Schedule Under 12 1.15 pm Under 14 9.30 am Under 17 1.15 pm
Players should arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the starting time and report to the Tournament Manager’s desk. Do not wear white or especially light coloured clothing and wear correct sports clothing & non marking sports shoes.
Recently Table tennis Wellington held the 2019 Wellington Open. 77 players participated, up slightly on the previous few years. There were a number of players from other Associations, particularly Manawatu, but also Auckland, Waitemata, Waikato and Marlborough.
Results as follows:
Men’s Singles
Matthew Ball (Man)
Sean Hanson
Women’s Singles
Hui-Ling Vong
Ye Zhai
Men’s Doubles
Matthew Ball (Man) & Rajitha Samaraweera (Ak)
Noam Bar-Shalom & Yotam Malka
Women’s Doubles
Lisa Yue & Ye Zhai
Yashka Rabichand & Anna Wilson
Mixed Doubles
Sean Hanson & Ye Zhai
Rajitha Samaraweera (Ak)& Hui-Ling Vong
Men’s Singles Plate
Andrew Maguire
Bryan McConnochie
B Grade Singles
James Harter
Mark Page (Wk)
B Grade Doubles
Depak Patel & Daniel Rosner
James Harter & Mark Page (Wk)
C Grade Singles
Harry Chen
Tony Rutledge
C Grade Doubles
Carlos Fung (Man) & Callum McKinnon (Man)
Andrew Palmer (Wait) & Tony Rutledge
D Grade Singles
Martin Young
Michael Stechman
D Grade Doubles
Andrew Maguire & Michael Stechman
Jacqui Wood (Marl) & Vanessa Wood-Lin (Marl)
Under 13 Singles
Akshay Aneesh (Man)
Yufeng Wang
Under 13 Doubles
Aaron Lan & Yufeng Wang
Akshay Aneesh (Man) & Hadley James (Man)
Under 15 Boys Singles
Callum McKinnon (Man)
Yufeng Wang
Under 15 Girls Singles
Yashka Rabichand
Vanessa Wood-Lin (Marl)
Under 15 Doubles
Yashka Rabichand & Anna Wilson
Callum McKinnon (Man) & Vanessa Wood-Lin (Marl)
Under 15 Boys Plate
Abilash Sivasith
Ben Riddell
Under 18 Boys Singles
Callum McKinnon (Man)
Carlos Fung (Man)
Under 18 Girls Singles
Hui-Ling Vong
Vanessa Wood-Lin (Marl)
Under 18 Doubles
Carlos Fung (Man) & Callum McKinnon (Man)
Yashka Rabichand & Anna Wilson
Over 30 Singles
David Buckrell
Daniel Rosner
Over 30 Doubles
Heath Murdoch & Callum Rusbridge
Depak Patel & Daniel Rosner
Over 40 Singles
Daniel Rosner
James Wang
Over 40 Doubles
Depak Patel & Daniel Rosner
John Gan & Heath Murdoch
Over 50 Singles
Lindsay Ward
Bryan McConnochie
Over 50 Doubles
Bryan McConnochie & Lindsay Ward
John Gan & Heath Murdoch
Over 60 Singles
Lindsay Ward
Tony Rutledge
Over 60 Doubles
Bryan McConnochie & Lindsay Ward
Malcolm Wong & Martin Young
Congratulations to the titleholders, the volunteers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, the volunteer umpires, to Maggie on the shop & to Empire for hosting the event and to everyone who completed or just came along to watch and helped make this event a success!
Series Two of Winter Interclub is coming to an end with a mix of close situations and more easily anticipated positions.
This coming week Premier will conclude with Titan Terriers and Empire Enforcers competing for the Tommy Williams Cup. Should be plenty of good matches to watch here.
Division One has one more week of the round robin as the top four teams all have a chance to be in the top two to play in the final for the Chris Williams Cup. Final positions could depend on the actual makeup of the teams on the night as it is a very tight grade. Watch those doubles!
Division Two has concluded with Titan Young Guns holding off the opposition. All teams had nights when they had good teams but several suffered when good players were unavailable.
