Congratulations to Yufeng Wang from all of us, he was selected by TTNZ to represent New Zealand at the 2022 ITTF-Oceania Youth Championships! This event will be held in Melbourne Sep 5-10, be sure to give him a pat on the back next time you see him.
Matthew Ball (top seed) gold in the open men’s singles 
James Harter (second seed) silver in the open men’s singles 
Open women’s doubles winners Ye Zhai & Lisa Yue 
Open women’s doubles runners-up: Erin Huang & Mei Mun Teh 
Open women’s singles: Ye Zhai (gold) & Sunny Low (silver) 
Open women’s doubles: Erin Huang & Mei Mun Teh (silver); and Ye Zhai & Lisa Yue (gold) 
O30 combined doubles final (won by Matt Ball/Callum Rusbridge, foreground) 
Paul Solt presenting best junior umpire award to Archit Nanda 
Paul Solt with Zoe Mildenhall, U13 girl’s doubles (with Ruby Wei-Solt) 
U15 girl’s singles Shuhan Cao (Silver) & Heidi Liao (gold) 
U13 girl’s singles Shuhan Cao (gold) & Zoe Mildenhall (silver) 
U13 boy’s singles Jarom Erueti (silver) & Lucas Yang (gold) 
U13 boy’s doubles winners Savion Polyblank & Ben Kimber 
U13 boys group pic 
Lucas in full concentration 
Vets group play on Sunday 
A comedy troupe stopped by 
Matthew Ball gold in the over 30s (David Buckrell got silver)
Check out the TTNZ photo album
Thanks to all who attended and congratulations to all including all the new titleholders listed below (see here for full result details)
Continue reading “New World 2022 Wellington Open July 30-31”
At the Empire hall from 7:10pm Tuesdays August 2nd / Wednesdays August 3rd (eight weeks until September 20/21) – same week days and same formats as Series 1.
Draw & Current Results
Congratulations to the winning teams:
Premier 1: Empire Eagles – Mohsen Kafi & Manish Ahlawat
Premier 2: Karori/Waterloo – Sabine Westenra & Sai Murali
Division 1: Attack on Titan – Danny Eyre, Meena Chang, & Erin Huang, & Vignesh Sivapragasam
Recently, the first of the Junior Development Tournaments for 2022 was held at the Empire Stadium. Numbers were reasonable and the standard of all players who entered was good. There were some very interesting matches played and all players would have benefited from their matches and the experience of playing in a tournament.
The winners and runners up were as follows:
| Winner | Runner Up | |
| Under 13 Boys Singles | Savion Polyblank | Ben Kimber |
| Under 13 Girls Singles | Zoe Mildenhall | Brooke Martin |
| Under 13 Doubles | Ben Kimber & Savion Polyblank | Joel Bennett & Ashwyn Thakur |
| Under 15 Singles | Archit Nanda | Dallas Martin |
| Under 15 Doubles | Aadi Madhavan & Archit Nanda | Jacob Andrews & Alex Thorn |
| Under 17 Boys Singles | Archit Nanda | Ryley Chin |
| Under 17 Girls Singles | Holly Robins | Li-Yin Lin |
| Under 17 Boys Plate | Dallas Martin | Jacob Andrews |
| Under 17 Doubles | Aadi Madhavan & Archit Nanda | Ryley Chin & Kieran Robinson |
Thanks to all the participating players, their family supporters plus Rob Chung, Maggie Dyer and Paul Solt for their assistance. Special thanks go to Bruce Northover for the preparation of some high class certificates which were much appreciated by the recipients.
Starts @ Empire from 7:10pm Tuesdays May 17 / Wednesdays May 18 (eight weeks).
Draws & Final Results – Series 1
Teams
Structure
Premier grades (Premier 1, Premier 2) on Tuesdays
* 2-player teams (2 x singles best of 7 & a doubles best of 5)
Division 1 grade on Wednesdays
* 3-player teams (9 singles & 2 doubles matches – as usual)
Division 2 grade on Tuesdays
* 3-player teams (9 singles & 2 doubles matches – as usual)
Teams are entered only from clubs – reach out to your club contact to be included.
Partial teams may be entered and we will endeavour to form composite teams. Extra players may be entered for a team but only two (for Premier grades) or three (for Division 1 & 2 grades) may play for that team on any specific evening.
We will seed teams and limit the number of teams per grade to eight but each team may request a preferred highest grade.
