very well done Maurice Shave, Charlie Childs, Ken Burton and Sandra Simpson. Congratu­lations to the Team Management and Selection Committee, in particular to Derek Seager and Pete Woodacre who earned the praise of all six county teams who took part in the Senior Division 2 round robin at Redbridge (Southampton) in February. I am on record as disliking these 'block' matches but it really was a first class weekend.

Moving to inter-town affairs Steve Reilly, Rod McMullan and Chris Tose took the mens league for Gosport and Fareham; a Chris Shetler led Southamp­ton to the Mens 2nd Division; I am sure that John Prean in his column will sing the praises of the Islanders who walked away with Junior Division 1; Boume­mouth took Division 2 with Chris Witham, Daren Wilkes, Michael Weeks and Elaine Moore and despite a 100% record by the islands Danny Burns Southampton won the rune team Cadet division with Chris Butt, Stephen Wilshere, Alister Turner and Paul Rumble. At the time of Writing it looks as if it is Portsmouth's turn to win the Veterans (only Portsmouth and Bournemouth have ever won this league since its constitution in 1971).

Moving on to Association Championships Chris Shetler (complet­ing a hat trick in these notes I) won the Southampton Mens Singles for the first time since 1984, and the seventh in

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 29

all, as Chris Wilshere took the runners spot for the third year running (an unwanted hat trick). Shetler also retained his Veteran title as Tina Caws won the Ladies, playing as she said "in memory of Dad" who we all mourned earlier in the season. Mark Wilshere as Junior Champion completed the Southampton roll of honour.

News from the North and West of the county; Tony Palaczky, Julie Norman, Tony Brown and Stuart White are Basingstoke Mens, Ladies, Veterans and Junior Champions respectively (incidentally another excellent 16 page newsletter from Basingstoke). Malcolm Cummins, Helen Frost, Alan Cooke and Jamie Smith are Andovers Champions given in the same order as 'Stoke. A newcomer to Andover, but not to table tennis is Joan Cove, who pronounced herself "shattered" as she took silver in no fewer than four events, but not a sight of gold!

A quick summary then of a busy season, but what of next season. You have previously been advised that the Chairman, General Secretary and Treasurer are not seeking re-election; without these vital offices being filled there will be no HAMPSHIRE COUNTY ASSOCIATION; just think what that. means, NO county teams; NO inter­town competitions; NO Senior and Junior championships; LESS opportu­nity for up and corning youngsters to make their mark. So corne on, it only wants three of you who have enjoyed these events over the 47 years which my records only go back to keep us afloat. Please THINK ABOUT IT; don't wait for others so that we leave the AGM in June Without A HAMPSHIRE TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION.

Many of you who read my notes in the MarchiApril edition will have realised that the Harold Preece referred to in the penultimate paragraph should of course have read HAROLD PEARCE. On behalf of the printers (I) may I offer apologies to Harold. In the event Harold did not make it to Birmingham but he continues in fair health and I am looking forward to visiting his beloved Lensbury Club with him later in the Spring.

HEREFORDSHIRE Geoff Mutton

CONGRATULATIONS are in order to Nic Turner of the Hereford T.T.C. Cobblers team in Division 5 of the Hereford League. He has just been awarded the disabled sportsman of the year award by Hereford Sports Council. As a wheelchair player, he both runs the Cobblers team and is an assistant coach as well. Well done Nic!

The County Association held its closed championship over the two days of Sunday 6th March with a finals night of Friday 11th March. Despite a huge increase in the number of entrants, the tournament ran like clockwork thanks to the able management of our President, Olaf Newcombe and his team of helpers. In the Mens Singles Final, Mark Owen was unable to make it three successive wins when beaten in the five set final 23-21, 22-20, 23-21, by Michael Owens. Between them, these two players have shared this title for all of the last eighteen years! The Ladies Singles Final saw a rare old tassel between Sally Davis and Sharon

Powell who are team mates in the Terminators team currently top of Division 2. Sally may think that she took comradeship a bit to far, when having won the first game 21-17 she let slip good leads in the 2nd and 3rd games as Sharon fought back to win 17-21,27-25, 22-20 to record her seventh title success in a row. Sally also lost out to another of her Terminator's team mates. Ted Andrews in the final of the Grade B Singles, 21­18,11-21,21-13. However she did find success in the ladies doubles, when partnered by Carol Milnes they overcame Sharon Powell and Linda Owen. The Mens Doubles title was won by Michael Owens and Toby Eckley who proved too strong for Harry Jatle and Andrew Walker. In the Veterans section, Richard Owen completed an excellent tournament for the family, achieving a double success over various Merediths. In the Veterans Singles he just got the better of Pat Meredith 13-21, 22-20, 21-11, and then teamed up with Nim Hodges to beat Neville and John Meredith 18-21, 21-13, 21-11. In what must be an unusual turnaround - last year's Junior Boys Singles champion Steven Arrowsmith became Cadet Singles

. champion having beaten Leanne Neach 21-16, 21-14, whilst last year's Cadet Singles winner Chris Jones becomes this season Junior Boys champion, beating Steven Arrowsmith 21-16,21­17. In the Junior Girls final, Leanne Neach beat the fast improving Anita Jatle 21-18, 21-19.

Herefordshire's sole representation in the county championships, the Veterans team in Division 3C lost a very tight match to Wiltshire 3rds 6-3. Five of the sets went to three games but that first league Win remains just out of reach.

HERTFORDSHIRE' John Wood

BARNETS League have won this season's Veterans Inter-League tournament, following their undefeated run, taking the trophy from triple champions Cheshunt at the Barnet Table Tennis Centre, on Sunday 10th April 1994.

Apparently, invincible Cheshunt were pushed into third spot by the dynamic Barnets side who steam-rolled their way to success.

Runners-up position was taken by Watford.

Barnets' gallant trio on the third Sunday of this competition, Chris Budden, Dennis Robinson and John Taylor, were untouchable, with only one near upset when playing their last match of the competition, where Hemel Hempstead's John Woqd took Barnet's mighty John Taylor to' three exposing the Barnets man apparent weakness to long pimples.

Star of the Barnets team was county secretary Chris Budden, who played every game, and finished undefeated in the singles with a 100% average.

ISLE OF WIGHT John Prean

THE dream of our own table tennis centre is still very much alive, but it is

hard going. Last summer I negotiated the supply of free land on the site of Smallbrook Stadium, the horne of Ryde Sports, the local football club. Beautifully placed, with limitless parking space, a gym and an attractive bar on the site, it seemed plain sailing. I did not know what a Pandora's Box of red tape I had opened.