Division Three has completed a round robin which was affected to a degree by player unavailability. Nevertheless there has been some excellent table tennis with noticeable improvement shown. The finals will be held next week. Thanks to Tim Wilson for his hard work in keeping things going.
The Hutt Valley Women’s Team won the NZ Women’s A Grade Teams (Herbert G Teagle Memorial Challenge Shield) for the first time at the NZ Championships held in Timaru (1997).
v Southland 1 won 7-2
v South Canterbury won 7-2
v Composite 2 won 7-2
v Composite 1 won 5-3
v Canterbury won 5-4
v Canterbury (Final) won 5-2
In the Individual events Tracey won the Under 21 Women Singles and Doubles (with Melissa Beazer) and the Under 19 Girls Singles and Doubles (with Melissa Beazer). Melissa Beazer won the Under 19 Mixed Doubles (with Jason Ng, Auckland). Averil Roberts (Hutt Valley President) won the Over 35 and 45 Women Doubles (with Val Beaver (Counties Manukau).
In the
Under 19 A Grade Girls Teams, Hutt Valley (Tracey McLauchlan, Melissa Beazer, Belinda
Beazer and Aroha Tam – all Waterloo) won all their matches. They beat Auckland
in the final 5-2.
In 1999
Hutt Valley (Tracey McLauchlan, Sabine Westenra, Diana White, Raewyn Young)
again won the NZ Womens A Grade Teams in Palmerston North. They defeated
Auckland 5-4 in the final.
In 1997: Averil Roberts, Sabine Westenra, Tracey McLauchlan, Melissa Beazer
In 1975 The Hutt Valley Men’s Team (Gary Murphy, Terry Murphy, Hone Ridley, Murray Borlase) won the NZ Men’s A Grade Teams (Kean Challenge Shield) for the first and only time in Christchurch. In a round robin (6 teams) they had 4 wins and 1 loss which was the same as Franklin. As Hutt Valley had beaten Franklin they won the A Grade.
Information for this report came from the 1997 Hutt Valley Table Tennis Association Annual Report, 1975 and 1999 TTNZ Annual Report and the TTNZ Website.
Recently we had Wellington vets at the TTNZ Veterans tournament and also representing New Zealand in test teams vs. Australia at the TTNZ vets in Taupo (full results). Many Wellington players attended & placings achieved by Wellington players are listed below:
Over 40 mixed doubles Sabine Westenra (with Lyndon White, CAN) 3rd-equal
Over 40 women’s doubles Sabine Westenra (with Christine Young, WAIT) 2nd Over 50 women’s singles won by Sabine Westenra
Over 50 men’s singles Lindsay Ward came 3rd Over 50 mixed doubles Sabine Westenra (with Lyndon White, CAN) won
Over 50 women’s doubles Sabine Westenra (with Haiyan Zhang, QLD) 2nd
Over 60 mixed doubles Lindsay Ward & Leigh Grinlinton 2nd
Over 60 men’s doubles Chris Talbot & Lindsay Ward 3rd-equal
In the selected NZ Test Teams vs. Australia we had:
Over 50s women: Sabine Westenra (5-0 to NZ)
Over 60s men: Lindsay Ward (2-3 to Aust)
Over 65s men: Ian Talbot (1-4 to Aust)
Well done to the above and to all the Wellington players who attended!
Anna Wilson vs. Australia
Table Tennis New Zealand is excited to be sending a team of 15 players to the Australian Junior Championships in Wollongong in July after a collaborative agreement was signed between TTNZ and TTA aimed at fostering development. The last Junior Team to participate in Australian Junior Championships was in Queensland in 2010.
From Wellington we have Anna Wilson selected by TTNZ – congratulations from all of us to Anna!
Yufeng Wang in the ITTF Hopes week
The 2019 ITTF-Oceania Hopes (Under 12) Week was held in April in Waikato with local boy Yufeng Wang selected to attend after qualifying in the New Zealand Hopes Open held in Christchurch in January. The young players attend a week long camp headed by Eva Jeler, one of the most decorated coaches in the world.