Each grade will include a round robin with every team playing every other team.
Replacement players can be sourced from a lower grade or as approved by the interclub committee. E.g. a Premier 2 player can fill in for a Premier 1 team (with another lower grade player filling in for the Premier 2 player’s team).
If a player is deemed to be of a certain standard through being named in a particular grade (and confirmed by the interclub committee at the time of naming teams in Grades), then that player can play any number of fixtures for a higher grade while still continuing to play in the lower grade. However players can fill in for higher grades in only one team during the series.
Entries close Wednesday 11 May. Late entries accepted only to fill byes in grades.
Note: treat this Series 1 as a distinct competition. There will be a Series 2 (anticipated for after mid-year) however the format for Series 2 is TBD by the TTW interclub committee. Teams would be re-entered for Series 2 & may be seeded & graded differently than Series 1 effectively this may mean some promotion/relegation vs. Series 1 (with or without playoff TBD).
The usual Code of Conduct will apply.
Update: the list of all winners & placings are below or click here, congratulations!
For more detail, the individual matches
For full details head over to Tournament Planner.
TTNZ is pleased to announce that Averil Roberts has been selected as an International Umpire to officiate at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August.
Check out the article @ TTNZ, congratulations Averil!
Summer Interclub
Summer Interclub is now complete! Final results below. Also for the Vets on Saturday April 2 click below for the detail.
Continue reading “2022 Summer Interclub & Wellington Vets”Sad news with Malcolm Wong passing away on Tuesday (7/12/2021). Malcolm had lots of friends in the table tennis community here in Wellington but also all over New Zealand as well as overseas with official umpiring at international events such as the 2018 World Juniors, 2017 World Masters Games, 2014 World Vets, Commonwealth Table Tennis Champs (Glasgow) in 2009. Malcolm loved to travel around New Zealand both to play as umpire and having a keen interest in table tennis history was a prolific writer for our player profiles and travel reports here.
Malcolm has been the president of Table Tennis Wellington since 2017 and has been active in many capacities and for multiple clubs over the years with Te Rama his home base.
Malcolm will have a private funeral in Wellington followed by a public funeral in Auckland.
We’ll all miss you Malcolm.
also see TTNZ on Malcolm in Facebook
After an intriguing final night, Manish Ahlawat finished the four week competition on top, thus retaining the title he won last year. Sabine Westenra had a strong last night coming from five points behind to pip Ian Talbot for second place by one point.
Thanks are extended to all those who played in this competition, along with all the other tournaments and competitions that were held in 2021.
Continue reading “November Competition & Central Region Teams Tournament”
NZ Junior Teams (Under 18 and Under 14 Boys and Girls) were held for the first time at the 1978 NZ Championships held at the Centennial Hall, Napier (24-25 August).
The Hutt Valley Under 18 Boys Team was Simon Edmonds, John Taylor, Trevor Cullen and Tony Hawes. Simon was from the Silverstream Club, and the others from the Waterloo Club. Alan Costley was the Manager and Neil Addis and Keith Barnes were the coaches for the Hutt Valley Junior Teams.
From 1966-77 the NZ Junior Teams tournament was held on a regional basis, with the regional winners playing off in a final. The first winners in 1966 was Hutt Valley (Boys) and Otago (Girls).
Wellington boys were runner ups in 1975 and won the NZ Junior Teams 1976 and 1977. In the 1975 final Wellington (Lloyd Richards, Malcolm Elley, David Williment) beat Franklin 10-1, Hamilton 11-0 and lost to Canterbury (Stuart Armstrong, Alister Amstrong, Henry Redmond) 3-8. In the 1976 final held at the Empire Club, Petone (7 August), Wellington (Lloyd Richards, David Williment, Malcolm Elley, Richard Williment) beat Manawatu 8-3, Auckland 6-5 and Canterbury 6-5. In 1977 Wellington (David Williment, Richard Williment, Lloyd Richards, Grant Taylor) retained the title, at the Empire Club (6 August) by beating in the final, Auckland 9-2, Wanganui 9-2 and Canterbury 6-5.
The final was on Friday evening, 25 August.
Hutt Valley raced to a 4-0 lead. In the first match Trevor Cullen upset Malcolm Temperley 14-21 21-17 21-11. John Taylor continued by beating Barry Griffiths 21-17 22-20. Then Simon Edmonds beat Don Tate 21-19 21-16. In the first Doubles Edmonds/Taylor beat Temperley /Tate 14-21 21-14 21-12.