We had good support from the ETTA. Diccon Gray came down immediately and liked what he saw. We were allocated a share of money allocated to the ETTA by the Founda­tion for Sport and the Arts and we have good indications from the Sports Council, Southern Region.

One pays tribute to Chairman Alan Ransome who negotiated grants of £500,000 towards table tennis centres and when these spring up all over the country, they will bring a revival in the fortunes of the areas involved. Now the battle against red tape has to be won.

I shall not bore you with the paper mountains which multiply almost weekly. However, the treatment of VAT casts a particular shadow. It may be reclaimed one day, but before that it has to be paid. To make non-profit­making sporting bodies exempt in the first place has not occurred to our rulers. Much unnecessary paper will be generated in the process of paying and then reclaiming the same sums. Since weeks and months will elapse between payment and return, we shall have to borrow to sustain the red tape involved. Neither is the process a simple one. It is one which may even fail, in which case the consequences do not bear thinking about, but VAT is only one complication. One wonders how or whether we shall ever see the building go up and how many such bUildings will eventually be built. We shall, of course, battle to the end, whatever that may be.

Sandown have won our First Division with time and points to spare. The trio of Hookey, Turner and Ian Urry were untroubled throughout. It is not good for Island table tennis that our major team crown should be 'so thinly contested. One hopes for a real challenge next season.

That brings me to our Juniors. They travelled hopefully to the Hampshire Junior Closed and for a time it looked as if our strong hand would produce a few titles. Four in the last eight, two in the semi finals looked good, but none in the Final less so! In the end we only won the U12 Girls (Lucy Pointer) in which only two competed and the Cadet Boys (Danny Burns, Luke Canavan). Greg Burns faltered in the Boys semi finals, as did Nic Hutchings, whilst Danny Burns lost in the Cadet Final. Our other title came from Lorna Dutch (of course) in the Junior Girls. She did not contest the Cadet Girls (why?). We did better in the Inter-Town Junior Championships, repeating in the second weekend what had been achieved in the first, which was to win all our matches. Nic Hutchings went through both weekends unbeaten, which repeated a feat that Danny Bums had achieved in the Cadet weekends. The Junior team of these two plus Greg Bums was a very strong one and in Lorna they also had the best girl. All, apart from Nic, will be young enough to compete next time.

Congratulations to Lorna Dtuch who achieved the NO.4 spot on the

National Ranking List. I see the letter 'R' which presumably indicates some extra-curricular input following her great win in the National Trials. A previous excellent spell served only to relegate her from No.7 to NO.81 Thus the mysteries of our ranking system continue. There is, however, no mystery as to why so many of our tournaments have gone out of business. Certainly the advance chalked up by Lorna and the computer is remarkable: A little matter of 400 points in one month. To put this into perspective, the 1993 National Champion got precisely 20 points for that feat and the Ladies Champion, Andrea Holt got 25 points in that year for Winning her national title.

Whether these eccentricities are due to entrusting too much to computers, which are made of wire, metal and plastic and therefore have no intelligence or sense of fair play, I have no means of knowing. It may be that the scheme owes too much to dogma and prejudice which is basically hostile to excellent. That would explain why it is deemed better to turn up and lose a few times than to win a national title. When I explain all that to friends in . other sports, they think we have gone mad. I find it hard to argue that they are wrong.

KENT Adrian Hall

OBITUARY - MISS SHEILA JOHNSTON

Sheil Johnston who died in Exmouth aged 66 on 12th February 1994 will be remembered in the Tonbridge and Sevenoaks areas as a first rate player and administrator over many years. As a player she was outstanding winning the Tonbridge Ladies Singles on many occasions but although of county standard never played for Kent. As an administrator she was Otford, Fort Halstead and Brasted Club secretary over a 33 year period as well as for 26 years Tonbridge League registration secretary and as "Tennison" wrote an amusing weekly column in the sports section of the Kent and Sussex Courier. She will be sadly missed by all those who shared many a happy time with her here in Kent - John Knock.

KENT RELIANCE SENIOR COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Kent Reliance Senior County Table Tennis Champions~ were held at the Sterling Centre, Rochester. Andy Cunningham (Bromley) recaptured the mens singles title from reigning champion Joe Kennedy (Bromley), but it was Juliet Houghton (TonbIidge) that again turned in a star performance to win all three of her events.

Trophies were presented to the finalists by Mr. Ian Robinson Managing Director of Kent Reliances Building Society sponsors of the Kent Senior Closed and County Chairman Reg Thompson.

Mrs. Joyce Ellis (nee Fielder) was presented with the Ladies Challenge Bowl by Kent County Chairman Mr. Reg Thompson as a permanent keepsake for winning the Ladies Singles on sixteen separate occasions between seasons 1953/54 to 1975n6.

PAGE 30 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

MENS SINGLES: Andy Cunningham (Bromley) beat Joe Kennedy (Bromley) 15-21, 21-11, 21-12 LADIES SINGLES: Juliet Houghton (Tonbridge) beat Lesley Hollingsworth (Sitt) 21-8, 21-8 U21 MENS SINGLES: Brian Mileham (Thanet) beat Spencer Thompson (Medway) 8-21, 21-12, 21-10 U21 LADIES SINGLES: Lesley Hollingsworth (Sitt) beat Carly Riggs (Maidstone) 21-14, 21-15 VETERAN MENS SINGLES: Dave Emery (NWK) beat Henry Buist (Brorrl1ey) 21-16, 14-21, 22-20 MENS DOUBLES: Paul Rainford (Bromley)/Mark Brown (Bromley) beat Michael Bullock (Brorrl1ey)/Andy Cunningham (Bromley) 21-15, 21-3 LADIES DOUBLES: Juliet Houghton (Tonbridge)/Lesley Hollingsworth (Sitt) beat Alison Pearson (Maidstone)/Rachel Woollven (Maid­stone) 21-17,21-8 MIXED DOUBLES: Mark Brown (Bromley)/Juliet Houghton (Tonbridge) beat Joe Kennedy (Bromley)/Michelle Ritter (S.E. London) 21-13,21-11

LENHAM STORAGE JUNIOR COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 'Lenham StorageI Kent Junior Closed Championships were played at the Lenham, Swadelands Youth Centre on Sat/Sun 5th/6th March 1994.

Star of the weekend was undoubt­edly England International Cadet Christian Thompson (Medway) who captured four titles followed closely by Angie Bristow and Cally Howes both from T. Wells, who picked up three titles each. But it was the youngsters and in particular Christian Hanys (Folkestone) and Amanda Bateman (Ashford) that caught the eye as future champions.