Schedule Under 12 1.15 pm Under 14 9.30 am Under 17 1.15 pm
Players should arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the starting time and report to the Tournament Manager’s desk. Do not wear white or especially light coloured clothing and wear correct sports clothing & non marking sports shoes.
Remember to keep checking the Table Tennis Wellington Facebook group for even more of the goings on in Wellington especially all the news on the NZ Univerity Champs held recently in Wellington up there with piles of pictures and video uploaded by Rob!
Series One of Winter Interclub finished with intriguing nights for the Premier and Division One grades.
On Tuesday, the Brian Hearfield Cup for winning Premier One went to the UwU team of Hui-Ling Vong and James Harter, despite their 3-2 loss to the Dreamers. UwU only needed to win one match to clinch the title. Tarantulas and Dreamers were tied on points and matches won for second and a count back on sets showed tarantulas ahead with 41 sets won and 32 sets lost compared to Dreamers who had 37 sets both won and lost.
Premier Two saw Enforcers comfortably win their match and grade from the Tomatoes, Depak Patel and Daniel Rosner played well over the three weeks, only dropping two matches.
Wednesday saw the eagerly anticipated rematch of the previous week between Empire Enigmas and Titan Target, playing off this week in the final for the Chris Williams Cup. If a week is a long time in politics, the same can now be said about table tennis. Titan Target reversed last week’s 3-8 loss by winning 7-4. Incredibly, despite all six players being the same both weeks, the result of six matches (including two doubles) changed from the previous encounter. Hugo Yick, Tom Christie and Yufeng Wang played all eight weeks and deserved their win on the night.
Also on Tuesday Division Two had their grade championships with eight players entering. Hirotake Watanabe came out the winner from Ben Riddell, who also showed good form on the night. Peter Lowe beat Aaron Lan in the 3-4 playoff, while Maggie Dyer won the consolation event.
Next week sees the opportunities for Premier and Division One players who played this season to play in their grade championships. Be there before 7.00 pm to register.
Remember, the Wellington Open is coming up fast, scheduled for Sat/Sun 27 & 28 July. Register online.
The top players in the world will converge there for a week of the best table tennis play in the world. As well as competing this will be a massive experience for Lisa and we all wish her congratulations and best wishes on behalf of all table tennis players in Wellington & NZ.
“This is going to be the biggest World Table Tennis Championships ever in the history of Hungary. In numbers, it means that more than half a billion people will watch the games on TV worldwide. Around one hundred colleagues are working on the event right now to reach one goal: organise another great event with huge success in Hungary.” – Roland Nátrán, President of Hungarian Table Tennis Federation
If you happen to be passing through Hungary around that time get some tickets otherwise we can keep up to date with the results online!
You might know we have been running various junior training sessions and for Term 1 in particular is a new Thursdays beginner section from 7-8pm at Empire.
Please forward this to anyone you know who is or has a junior with a gap on Thursdays!
A small, but competitive group of players competed in the 2019 TTW Veterans Tournament. Only Over 40 and Over 50 events were held as insufficient entries were received in the over 60 and 70 age groups. Here are the results of the finals:
Over 40 Singles: Ben Collins bt. Lindsay Ward
Over 50 Singles Depak Patel bt. Lindsay Ward
Over 40 Doubles Ben Collins & Sabine Westenra bt. John Gan & Zhidong Yu
Over 50 Doubles Darrell Brown & Depak Patel bt. Lindsay Ward & Leigh Grinlinton
Congratulations to the Achievers (John Gan & Chris Talbot) winners of Division 1 and to the Fighters (Michael Stechman & Leigh Grinlinton) winners of Division 2! Thanks to everyone who competed – it was a hard fought competition for all the five action-packed weeks. Time for a wee break before the Autumn Open and winter interclub.
21 Men and 9 Women entered this tournament. There were singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. From overseas were Rohan Dhooria (AUS), Vicki Wu (FIJ), Wang Qi (FIJ) and Gary Nuopula (SOL) in the men’s competition. Also Jian Fang Lay (AUS), Parleen Kaur (AUS), Grace Yee (FIJ) and Loata Neli Duncan (FIJ) in the Women’s competition. This is one of a series of 6 Tournaments in Oceania.