Malcolm Temperley started the Auckland comeback by beating John Taylor 21-14 18-21 21-16. Then Don Tate beat Trevor Cullen 21-16 14-21 21-19. And Barry Griffths beat Simon Edmonds 21-14 24-22. In the second doubles Temperley/Griffths won the first game 21-5 and lead 19-15 in the second game. It seem that the match would be tied up at 4-4. However Cullen/Taylor recoverd to win 21-19 and then won the third 21-10 to give Hutt Valley a 5-3 lead. John Taylor then beat Don Tate 21-10 21-16 for Hutt Valley to win the 1978 NZ Under 18 Boys teams 6-3.
Thanks for the information in the Auckland Table Tennis Magazine, Vol 17 no 6 (18 September 1978 p4-5 , the Canterbury Table Tennis Association Magazine (21 up) Vol 5 no 7) October 1978 p10-13, TTNZ website (Titleholders and Chronicles), TTNZ Annual Reports, Alan Costley and the 1975-78 Wellington Table Tennis Association Annual Report.
– Malcolm Wong
Continue reading “History: 1978 Hutt Valley Under 18 Boys Team wins NZ Under 18 Teams”
Player Profile by Malcolm Wong
Adrian was born in 1948 in Wellington and started table tennis age 16 at the Kilbirnie RSA. As a right handed counter attacking player Adrian was very determined and very colourful, talking a lot during his games which often attracted a large crowd at tournaments, sometimes even breaking his bat after losing a match.
Adrian had a number of pet sayings that he would often shout out during his table tennis/tennis matches. These shouts often amused his opponents and spectators but they were often mystified as to their relevance to the match they were playing. One of his most regular shouts was “The Luck of the Irish!”, often shouted if his opponent had pulled off a lucky shot such as the ball clipping the table edge or hitting the net cord and dropping dead. However Adrian often also shouted the same if he won a point with a lucky shot.
Another was “Tuck it away Barrie”. His contemporaries think he heard well known Hutt Valley Tennis player Barrie Shute say that when he was not happy with his smash of a lob ball. Adrian adopted it and would often shout it if he missed a ball he thought he was going to hit for a winner or when he had it a winner and was showing self approval of the shout. Players on adjacent courts would sometimes mimic him so occasionally there might be players on different courts all bellowing “Tuck it away Barrie” for no obvious reason. It certainly made interclub entertaining.
Adrian and Brian Kennedy used to train several times a week as well as playing A Grade interclub on Tuesday nights. Adrian and Brian adopted the regular practice of arriving at 6:30pm for 7pm interclub start. So they would hit up for 20 minutes or so, then change their shirts and put on their tracksuits so they would not cool down. When their opposition arrived they would get them to the table promptly for the allowed 2 minute hit up and then start the match. They often raced away to a big first set lead because their opponents were still cold. Surprisingly it was rare for other players to arrive early and have a decent hit up before starting interclub. In 1974 Adrian lost only 1 singles in interclub.
Miramar Tennis Team which won the inaugural Wellington/Hutt Valley Senior A Grade Interclub Title 
1970 Adrian Lust 
playing in the Wellington Championships
1973 NZ Senior training squad L/R back: Barbara Taylor, James Morris, Bain Attwood, Gary Murphy, Alan Tomlinson, Maurice Burrowes, Cathy Tadema, Adrian Lust. front: Jan Morris, Kerry Palmer, Yvonne Fogarty, Trevor Flint (Director), Neti Traill, Thelma May, Kathy Fraser
Enter or come along to watch the upcoming North Island Championships from Friday to Sunday, 16-18 July at the Empire Stadium (Marine Parade, Petone).
For photos and other updates visit TTW Facebook.
The Autumn Open was held on 1&2 May with a very good turnout of local players, plus a good number of quality players from other Associations. Competition was keen across all events with a number of upset results. Mention should be made of many junior players new to tournaments, all of whom performed to a good standard.