Trophies were presented to the finalists by Allan Flood, Transport Director of Lenham Storage sponsors of the Kent Junior Closed and County Chairman Reg Thompson. U17 BOYS SINGLES: Christian Thompson (Medway) beat Chris Hall (Bromley) 18-21, 21-16, 21-12 U17 GIRLS SINGLES: Angie Bristow (T. Wells) beat Crystal Hall (Maidstone) 21-16, 21-9 U14 BOYS SINGLES: Christian Thompson (Medway) beat Antony Lickfold (Maidstone) 18-21, 21­13,21-17 U14 GIRLS SINGLES: Kelly Grant (Thanet) beat Cally Howes (T. Wells) 17-21, 21-19, 21-16 U11 BOYS SINGLES: Christian Hanys (Folkestone) beat Justin Dodd (Gravesend) 15-21, 25-23, 21-18 U11 GIRLS SINGLES: Gemma Alcorn (Maidstone) beat Hannah Tatton (Maidstone) 21-15, 19­21,21-18 U17 BOYS DOUBLES: Paul Smith (Ashford)/Scott Dawtry (Folkestone) beat Christopher Hall (Bromley)/Ben McCarthy (T. Wells) 21­19, 10-21, 21-12 U17 GIRLS DOUBLES: Cally Howes (T. Wells)/Angie Bristow (T. Wells) beat Crystal Hall (Maidstone)/ Rachel Woollven (Maidstone) 24-22, 21-13

U14 BOYS DOUBLES: Christian Thompson (Medway)/Justin Dodd (Gravesend) beat Stephen New (T. Wells)/Mark Baker (T. Wells) 24-22, 21-10 U14 GIRLS DOUBLES: Amanda Bateman (Ashford)/Cally Howes (T. Wells) beat Lisa Holloway (Maidstone)/Kelly Grant (Thanet) 21-16, 21-18 U15 BOYS SINGLES: Christian Thompson (Medway) beat Alastair McTavish (Gravesend) 21-13, 21-11 U15 GIRLS SINGLES: Angie Bristow (T. Wells) beat Rachel Woollven (Maidstone) 21-15, 21-16 U13 BOYS SINGLES: Justin Dodd (Gravesend) beat Rudi Dharmalingham (Maidstone) 21-18, 21-11 U13 GIRLS SINGLES: Lisa Holloway (Maidstone) beat Ruth Lusted (Goddington) 21-8,21-6 SPECIAL MERIT AWARD: Ellen Grant (Thanet)

NATIONAL TEAM EVENTS

BROMLEY 5 - BARNET 2 Bromley's Chris Hall turned in another solid performance to see his team beat Barnet in the Carter Cup. Hall's three, plus one each from Lee Smith and Robert Waller did the damage. Stephen Taylor won two for Barnet. BROMLEY 5 - FOLKESTONE 3 Another star performance by Chris Hall saw Bromley through to the semi finals of the Carter Cup where they now meet Bristol. Hall's maximum included particularly good wins over Paul Smith (one) and Scott Dawtry (two) who were Folkestones winners. Hall was well supported by Lee Smith (one) and Robert Waller (one). MAIDSTONE 6 - HASTINGS 3 Scott Friday lead the Maidstone cadet team to a semi final clash with Reading in the Leach Cup with three wins against Hastings. Christian Thompson (two) and Antony Lickfold (one) completed a good all-round team performance. For Hastings Robert Abbotts claimed the valued scalp of Thompson 13-21, 26-24, 22-20.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

KENT 1 PROMOTED TO THE PREMIER DIVISION

Crystal Hall (Maidstone) upset the form book to put Kent in a winning position from where they went on to win promotion to the premier division of the Junior County Championship with a 6-4 home win against Sussex 1. Needing a win to be certain of promotion it looked that a draw would be the best possible result after the first game when Paul Smith (Ashford) lost his 100% county championship record to the Sussex NO.1 Kevin Doyle 17-21, 16-21. Chris Hall (Bromley) levelled the score at 1-1 when he beat Robert Abbotts 21-18, 24-22 and then Crystal Hall put Kent back in contention with a 21-18, 18-21, 21-19 win over Joanna Bush-Harris the England No.12 after being 14-18 and 16-19 down in the third leg. All the remaining matches went according to form with both Christian Thompson (Medway) and Chris Hall unbeaten for Kent.

KENT JUNIOR 2 PROMOTED

Kent Junior 2 team of Scott Dawtry (Folkestone), Scott Friday (Medway), Lee Howes (T. Wells), Alison Smith and Rachel Woollven (Maidstone) com­pleted an excellent weekend when they won promotion from Division 2D with a 10-0 home win over· Surrey 3 and an away 7-3 win over Sussex 3.

LEICESTER Derek Butt

AS was predicted the championship of the Leicester and District League Division One, would be decided when the two clubs who have led throughout the season met each other again and that was what happened. Loughbor­ough Kingfishers first team beat last years champions Knighton Park I by 6­4. Man of the match was Dave Gannon who recorded a brilliant maximum including the scalp of Mark lllingsworth.

Mark will win the individual honours having lost just two of his matches.

Following behind Mark at the moment are Duncan Taylor (KPII), Karen Smith (KPI) and Ian Brown (KPI). So the Park will be runners up.

Relegation will be between two of the Parks teams third and fourths and Great Glen.

Winners of Division Two are GEC Leicester and could finish the season with a 100% record, so far they have won twenty from twenty with two to play.

John Iliffe and Dick Jenkins have had a good season and John leads the divisional averages having lost just one. Northwood are the runners up.

The Inter-Towns Tournament senior event was held in February and it was decided between the captains of the four teams and the organiser to try out the 11 up game changing service every three. The four teams represented were two from Leicester one from Hinckley and Loughborough.

There was some very close matches played on a round robin basis, and the final match was between the top two Hinckley and Leicester 1st.

Leicester went into an early lead when Tim Odams (Le1) beat Andy LeButt (H) three straight. Steve Day (Le1) beat Carl Levin (H) in four. Dave Grundy pulled one back for Hinckley. Steve Day then beat Andy 11-9 in the fifth to give Leicester a 3-1 lead then Hinckley pulled the match round and took it 5-3.

Asked after the match what the players feelings were on the 11up system, and about 75% thought it was alright, but the pressure is on right from the start.

I must congratulate the county seniors on winning their division without losing a match and gain promotion to the premier league. Leicestershire were represented by Chris Rogers (Capt), Dave Gannon, Mark Illingsworth, Phil Smith, Karen Smith, Eileen Shaler and Joanne Heath.

Chris and Mark were unbeaten in the four matches.