The others are in Tonga (Nuku’alofa) 29-30 June, Australia (Gold Coast) 25-26 August, Fiji (Suva) 8-9 September, Tahiti (Papeete) 3-4 November and Vanuatu (Port Vila) 9-10 February 2019. The players, in the singles, earn points towards qualification to the 2019 Oceania Cup Tournament.
Joachim Kusche and Alan Moore were the Referees. There were 12 umpires, with only Ron Garrett (Southland) and Malcolm Wong (Wellington) not from Canterbury. They were International Umpires Alan Moore, Ron Garrett, Hamish Rennie and Malcolm Wong. National Umpires were Mimi Walle , Akiko Goto and Gregg Davey. The other umpires were Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg, Suniko Yoshioka, Ruhi Advilker, Ulrike Kusche and Steve Moore.
The schedule was light for the umpires. On the Saturday I umpired a mixed doubles match between Nathan Xu/Jiayi Zhou and Wang Qi/Loata Neli Duncan won by Xu/Zhou 3-0 (6, 7, 3,). Also the Women Singles Group A which was won by Jian Fang Lay, with Jiayi Zhou 2nd and Lisa Yue 3rd. Play finished at 4pm on Saturday.
On the Sunday I umpired the last 16 Men’s Singles match between Teng Teng Liu and Simon Fenwick won by Liu 4-0 (3, 6, 1, 2 ). Then the Women Singles Semi Finals between Jenny Hung and Jiayi Zhou won by Hung 4-1 (3, 7, 8, -9, 3 ). My last match was the Women Doubles (Last match in a round robin of 3 pairs) between Parleen Kaur/Jiayi Zhou and Zhiying Cheng/Lisa Yue won by Kaur/Zhou 3-1 (3, -3, 5, 13 ). Play finished at 4.45pm on Sunday.
Lisa Yue was the only player from Wellington. She was 3rd in her Women Singles group. She had another chance of qualifying as the 3 third place players in the groups were put into the Women Singles Stage 2 Qualification Group. Lisa won the group to qualify for the Quarter Finals where she lost to Jenny Hung 4-0 (3. 3, 3, 2 ). Lisa, with Zhiying Cheng, lost both her Women’s Doubles matches (Round Robin of 3 Teams). In the Mixed Doubles, Lisa with Kelsey Amor, reached the finals where they lost to Rohan Dhooria/Parleen Kaur 3-0 (6, 4, 8).
Other final results (below).
Men’s Singles
Teng Teng Liu (NZL) beat Rohan Dhooria (AUS)
4-1 (6, 5, -9, 5, 2)
Women Singles
Jian Fang Lay (AUS) beat Jenny Hung (NZL)
4-0 (2, 3, 8, 7 )
Men’s Doubles
Dean Shu/Nathan Xu (NZL) beat Rohan Dhooria (AUS)/ Paul Innnes (NZL)
3-2 (-4, 8, 8, -7, 10)
Women Doubles (Round Robin)
1st Paurleen Kaur (AUS)/Jiayi Zhou (NZL)
2nd Loata Neil Duncan/Sally Yee (FIJ)
-Malcolm Wong
Mixed Doubles presentation. Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman), Lisa Yue (WGN), Rohan Dhooria, Parleen Kaur, and Yi-Sien Lin (Tournament Director)
Standing: Gary William (TTNZ Chair), Malcolm Wong (Ump), Grant Wilson (Media and Broadcast Liason). Seated – Yi-Sien Lin (Tourn Dir) and Joachim Kusche (Tourn Ref).
The tournament was held for the first time in Australia in Bendigo, Victoria. It is a city of 95,587 population (June 2016). Bendigo was a former gold rush boom town (1850s). The tourist attractions include the Central Deborah Gold Mine and the Golden Dragon Museum which is dedicated to the history and culture of the Chinese people who immigrated to the region.