Singles results were as follows:
| Winner | Runner Up | |
| Men’s Open Singles | Matthew Ball | Alex Zhou |
| Women’s Open Singles | Sunny Low | Sabine Westenra |
| Men’s B Grade | Jack Webb | Yang Low |
| Men’s C Grade | Ian Talbot | Scott Higham |
| Men’s D Grade | Michael Stechman | James Catto |
| Over 25 | Matthew Ball | David Buckrell |
| Over 35 | Callum Rusbridge | Darrell Brown |
| Over 45 | David Buckrell | Depak Patel |
| Over 55 | Sabine Westenra | Martin Young |
| Under 21 | Alex Zhou | Max Henderson |
| Under 18 Boys | Zachary Wang | Hugo Yick |
| Under 21 Girls | Mei Mun Teh | Yashka Rabichand |
| Under 16 | Yufeng Wang | Akshay Aneesh |
| Under 14 | Akshay Aneesh | Yufeng Wang |
| Under 12 | Lucas Yang | Adam Andrew |
The Summer Interclub 2021 competition has finished with some close playoff matches. See attached tables for the full Series results.
In Division One, HYJW (Hugo Yick and Jack Webb) reversed the round robin defeat by the same score when they beat Empire Tigers (Manish Ahlawat and Robert Dias) 3-2 in a sudden death, one set doubles match. The two teams had been at the top of the grade all series and fought hard for the title. Division One had many close matches during the series with nearly a third of fixtures finishing with the one set doubles tie breaker.
In Division Two, LJMS (Liam Johnston and Michael Stechman) held off Daleks (Peter Bloor and Josh Brown 3-1 to take the title. The standard was a bit wider in this division, but there were still plenty of good players to give the leading teams some challengers.
Thanks to all players for their participation. Next Interclub will be the first Series of Winter Interclub commencing in May. In the meantime, we have the Autumn Open happening on 1&2 May. Make sure you enter!
Continue reading “2021 Summer Competition”RESULTS
The Wellington Veterans Tournament was held with a good attendance of regulars, enhanced by new faces from Upper Hutt and even Dunedin. Over half of the players competed in two age groups, making it a busy day on the tables. Thanks to all who participated and best wishes to those travelling to Christchurch for the NZ Veterans Championships.
| Winner/s | Runner/s Up | |
| Over 40 Singles | Depak Patel | John Gan |
| Over 40 Consolation | Darrell Brown | Zhidong Yu |
| Over 40Doubles | Depak Patel & Zhidong Yu | Darrell Brown & Heath Murdoch |
| Over 50 Singles | Lindsay Ward | Ian Talbot |
| Over 50 Consolation | Bryan McConnochie | Zhidong Yu |
| Over 50 Doubles | Darrell Brown & Heath Murdoch | Depak Patel & Zhidong Yu |
| Over 60 Singles | Lindsay Ward | Ian Talbot |
| Over 60 Consolation | Peter Bloor | Leigh Grinlinton |
| Over 60 Doubles | Peter Bloor & Martin Young | Bryan McConnochie & Ian Talbot |
| Over 70 Singles | David Morris | Averil Roberts |
| Over 70 Doubles | Geoff Brown & David Morris | Averil Roberts & Rod Weston |
Hutt Valley win 1975 NZ Men’s Table Tennis Teams A Grade (24-26 August)
| Place | Team | Wins | Lost | Matches won |
| 1 | Hutt Valley | 4 | 1 | 29 |
| 2 | Franklin | 4 | 1 | 27 |
| 3 | Auckland | 3 | 2 | 28 |
| 4 | Northland | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| 5 | Wellington | 1 | 4 | 19 |
| 6 | Catnterbury | 1 | 4 | 18 |
Hutt Valley
v Auckland lost 3-8
v Northland won 6-5
v Canterbury won 8-3
v Franklin won 6-2
v Wellington won 6-5
| Singles | Played | Wins | Losses |
| Gary Murphy | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| Terry Murphy | 13 | 5 | 8 |
| Murray Borlase | 12 | 3 | 9 |
| Hone Ridley | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Pat Low | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Doubles | Played | Wins | Losses |
| G Murphy / T Murphy | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| G Murphy / M Borlase | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| G Murphy / H Ridley | 1 | 1 | 0 |
The 1975 Hutt Valley Men’s Team won the NZ Men’s A Grade (Kean Shield) in Christchurch (24-26 August). They were tied with Franklin (4 wins) but as Hutt Valley had beaten Franklin they won the title.
Continue reading “Blast from the Past – Hutt Valley win 1975 NZ Men’s Table Tennis Teams A Grade!”
Table Tennis Wellington 