The Leicester Closed Champion­ships were held at the Parlands Leisure Centre, Oadby in March and what a day it was with matches being played

from lOam until the final at 9pm. Several players had a hard day

reaching more than one final. Steve White reached four finals only to find himself on the losing end in each, nevertheless it was a remarkable achievement. Young Laura Smith reached three finals and came away with two titles, another good perform­ance. Well done Laura.

Karen Smith had a good tournament and came away with three titles.

Maurice Newman and Matthew Hobday came away with two each.

The highlight of the tournament was in the final of the mens singles when Dave Gannon and Mark Illingsworth met. What a feast of brilliant table tennis we saw.

Mark took the first 23-21 a very close and tight game. Dave then came back with some brilliant shots that had the crowd applauding and he took the second 21-11, then he dominated the third taking it 21-9. This was Daves second win over Mark in a week.

Well done to all the winners and losers, and well done to the organisers for another good tournament.

RESULTS Mens Singles: Dave Gannon beat Mark lllingsworth 21-23, 21-11, 21-9 Mens Doubles: Maurice Newman and Ian Browri beat Steve White and Dave Gannon 21-19, 21-17 Ladies Singles: Karen Smith beat Liz Bryant 21-8, 21-8 Ladies Doubles: Karen Smith/Joanne Smith beat Tracey Smith/Jane Rogers 21-16, 21-5 Mixed Doubles: Keith Fellows/Karen Smith beat Steve WhitelLaura Smith 21-12, 21-12 Under 300: Steve Yallop beat Steve White 21-18, 16-3 Ret. Under 250: Matthew Hobday beat Ken Whitehead 15-21,21-12,21-15 Under 200: Phil Overend beat Ken Whitehead 21-15, 23-21 Under 150: Liz Bryant beat Peter Wilson 21-18, 21-10 Under 100: Chandra Sodha beat Jonathon Bullock 21-19, 8-21, 21-15 Intermediate Singles: Duncan Taylor beat Matthew Hobday 19-21, 21-12, 21-14 Boys Singles: Matthew Hobday beat Leon Chung 21-13,21-13 Girls Singles: Laura Smith beat Kathryn Freer 21-16, 21-7 Cadets U14: Laura Smith beat Mikeer Gohe121-14, 21-10

In the Hinckley League Market Bosworth 'C' are the champions, their team have had a good season consisted of Alan Philpott, John Iliffe and John Veasey and guest appearance of Frank Wykes.

The runners up spot seems between Croft and Hinckley Bosch IAI.

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MA Y 1994 PAGE 31

MIDDLESEX Lorna Taylor

THE Senior II Team performed exceptionally well to clinch the Division lB title. They demolished Berkshire II team 9-1 in their last match of the season, showing no remorse. Through­out the whole year they played seven matches, of these they won six and drew only one.

The second weekend of the Junior Premier was held at Grantham. Despite the very bad playing conditions in early matches due to lack of space they came a pleasing fifth place, managing to avoid relegation again. The Yorkshire side were certain winners, white washing our team 10-0. With Yorkshire having players such as Sally Marling and Nicola Silburn, their experience overrode that of our players. Berkshire, this year's champions, had a comfort­able 8-2 win against us, the only rnatches won were Joanne Weare and Caroline O'leary beating Kay Leslie. We had a draw against Surrey and Lancashire went 3-7 down to Middle­sex, partly due to both Joanne and Caroline, who surprisingly beat Lindsay Thornton who is ranked above them on the latest ranking list. Our other players were Simon Jablon, Jason Sugrue and Marios Michaelides.

After the second half of the Senior Premier Weekend the first team finished third place, unable to regain the championship title. We beat Surrey 7-3 and Devon 6-4. However, we were defeated by Lancashire 6-4 and Sussex 7-3.

The Veteran II team lost to Surrey II 7-2 but nevertheless gained fourth place in the division. The Veterans I team fought hard to beat Hampshire 5­4, who are second in division lB, but unfortunately still face relegation for next season.

At the South of England Tourna­ment, Mike O'leary (Jnr) won the Band B section defeating Terry Young (No.8 Jnr) in a nail-biting match in which he won 22-20 in the third. Caroline O'leary reached the semi finals at the South of England Junior 2* losing to Carly Riggs.

This year's Wembley and Harrow Championships were held at Edgeware General.Hospital and produced a fair amount of entries, perhaps partly due to the introduction of prize money given to all the winners and donated by a generous but anonymous source. Glen Wilkes won the men's singles defeating Costas Papantoniou in the final. In the ladies' final Caroline Seaholme had a comfortable win over Joanne Solley.

In the Rose Bowl competition West Middlesex beat Wembley and Harrow 5-2. The only upset of the match was Rachel Knight (W&H) beating Mateja Glusic (W. Mid).

In the 1956/57 season, a certain Miss Mary Stafford made her first apPearance in a Middlesex representa­tive team. Over the years she changed her name, first to Symes then to Sawyer but she never changed in her unfailing loyalty to her county, league or club. After representing Middlesex on 127 occasions (she now goes to the top of our 'Appearances List') Mary had decided that the travelling from Norfolk, where she now lives, makes it advisable for her to 'hang up her bat' so far as Middlesex is concerned. She had

hoped to continue until the end of this season but breaking a bone in her foot precipitated her retirement.

There must be hundreds of players around the country who have played with or against Mary over the years and who will remember her with affection and admiration of her unfailing sportsmanship. Win or lose Mary always had a smile on her face and a word of commiseration or congratula­tion for her opponent. Her encourage­ment of juniors, too, was always very much to the fore.

Middlesex will miss Mary Sawyer not only for the matches she won when playing for us, but even more for the aura of happiness, friendship and good sportsmanship she always brought to any occasion where she was present. If Mary decides to play in a local club or league they will be inheriting a treasure - one which we are certain they will quickly learn to appreciate as much as we have done.

NORFOLK Ray Hogg

DEADUNE May 15th. That is when teams have to be entered for next seasons County Championships. We desperately need a manager for veterans second team as Les Rayment is standing down alter eight years. No manager no team and with the number of new veterans coming through questions will be asked as to why we have no team - mainly by those who want a team but are not prepared to organise it. Also if we are to resurrect our senior team the same applies ­from all my enquiries the players are there all we need now is a manager. Should no one come forward I will have no hesitation in not entering these teams.