Bendigo is 91 minutes (135.3 km) away from Melbourne Airport. The venue was Bendigo Stadium and held on 8 tables with live streaming on Tables 1 and 2. There were 4 Referees and 35 Umpires (19 from Australia). Malcolm Wong was the sole New Zealand Umpire at the tournament. The umpires were provided with 4 short sleeve shirts and 2 long sleeve shirts, sponsored by Li-Ning (China).The umpires were accommodated in apartments at Quest Bendigo, as was the New Zealand Boys and Girls Teams. Unfortunately Quest Bendigo was miles away from anywhere. Malcolm was in an apartment with Jonathan Whitaker (Scotland) and Bruce Doughty (Australia). He had previously umpired with Jonathan at the 2009 Commonwealth Championships (Glasgow). Malcolm umpired mainly with Jonathan Whitaker (3 days) and Ben Cao (China) for 2 days. He also umpired with Rahul Jaiswal (India) and Mark Patane (Australia). There was air conditioning in the Stadium. Temperature outside reached 39 degrees Centigrade.
In team matches Malcolm umpired Australia v Singapore (Boys) won by Singapore 3-0 (Table 1) on 2 Dec. Also Belarus v Brazil (Girls) won by Brazil 3-2 (Table 6) on 3 Dec. And Poland v Singapore (Boys) won by Singapore 3-2 (Table 4) on 4 Dec. China won the Boys Team Final v Japan 3-0 and the Girls Final v Japan 3-1. See here for all results.
Malcolm umpired players from 20 countries. In the Boys Singles Quarter Finals he umpired Xu Haidong (China), the Boys Singles and Doubles winner. Also the Mixed Doubles Quarter Finals he umpired Xu Yingbin/Shi Xunyao (China) who would win the event. Shi was also the Girls Singles runner up and Girls Doubles winner. China won all 5 individual titles.
The umpiring schedule meant the lunch and tea breaks were often late. Malcolm had lunch once at 3.15pm and tea once at 9.10 pm. 8 days is a long time to be umpiring. Malcolm was also on racket control duty twice. Averil Roberts, formerly from Wellington, and now living in Melbourne (Australia), umpired the Junior Girls Doubles Final.
The NZ Girls Team finished 3rd out of 3 teams in Group 1. NZ lost to the Russian Federation 3-0 and to Belarus 3-1. Hui Ling Vong beat Marharyta Baltushite (BLR) 3-1 (11-9 13-11 7-11 11-6). For team positions 9 to 16 NZ lost to France 0-3. They then beat Australia 3-0 (team position 13 to 16) with Hui Ling Vong beating Parleen Kaur 3-1 (11-8 3-11 11-5 11-8). NZ finished 14th when they lost to Belarus 3-0 in the playoff for team position 13 to 14.
In the individual events Hui Ling Vong lost all 3 singles matches to finish 4th in Girls Singles Group 16. Her best match was against Anastasi Bondareva (Germany) who won 4-2 (11-8 8-11 11-9 12-10 6-11 11-9). In the Girls Doubles she and Jianyi Zhou lost 0-3 (9-11 5-11 4-11) to Jokic Tijana /Sabina Surjan (Serbia). In the Mixed Doubles with Nathan Xu, they beat Nikhill Kumar/Rachel Yang (USA) 3-2 (9-11 14-12 11-3 10-12 11-2) in the Round of 64 before losing to Guilherme Teodora/Bruna Takahashi (Brazil) 0-3 (7-11 7-11 5-11).
An after tournament function was held at the All Seasons Hotel (Bendigo) on the evening of Sunday Dec 9, which was attended by many officials, coaches and players.
Thanks to the Oceania Table Tennis Federation who organised the tournament. Also to the volunteers. I was meet at Melbourne Airport and directed to the mini bus that took me to Bendigo. There was a continental/cooked breakfast at the hotel. Lunch and tea was provide at Bendigo Stadium. There was a bus from the hotel to Bendigo Stadium every half hour from 7.40 am to 7.40 pm and from the Stadium to the hotel from 8.30 am to 8 pm.
It was a great experience to be at the World Junior Championships. Meeting new people and umpiring many exciting matches.