First veterans Will continue as Mick Broughton is re-organising with the addition of Mary Sawyer ex-Middlesex and possibly others, ready for the push to regain Division 1 status. All three junior teams will be there again, luckily we are only losing Ian Brockhurst and Russell O'Keefe to whom we send our thanks and Wayne Robinson has decided to pack up. This will give openings for some of the up and coming players and with two teams in division lA should make for some interesting matches - our treasurer just hopes we can afford the luxury of two teams having weekends away - or could we consider using the facility in Norwich to stage one? County Closed held at Lynnsport Kings Lynn which seems to be the in venue at the moment resulted in 15 year old Leeroy Pye sweeping the board by taking the main Junior and Senior singles titles, plus various others. Have we another Junior who is going to dominate for the next few years or is he going to burn out with being overplayed as we have seen before. Ruth Acourt completed her hat trick of ladies singles titles and I hear that she is joining the mothers union in the Autumn - congratulations. Mick Broughton had an excellent year in the county team losing only one match but in the county lost out to Chris Brewer in front of his home crowd alter 10 consecutive wins.

Norfolk's Leeroy Pye

On the whole our County Champi­onships were successful with 70 seniors and 40 juniors but I feel there were lots of juniors who should have entered. Next season I have been approached to consider an event for the disabled and a junior event for unranked players which could solve the problem of lesser players not wanting to be in the same group as the top players. One final thought is that there would have been no Championships without the sponsorship from Palgrave Importers and Dowcras Rock of Great Yarmouth. The same applies for next season. All local leagues are waiting to see if there is the expected influx of potential players after the Europeans - if there is where are they going to playas venues seem to be getting more rare. East Anglian League - any league consider­ing joining either or both senior/veteran league contact me for further informa­tion.

NORTHANTS Dennis Millman

NORTHANTS appeared to have produced the ideal player-friendly formula when the Veteran Top Eight was staged recently. With the number of matches reduced to twenty eight, played on two tables, the five hours play was punctuated by generous refreshment breaks and It was the unanimous verdict of those taking part, that at last the perfect format had been found.

Brian Dangerfield caused the first major upset, when he beat Keith Jones 20-22,24-22,21-15, but this effort, plus a 32-30 second end defeat at the hands of Ray Kingston took its toll and Dangerfield gained only one further win.

At one stage Kingston looked on course for overall victory, to add to the laurels he has already won in the Westfield Invitation Trophy, but he succumbed to both Jones and Michael Edwards, and with the injured Gordon Shaw having withdrawn, it was left to previous winners, Jones and Edwards to fight out the final stage.

The unbeaten Edwards took the first, but then Jones' well-drilled defence and well-timed counter attacks destroyed the pattern of Edwards game and Jones coasted through to victory. With six wins each, it was this final flOUrish that enabled Jones to regain

the title he lost to Edwards last season. Final placings - 1. Keith Jones, 2. Michael Edwards, 3. Ray Kingston, 4. Mike Pond, 5. Brian D'Hooghe, 6. David Hoddle, 7. Brian Dangerfield, 8. John Gandolfi.

Ian Hawes finally won the Kettering League Mens Singles title when his attacking play eventually wore down Team Electric colleague Steve West in an entertaining match. In his previous five finals Hawes had always fallen victim to Graeme McKim but this time with McKim not participating Hawes justified his favouritism.

In the semis Hawes lost the first end to Chris Handshaw and looked in trouble but the top seed recovered to take the second easily and always led in the decider until a determined Handshaw pulled back to level at deuce. However Hawes kept his nerve and made sure of the next two points.

In the other half of the draw, Ian Donaldson provided the shock result of the day when he beat second seed Julian Marshall in straight games but he in turn was no match for Ian Sclater who went on to fall heavily to West.

There was also a new champion in an absorbing ladies event, with Helen Watts coming from behind to beat holder Muriel Cox in the last four, and then holding on to account for former champion Jane Johnstone in the decider.

Johnston gained some consolation when she and Cathy Fleming just did enough to make it three wins in a row in the ladies doubles, beating Cox and Tracey Marriott on two deuces alter dropping the first in single figures.

Johnston and Cox were also on opposing sides in the mixed doubles final, with Johnston, partnered by Hawes, and Cox by Steve Brown, with the former pairing eventually asserting themselves in three ends.

Gordon Shaw, who was well beaten in the men's event by David Hoddle, returned to form in the veterans singles but had to survive in the longest game of the day against a tenacious Alan Ashberry before reaching the final. There he outplayed five times winner Geoff Atkinson to gain his first veterans titles but then the two finalists teamed up to reach the final of the veteran doubles, but this match against John Palmer and Dennis Millman was one of two, not completed on the day, after the three hundred and sixty matches plus had stretched the Kettering Leisure Village's facilities to capacity.

The mens doubles was the other match not completed, but subsequently Hawes, partnered by West, completed his personal hatrlck at the expense of Mark Nannery and Steve Brown, while Palmer gained his expected win in the Over 50's event and Julian Marshall did likewise at Under 23 level.

But the best feature of the tournament, played in superb conditions and controlled admirably by Phil Slade, was the presence of forty juniors who competed in eight separate events and in this younger age bracket it was Andrew Thomas who made the greatest impact with three successes, for in addition to winning the division one handicap and the under 15 singles he added the prestigious jUnior singles to his tally beating older brother Paul at the penultimate stage, and then ousting Colin Judd in the final.

Judd went on to take the Consola

PAGE 32 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

COUNTY NOTES .. 7

tion Singles, while young Nicky Spence and ten year old James Fitton also excelled to reach six finals between them. Terry Luxton maintained his recent fine form to take the premier handicap while Stephen Woolston kept his nerve to make sure of the corre­sponding division two event.

NORTHUMBERLAND Aubrey Drapkin

TWO players at opposite ends of the age scale have had the most notable successes of any Northumberland players this season, and both come from North Shields.

Andrew Wilkinson reached top spot in the England Junior Rankings having previously been number one cadet. Andrew is the second Northumberland youngster in recent years to reach number one, following in the steps of Barry Forster.

Veteran lan'Benny' Robertson has had numerous good results in veteran tournaments and has played extremely well in the Friendly Hotels British League for Sedgefield, his best win being over the Russian international Elena Timina. Benny has also helped the county veterans side to remain unbeaten throughout the season and both Benny and Andrew have been in the Northurnbria League side that has reached the later stages of the Wilmot Cup.

Both of them play for North Shields Y.M.C.A. in the Northumbria League, who look certain to retain the championship.

It is with regret that I have to report the deaths of Jack McAllister and Brian Thompson who both gave good service on the County Manage­ment Committee.

STAFFORDSHIRE Kevin Shaw

BURSLEM'S Craig Bakewell wrote his way into the record books at the Potteries Closed Championships at the Michelin by winning the Finney Cup (mens singles) for a record seventh time. The previous record of six titles was joinltly held by Tony Isaac, Brian Upton and Craig himself.

Craig defeated fo~mer champion and club-mate Mark Evans in a final in which Craig imposed his power and technical skill from the outset to run out 21-8, 21-17 winner.