Standing (Back Row) Samuel Miller, Shaun Koh (SGP), Pak Hong Lee (HKG), Evgenii Klykovski (RUS), Klara Vaculovicova (CZE), Jan Vrabec (CZE), Bruce Doughty, Mark Patane, Kirsty Whitaker (SCO -Volunteer), Kameron Chan, Stephen Gillespie, William Almasi, Joseph Fung, John McMullan, Ahmad Almasri (JOR). Standing (Row 2) Tatiana Kamenskaya (RUS), Hau Yi Lau, Rahul Jaiswal (IND), Cyril Sen (MAS -Evaluator). Seated (Row 2) Ben Cao (CHN), Paul Schiltz (LUX – Evaluator) Neil Montfort, Malcolm Wong (NZL), Glenn Errington, Marie Pinkewich, David Villalta (ESA), Boggdan Barrientos (GUA), Insook Park (KOR), Mijung Bong (KOR), Wing Au. Seated (Front Row) James Lew, Jonathan Whitaker, Averil Roberts, David Delpratt (Deputy Referee), Steen Anderson (DEN – Referee), Niwat Semangern – (THA – Deputy Referee), Yini Yang (CHN – Deputy Referee), Yuka Braun, Arnold Puts, Jock McNeil, Satheese Attoor (IND). NB: Umpires (light blue Shirts), Referees (Dark Blue Shirts). Only country abbreviations for non Australians officials.
We hope you are enjoying your summer, it’s been a good one so far while most of us have the table tennis bats in storage and summer interclub is perhaps a month away from starting to get teams together (watch this space). Last year clubs were having end of season championships and results for your interest are below (will add to this as we gather more):
* Champ: Depak Patel, also Depak & Paul Brown are the doubles champions
Karori
* Champ: Mr Wong (not Malcolm) with runner-up D Robinson, in the doubles: champions Reg Feuz and Karn Tabernacle with runner-ups: Dave Robinson and Danny Yee.
Onslow
* Champ: M Hobbs with runner-up M Wong (see below) & doubles: M Hobbs & M Wong.
Waterloo & others (TBD!)
Also Malcolm Wong had submitted this report after the Onslow club champs:
2018 Onslow Club Championships
The Onslow Club Championships were held at the Ngaio Town Hall on Thursday nights (20 & 27 September and 4 October).
The Over 40 Singles (20 September) had 2 round robin groups of 4 won by Matthew Hobbs and Malcolm Wong. The group winners and runner ups qualified for the semi finals. In the Final Matthew Hobbs beat Malcolm Wong 3-0. Matthew had previously won 2010-2012.
The Men’s Doubles (4 October) was won by Matthew Hobbs/Malcolm Wong against Isagani (Inag) Alamani/ John Haswell 3-0. It was Malcolm’s 9th Men’s Doubles Title (2007-10 with John Gan and 2011-2013, 2015, 2018 with Matthew Hobbs) which equaled the record of John Warrington (1987-95). John had won with Robert Chung (1987-88) and Keith Aldersley (1989-95).
The Men’s Singles had 2 round robin groups of 4 (27 September) won by Matthew Hobbs and Malcolm Wong. The group winners and runner ups qualified for the semi finals (4 Oct). In the Final Matthew Hobbs beat Malcolm Wong 4-2. Matthew had previously won the Singles in 2012.
Dianne Taylor beat Pauline Northrup to win the Women Singles (4 Oct) 4-0 for the 29th time. She has also won the Women Doubles (15) and the Mixed Doubles (18). Unfortunately the Women Doubles were not held this year.
The Mixed Doubles (Oct 4) was won by Isagani (Inag) Alamani/ Dianne Taylor against John Haswell/ Pauline Northrup 3-2.
The club’s breakup was held on October 10. Thanks to Virgil Kan and his daughters, Michelle and Kimberly, who have been running the Junior Club and Club on Thursday night.
– Malcolm Wong
Onslow 2018 Men’s Doubles champions Malcolm Wong and Matthew Hobbs
Onslow 2018 Mixed Doubles Champions Isagani (Inag) Alamani and Dianne Taylor
Onslow 2018 Mixed Doubles runner up John Haswell and Pauline Northrup
This tournament first started in 2003 and has been played every year with the exception of 2017.
This year there were 18 competitors in the Open Singles.
Fiona Zhai (from China studying in Wellington) beat Yang Low 3-0 in one semi-final. Yang had beaten Dave Cheung 3-1 in his quarterfinal.
Rob Chung beat Min Su 3-1 sets in the other semi-final. In their quarterfinals, Min Su had a very close 3-2 sets win against Martin Young and Rob beat Zhidong Yu 3-1.
In the final, Rob upset Fiona in a close match 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9).
In a playoff for 3rd/4th, Yang beat Min 3-0 .
There were 4 women in the Womens singles – Fiona Zhai, Xiaoping Lu, Qing Lan Feng, and Ling Wang. A round robin was played with Fiona comfortably winning. Qing Lan Feng came 2nd with 2 wins and Ling Wang was 3rd with 1 win.
Thanks to Stephen Wang, Chairperson of the Wellington New Chinese Friendship Association and Min/Rob/Martin for running the tournament on the day!
Wellington were represented by a Men’s Team, Women’s Team, Under 15 Girls Team and a Under 13 Boys Team at the tournament held at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre in Tauranga. Sean Hanson was the main junior coach supported by Martyn Barry, Tim Wilson (ITTF Level 1 Coach) and James Wang (ITTF Level 1 Coach).
Table Tennis Wellington President, Malcolm Wong (International Umpire, National Referee, ITTF Level 1 Coach), was one of two Referees at the tournament and he was there for the whole 8 days of the tournament. This is the fourth time the tournament has been held in Tauranga (previously in 1970, 1973 and 1976). There were 18 tables with a canteen run by Nomad Food and Wine from 10am to 6pm.
Under 15 Girls Team
The Under 15 Girls Team (Mei Mun Teh, Erin Huang, Anna Wilson) easily won all their 4 matches, in a round robin, to win the Grade. They all have another year in the Under 15 grade and will be able to defend their title next year. Their result summary:
v Waitemata 5-2
v Canterbury 5-2
v Otago 6-1
v Hawke’s Bay 7-0
SinglesMei Mun Teh 7/8 Anna Wilson 7/8 Erin Huang 5/8
Yashka Rabichand (Wellington) was a draft player for the Southland Girls Under 18 Team which finished 3rd. She won 4 out of her 8 singles. Yashka has another year in the Under 15 grade.
Under 13 Boys Team
The Under 13 Boys (Yufeng Wang, Aaron Lan, Tom Christie, Ben Riddell) were second in group 1B and qualified for the Semi-Finals where they lost to Auckland. In the playoff for third/fourth place against Canterbury they reversed the result of their group clash and won 4-3 with Tom Christie winning the deciding match against Jayden Ralston 3-0 (11-9 11-8 12-10). This is Tom and Ben’s last year in the Under 13’s while Yufeng and Aaron have two more years. Their result summary:
Group 1B v Canterbury 2-5
Group 1B v Auckland B 5-2
Group 1B v Waitako 6-1
Semi-Finals v Auckland 0-4
3/4 playoff v Canterbury 4-3
SinglesYufeng Wang 6/8, Aaran Lan 4/8, Tom Christie 3/7, Ben Riddle 1/4
Yufeng Wang was runner up in the Under 11 Boy’s Singles won by Timothy Choi (Auckland) 3-0 (11-9 11-2 11-3) and the Under 11 Boy’s Doubles (with Aaron Lan) won by Allen Zhu/Timothy Choi (Auckland) 3-1 (11-4 10-12 11-7 11-7).
The Junior Individuals needed an extra day as they finished at 9.30 pm (8 Oct) and 10.20pm (9 Oct). This is far too late for juniors to be still playing.
Women’s Team
The Women’s Team (Ye Zhai, Lisa Yue, Manon Soury-Lavergne (Draft – NCL)) won their grading match against Waitako 4-3 to qualify for the A Grade where they finished 4th.
v Canterbury 1-6
v Auckland 1-6
v Southland 4-3
v North Shore 1-4
SinglesYe Zhai 7/9 Lisa Yue 2/10 Manon Soury-Lavergne 0/9
DoublesYue/Zhai 2/5
The Team found the going tough in A Grade with Ye Zhai still winning 5 Singles. Lisa Yue’s singles and double win (with Ye Zhai) in the grading match against Waitako and in the A Grade match against Southland ensured Wellington two wins.