In the .semi final Craig Bakewell beat finalist Ian Barsted who had earlier provided the shock of the championships by beating No.4 seed Ivan Wain and Bradwell's Paul Myatt. Mark Evans had to overcome Colin Braxton in the semi final who had put out last years finalist and NO.3 seed Jonathon Lowes.

Mark gained some consolation by teaming up with John Hancock to win the men's doubles title with a victory over Paul Myatt and Kevin Shaw.

Julie Bickerton recorded a hatrick of titles retaining the ladies singles title, winning the division one handicap title and teaming up with Jane Barnett to win the ladies doubles.

Burslem A beat second place Bradwell A 9-1 to retain the premier division title, Craig Bakewell and Mark Evans scoring maximums. Bradwell

turned the tables three days later by winning the Sentinel Cup with a decisive 5-1 win Jonathon Lowes, Ivan Wain and Phil Anderson the winning trio.

Rachel Roberts retained her Stafford league closed ladies title for the eleventh time, while Adrian Hough collected his third mens title, Adrian defeated Hugh Edwards while Rachel overcame Allison Taylor. John Taylor scored a decisive victory over Martin Pickles in the veterans final then John and Martin teamed up to retain their mens doubles title.

Burton Manor Vikings clinched the division one title from former champi­ons Dormans.

Tony Jeynes collected a hatrick of titles at the Stone closed champion­ships; he won the mens singles title for the second time beating Paul Malkin who found himself runners up for the second year in succession, Tony teamed up with Paul Myatt to retain their double title, then teamed up with Shirley Boone to collect the handicap doubles event.

Daniel Rainford collected the under 15 singles beating Sam Newton 21-17, 23-21 and then went on to win the handicap singles with a win over Simon Bates.

The Walton A trio of Tony Jeynes, Paul Myatt and Kevin Shaw won the team handicap final to add to the division one title they collected without dropping a point.

SUSSEX John Woodford

DICCON GRAY and Scott Greenbrook have continued their roles as the surprise packets in Sussex. Both members of the Horsham Angels title­winning second team in the Friendly Hotels British League, they are still shaking the opposition on other fronts.

Greenbrook completed a successful day in the Wilmott Cup when another win over Graham Sandley steered Crawley through to the semi finals.

Down at Hastings, Gray, the National Development Officer, swept aside all the opposition to retain the Hastings mens singles title at the expense of Steve Moore and Paul Barry, both of whom surprisingly finished as also-rans.

Some of the Sussex junior players have not been so convincing of late in the season as they were earlier on, notably Kevin Doyle and Sarah Stedman. The two who have made progress however are Joanna Bush­Harris (Brighton) and Robert Abbotts of Hastings. The 13 year old Hastings junior was unlucky to get Paul Barry in his group at the Hastings Champion­ships, otherwise he might have progressed to the later stages.

Within two months the Sussex administration has been dealt two heavy blows - the retirement of secretary Bill Bradley through poor health has been followed by the sudden death of the Sussex 'ITA Chairman Dennis Reed of Hassocks.

Dennis Reed was 68, an all-round sportsman and a prominent figure in Sussex table tennis for many years as a player, umpire, referee and many other tasks. Moves to fill the gaps are being

made - Carol Beames and Peter Wales are prominent and the new appoint­ments will be made at the annual meeting.

Three other town champions: Brighton - Paul Elphick; Eastbourne ­Malcolm Francis; Worthing - Harry McCarney; Lewes - Malcolm Francis; South West Sussex - Malcolm Francis.

WARWICKSHIRE Pete Walden

THE conclusion of this seasons County Championships brought mixed fortunes for the Warks team. Pride of place though must go to the Veterans third team for winning division 3A with seven straight wins. Our second Vets side, in division 2A, were almost as successful with five wins from six matches, finishing just two points behind eventual champions Northum­berland.

The junior first lost out in their crunch match against a powerful Derbyshire side and had to be content with the runners up spot in division 2A. A special mention here for two members of this side for their great performances in the Bristol 2 Star Open. Ryan Stockham, plaYing with Devon's P. Thomas, took the junior doubles title beating team mate Alan Hewitt (partnered by Wales R. Owen) in a close-fought final. There is little doubt that I shall be reporting on further successes for both Ryan and Alan in the future if they maintained their excellent progress in the game.

On the local league front, all three divisions of the Nuneaton league have just been decided. In division one, the champions are Hartshill Sports A agQin led by Pete Muir and including two nationally ranked players in Mathew Hobday uuniors) and Alan Philpott (vets). The runners up spot went to NALGO C who had set the pace in this division for much of the season.

Division two champions are NALGO B whose only defeat in the season came on the opening day against eventual runners up Hartshill Sports E. Hartshills Neil Matthams took the averages with a 100% record, a fine achievement in a very competitive division.

National Westminster Bank relegated last year, bounced straight back up as champions of division three. A two-way fight in this section saw NALGO E finish in second place despite Steve Ridsdales unbeaten record.

WILTSHIRE Laurie Selby

A 15 year old school boy proved he is top of the class in Swindon table tennis when he became the townIS singles champion.

Tim O'Mahoney, who won three titles in the junior championships, made a giant step into the senior ranks.

He served up a devastating display of power table tennis to sweep aside Eddie Roofe, champion for the previous three years, in the semi finals.

Then the unseeded youngster crashed aside Thamesdown champion Alex Collar in straight games in the final.

"This was definitely my best day in table tennis," said Tim. "I was looking for an improvement on last year when I reached the quarter finals where I lost to Eddie."

The determined youngster, whose ambition is to play for England, puts his success down to being fitter and sharper.

Just for good measure Tim teamed up with RaYmond Powell to win the men's doubles against the two players he beat in the singles, Roofe and Collar.

There were fewer surprises in the women's singles where top seeds Brenda Lee and Tracey Watkins won through to the finals.

Brenda defeated defending champion Tracy Youldon in the semi final but had to fight back after losing the opening game.

She also had to do the same in the final when Tracey Watkins hit a fine streak of form to win the first game.

But Brenda's consistent counter­hitting and greater fitness told in the end.

Brenda and Tracey went on to win the women's doubles in a final full of fine rallies against Tracy Youldon and Debbie King.

Brenda snapped up a hatrick when she and RaYmond Powell beat Alan Duke and Tracey Watkins in the deciding game of the mixed doubles final.

Brian Powell won the veteran~s

singles title but had to battle hard to do it.

He saved five match points before beating current champion Alan Duke 31-29 in the deciding game and came from behind in the final against Brian Hey who took the opening game.

Trophies were presented by league president Ernie Watkins and the tournament was staged by the Gaslink Sanford Club at Churchfields School.

RESULTS Mens Singles: Semi Finals: Tim O'Mahoney beat Eddie Roofe 23-21, 21-14; Alex Collar beat Brian Powell 21-16, 21-17. Final: O'Mahoney beat Collar 21-11,21-19. Womens Singles: Semi Finals: Brenda Lee beat Tracy Youldon 18-21, 21-11, 21-10; Tracey Watkins beat Sylvia Morse 21-8, 21-11. Final: Lee beat Watkins 16-21, 21-13, 21-15. Veterans Singles: Semi Finals: Brian Powellbeat Basil Thompson 14-21, 21-13, 21-14; Brian Hey beat Mike Oxley 21-15,21-12. Final: Powell beat Hey 17-21, 21-19, 21-15. Women. Doubles: Final: Tracey WatkinslBreanda Lee beat Tracy YouldonlDebbie King 21-15, 23-12 Mixed Doubles: Semi Finals: Ray Powell/Brenda Lee beat Ian Neate and Tracy Youldon 21­18,21-19; Alan DukelTracey Watkins beat Eddie RoofelDebbie King 16-21, 21-18, 21-19. Final: Powell/Lee beat DukelWatkins 21-13,17-21,21-17 Class 2 Singles: Semi Finals: Alan Duke beat Nigel Smith 21-10, 21-12; Matthew Prior beat Brian Freeman 21-13, 21-10. Final: Duke beat Prior 21-14,21-17 Class 2 Doubles: Final: Colin Gore/Keith Thompson beat Alan Phillips/Simon Lake 21-11, 21-12

TABLE TENNIS NEWS MAY 1994 PAGE 33

COUNTY NOTES - 8

Consolation Singles: Semi Finals: Mike Oxley beat Simon Lake 21-15, 21-9; Basil Thompson beat Lee Orton 21-9,21-19. Final: Oxley beat Thompson 22-20,22-24,21-17

*** THE Swindon Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships might well have been renamed the Tim and Tracy Show.

Tim O'Mahoney and Tracy Youldon each scooped up a hatrick of titles in the championships which were held at Churchfields School.

Tim was in a class of his, own as he made a clean sweep of everYthing he entered. Such was his supremacy that few of his opponents reached double figures.

Both the under 17 and under 15 singles fell to his power play with Luke Leach being the victim on both occasions.

Tim teamed with Tracy to take the mixed doubles final against Leach and Debbie King.

Tracy, who is in her last year of juniors, retained her under 17 crown.

The girls' singles were played as a round robin with Tracy winning all her matches. Kelly Sampson beat Debbie King to take runner up spot.

But Debbie gained some consola­tion when she partnered Tracy to victory in the girls' doubles over Stacey Carpenter and Karen Holmes.

Both the under 15 and under 13 girls' singles finals were real family affairs.

Stacey Carpenter won both - and beat her sister Stephanie in both finals.

Ricky Kirby overcame the challenge of Paul Richards in the under 13 boys' singles but Ricky was beaten in the final of the class two singles by Paul Jackson.

***A new event - Champions of the Future - attracted a good entry. It was open to players who do not belong to a club as part of the Swindon and District League's scheme to promote the sport.

Eleven year old Mathew Jarrett, a pupil at Lydiard Millicent Junior School, just beat Jamie Nolan, 12, from Braydon Forest Comprehensive School, in the final.

Trophies were presented by Ernie Watkins, president of the Swindon and District League.

***WILTSHIRE table tennis teams won two and lost two of their matches in the County Championships.

The two victories came in the veterans' section of the championships.

Wiltshire's top veterans' team fought tooth and nail to snatch both points when they beat Somerset Seconds in SWindon.

Basil Thompson (Swindon) played a captain's role by winning both his singles and'teamed up with Sylvia Morse (Swindon) to take the mixed doubles. A singles victory from Mike Oxley (CaIne) and Tony Brown (Andove·r) completed a good team performance.

The other Wiltshire success carne from the third veterans' side who came back from Herefordshire with their first victory since the opening match in September.

All of the team contributed to the scoreline with Tony Mileham

. (Trowbridge) winning two singles and

Ray Cordery (Malmesbury), Terry Parkins (Melksham) each winning one. Parkins teamed up with Liz Whittaker (Swindon) to win the mixed doubles and Cordery and Mileham took the men's doubles for a 6-3 victory.

Wiltshire seniors entertained Devon thirds in Swindon and went down 6-4.

Devon fielded Mike Short, one of the country's top veterans, who was undefeated, beating Swindon's Eddie Roofe 24-22 in the final game.

Brenda Lee (Swindon) won both her singles, showing the sort of form which took her into the semi finals of the singles and finals of the women's doubles, with Helen Lower, in the Welsh Open Championships.

Roofe and Raymond Powell (Swindon) each won one singles but Dave Richards (Melksham) and Beverley Wallis (Swindon) were not on top form and lost their matches.

Wiltshire's third veteransl team were whitewashed by a strong Huntingdonshire side 9-0. Alan Duke, John Nash, Bill Willson and Margaret willson (all Swindon) were on the receiving end.

WORCESTERSHIRE Steve Horton

IT is with sadness that I have to report­on behalf of the county that Sheila Randle recently passed away. She was a prolifie player in Kidderminster league from 1965 to 1979 during which she collected a record 11 ladies singles plus many county titles. Mr. A. Kerr informs me that she was very serious about her table tennis and her achievements confirm this.

The county first team rounded off an excellent season by beating both Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 8-2. The team are crowned as divisional champions with Sandra Roden and Malcolm Green remaining undefeated on 100%.

. The second team completed their season with a win at Somerset to finish a very creditable third in the same division.

Our veteran team suffered defeats in their final two fixtures despite Janet Hunt winning her singles in both matches. The 'brick wall' combination of Mervyn Wood and Roy Norton were undefeated when they combined for the mens doubles and finish with a 100% record.

One win from the final three games secured a 4th place for the juniors with the girls making the major contribu­tions during the season.

The County Schools Individual Championships were played at Christopher Whitehead School with a total of 85 entries. Results are as follows:­WINNERS: Boys U19 - David Stephens Girls U19 - Zoe Evans Boys U16 - Tim Morris Girls U16 - Laura Vaughan Boys U13 - Stephen Jackson Girls U13 - Emma Hughes Boys U11 - Andrew Jones Girls U11 - Kate Hughes

These will go forward to the National Championships.

In the British League our two representatives Hawbush and Bromsgrove produced another close,

near controversial match with Hawbush emerging as 5-3 winners after some very tight three setters. Jason Thompson was unbeaten for Bromsgrove.