Ye Zhai (6th seed) beat 2nd seed Jenny Hung (Canterbury) in the quarter finals of Women Singles 4-1 (8-11 11-7 11-6 11-8 11-8) and reached the final where she lost to the top seed Tianyi Li (Auckland) 4-0 (11-6 11-4 11-8 11-4). Tianyi Li won the Women Singles for the 5th year in a row. Ye Zhai/Lisa Yue were semi finalist in the Women Doubles losing to Jenny Hung/Avon Liu (Canterbury) 3-0 (11-2 12-10 11-3).
Men’s Team
The Men’s Team (James Harter, Yang Low, Paul Solt) placed 2nd in 2B Grade. Paul Solt won a crucial match against Simon Luo (Auckland Senior Men Red) 3-2 (4-11 9-11 11-9 11-8 11-3). Yang Low had three 2-3 losses. James Harter was in impressive form winning 9 out of his 10 singles which kept the team in contention in all their matches.
They lost in the semi finals to Waitemata 2 and in the 3/4 playoff to Nelson. Against Nelson two close matches went to Nelson making the difference.
Group 2B v Auckland Senior Men Red 4-3
Group 2B v Otago 4-3
Group 2B v Manawatu 2 3-4
Semi-Final v Waitemata 2 2-4
3/4 playoff v Nelson 3-4
SinglesJames Harter 9/10 Yang Low 4/6 Paul Solt 1/9
DoublesHarter/Low 2/5
Yang Low was a semi finalist in the Men’s B Grade Singles. He beat the C Grade Men’s Singles winner, Jack Chen (Auckland) in the Quarter Finals 3-2 (11-5 8-11 11-8 10-12 13-11) before losing to Mark Page (Waitako) 3-0 (11-4 11-4 14-12). Yang won the C Grade Men’s Doubles with Jimmy Caunter (Waitako) against David Jarvis (Bay of Plenty)/Paul Kyle (Waitako) 3-0 (11-5 11-5 13-11). Low and Caunter had previously won the NZ D Grade Men’s Doubles in 2015.
There was a lack of qualified umpires to umpire in the afternoon final session. The players who made themselves available to umpire were of a good standard. Paul Solt umpired the Men’s Singles Final.
Thanks to all the officials who ran the tournament. John Lea (Tournament Director), Paul Henderson (Deputy Tournament Director), Ron Garrett (Tournament Referee – Juniors), Malcolm Wong (Tournament Referee – Seniors), Grant Wilson (Media & Broadcast Liaison), Matthew Hetherington (Media & Promotion), Christine Young (Tournament Controller) and Jessica Macaskill (Tournament Controller).
A social dinner was held at the nearby Daniels in the Park on the last night and the TTNZ Annual Awards were announced.
-Malcolm Wong
Under 15 Girls Team medal presentation
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg, Vanessa Wood-lin, Aarya Advilkar (Canterbury – Silver), Anna Wilson, Erin Huang, Mei Mun Teh (Wellington – Gold)
Under 13 Boys Team medal presentation
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Ben Riddell, Aaran Lan, Tom Christie, Yufeng Wang (Wellington – Bronze), Keanu King, Robert Zhung, Alex Liu Cao, Leo Mamedov, Timothy Choi (Auckland – Gold), Ingamar Siegruhn, Andrei Casareo, Finn Brown, (Southland – Silver).
New Zealand Women’s Singles
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman), Ye Zhai, Tianyi Li (A), Jin (Kim) Wang (A), Liting Guo (NL)
New Zealand Women Doubles
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Avon Liu & Jenny Hung (C), Jin (Kim) Wang & Tianyi Li (A),
Lisa Yue & Ye Zhai.
NZ C Grade Men’s Doubles Champions Yang Low and Jimmy Caunter (WK)
NZ B Grade Men’s Singles
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Mark Page (WK), Jun Tamaura (A), Jessie Wilson (C), Yang Low
Yufeng Wang (Silver Medal – Under 11 Boys Singles and Doubles) and Aaran Lan (Silver Medal – Under 11 Boys Doubles)