There are many outstanding County league fixtures to be played but the points situation indicates that the winners of the Dudley 'A' v Dudley 'B' match will be champions.

The Team Knockout Competition final will be between Bromley and Redditch Roamers (inspired by 'Rocket Ron Butterton'). The Handicap Competition is at the semi final stage.

I have one league tournament to report on. Bromsgrove and District Closed Championships attracted 40 entries and was played at Droitwich Sports and Leisure Centre for the fust time.

The first final of the day saw the juniors final being contested by the holder Hanish Malhotra and newcomer Chris Auty. Hanish always had the upper hand and won comfortably.

A new name appears on the veterans trophy after seven years of dominance by Ron Butterton and Martin Clark since it was introduced. Jim Connors took the title this year, winning the hard way by beating Ron in the semi final and NO.1 seed and holder Martin Clark in the final.

Martin Madkins and Mick Kendall were no match for Dave Rogers and Mark Fiddian going down two straight. This after beating Craig Ward and Dave McNaught in the semis.

Young Louise Evans teamed up with Dave Rogers to beat Craig Ward and Margaret Buxton after initially falling one set behind.

Unusually two low handicap players contested the handicap final with Mark Fiddian off scratch oomfortably beating Mick Kendall off +1 to win his second final of the day.

Margart Buxten lost in three sets to Mayluun Rutherford in the ladies final.

Dave Rogers easily held onto his mens singles title beating M~ Madkins 21-8, 21-6. Martin caused an upset by beating Mark Fiddian in the semi final but could not raise his game against Dave who controlled the play.

YORKSHIRE Rea Balmford

YORKSHIRE has long had a tradition of fostering the young players in the county, and the Scarborough league, who can surely point the way ahead to a number of much bigger and longer established organisations and working hard to bring along the youngsters in the North East coast resort.

No less than four teams were entered in Cadet Division 2 of the Yorkshire League and two more in the Cadet Girls Division - this in addition to a junior side in junior division 1.

At this stage the name of the game was experience and learning, not results, although Cadet I finished second in their division, losing only one game - that to champions Keighley, another forward looking league who are building a sound foundation of improving young players.

And the Seasiders certainly have plenty to pick from! Recently 120 youngsters competed in an all day tournament with events catering for players in the Under 10 and Under 12

age groups taking place in the morning, followed by Cadets and Juniors later in the day.

From Juniors to Veterans where Harrogate~StalwartNicky Davies, a regular member of the county side, is to be congratulated on winning the Vetts Southern Masters at Harlow.

The ill efforts (I! I) of a two week break in Tenerife showed up as Nicky struggled a little in his early group matches, but then the benefits showed through 24 hours later as he survived some top competition to blast his way past former England International Stuart Gibbs to take the title.

A week later Davies moved on to play in the Yorkshire Closed at Bradford, and it carne as no surprise when he added the County Veteran

·'title to his national honour with a win over Matt Sheader - the latter making his first appearance in the Closed since he moved away from his native Scarborough to live in Grimsby.

But Matt who, despite his 'Super Veteran' status, always relishes a challenge, is now breaking new ground as he plays his second season with Judeans 'A' in the still very much one of the players to beat.

Major mens singles title went the way of Bradford's Mark Stephenson, who overcame former County man Richard Whiteley, who showed that he has lost little of the skill which brought him his county 'cap' now that he confines his table tennis activity largely to the Harrogate League.

OTHER RESULTS: Mens Doubles: DavieslWhiteley beat StephensonlKeith Bell (Bradford). Ladies Singles: Helen Shields (Bradford). Ladies Doubles: Rachael Brook/LYnda Fahey (Leeds) beat Shields/Caroline Bentley (Bradford). Rest Mens Singles:

·Sheader beat Simon James (Hull) Rest Ladies Singles: Bentley beat Zoe Fisher (Hull)

Over at the Huddersfield Closed it was Tim Dyson who took the honours, accounting for Darren Lindley in the mens singles and then pairing with his beaten opponent to carry the doubles against veteran stars Ken Burgess and Geoff Brook.

Burgess and Brook battled it out in both VS and Over 50 VS with Brook taking the Vets and Burgess turning the tables in the Over 50s.

OTHER RESULTS: Junior Singles: David Smith beat Mark Brook. Cadet Singles: Paul Booth beat Shaun Ellis. Under 12 Singles: Geraldine Booth beat Ben Steinitz. Handicap Singles: Darren Page beat Ellis.

The Premier division of the Yorkshire League, in which matches were played over three weekend sessions, has now been finalised with Sheffield crowned as 1993/94 champi­ons ahead of Huddersfield. Hull and Bradford III are relegated to Division I, while the merit award goes to Doncaster's Steve Wathey.

Junior and Cadet Division Champions have also been named:­Junior Boys Division One - Hull (runners up Bradford). Boys Division Two: Doncaster (runners up Leeds) Girls: Selby (runners up Leeds). Cadet Boys Division One: Huddersfield (runners up Bradford). Boys Division Two: Keighley (runners up Scarborough). Girls: Leeds (runners up Wakefield).

PAGE 34 MAY 1994 TABLE TENNIS NEWS

~~~FORTHCOMING EVENTS~~~~~

BLACKPOOL 3 STAR OPEN Saturday/Sunday 28 & 29th May 1994

Norbreck Castle Hotel, Queen's Promenade Tournament Organiser: Paul Connolly Tel: 0253 896435

PRIZE MONEY £2500

WOOLWICH JUNIOR BR~TISH LEAGUE FINAL ROUND

Saturday/Sunday 28 & 29th May 1994 Waterfront Leisure Centre, High Street, Woolwich, London.

Starting both days at 9am

NATIONAL UNDER 10/11/12 CHAMPIONSHIPS Saturday/Sunday 4th & 5th June 1994

Bletchley Leisure Centre, Princes Way, Milton Keynes. Enquiries: Gerald Hammond, 22 High Street, Meppershall, Shefford, Beds.

FINALS: Under 10 & Under 11 Saturday, Under 12 Sunday

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP CONFERENCE Saturday 4th June 1994

VENUE: New Cobden Hotel, Hagley Road, Birmingham.

-NATIONAL TEAM FINALS Saturday 12th June· 1994

South Kesteven TIC, Trent Road, Grantham. Details from: Ken Eliot, Tel: 0427610513

SHREWSBURY BUFR 2 STAR JUNIOR:TOURNAMENT Saturday/Sunday 18th & 19th June 1994

The Grove School, Stafford Street, Market Drayton. Details: Ian Marshall, Greenfields, Betton Road,

Market Drayton, Salop, TF9 1HH.