New Titan Club Champion: Ian TalbotIan Talbot won his first Titan Club Singles Title when he beat the defending champion Lindsay Ward in the final 4-3 (2-11 9-11 13-11 8-11 11-8 11-7 11-8) After being down 1-3 Ian became more relaxed and adopted a more aggressive approach as he sensed that Lindsay’s attack was waning. Ian’s previous best result was runner up to Depak Patel in 2007. Ian has won the Titan Doubles on 4 occasions (2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007) and the Over 40 Singles twice (2004 & 2006).
Ian had been a leading Wellington junior and he won the Wellington Primary Schools Boy’s Singles (1966), the Wellington Secondary Schools Junior Boy’s Singles (1967) and the Hutt Valley Open Under 18 Boy’s Singles (1971). He stopped playing in 1975 and did not resume playing again until 1995. Recent successes include winning the Wellington Open Over 40 Singles the last 2 years.
In the Club Doubles Depak Patel/Elias Villanueva beat Keith Aldersley/Paul Brown 3-1 Lindsay Ward retained his Over 40 Singles when he beat Bryan McConnochie 4-3 (11-9 9-11 9-11 11-9 9-11 12-10 11-5). Bryan held 2 match points at 10-8 in the 6th game when Lindsay called a time out. Lindsay then slowed the game down and won the next 4 points to take the game and then ran away with the 7th game to take the match. Jack Blackmore won the Over 80 Singles beating Norman Bishop 3-1 (12-10 11-6 7-11 11-5).
Ian Talbot, Lindsay Ward, Depak Patel and Malcolm Wong – all Titan Club Singles Champions
The Titan Club Championships were only started in 1994. Lindsay Ward has won the most singles (7). Ian Talbot and Malcolm Wong share the most doubles wins (4). The Club Singles and Doubles winner are listed below:
Singles Doubles
1994 Nha Nguyen Not held
1995 Malcolm Wong Win Nguyen & Jake Yang
1996 Nha Nguyen Danny Lam & Jake Yang
1997 Nha Nguyen Matthew Hobbs & Malcolm Wong
1998 Win Nguyen Malcolm Wong & William Yang
1999 Win Nguyen Malcolm Wong & William Yang
2000 Win Nguyen Nha Nguyen & Win Nguyen
2001 Lindsay Ward Malcolm Wong & William Yang
2002 Lindsay Ward Philip McConnochie & Jens Schuering
2003 Catherine Zhou Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2004 Lindsay Ward Bryan McConnochie & Ian Talbot
2005 Lindsay Ward Robert Chung & Bryan McConnochie
2006 Lindsay Ward Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2007 Depak Patel Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2008 Depak Patel Nha Nguyen & Lindsay Ward
2009 Lindsay Ward Depak Patel & Raewyn Young
2010 Lindsay Ward Nha Nguyen & Lindsay Ward
2011 Ian Talbot Depak Patel & Elias Villanueva
Hmmm, I need to remember to bring the camera next time to make this a more interesting posting!
On that front, I have a couple more posts from Malcolm in my inbox – one a Titan club champs report and the other yet another great player profile – coming soon, stay tuned.
Also the Empire club dinner was on Saturday and awards were announced and presented, when the newsletter comes out I’ll crosspost here.
Forward to me any end of year results from your club and pictures too if you have any would be great: secretary [at] ttwellington.org.nz
On the TTNZ site the 2011 Rankings are available, click here. The (W)’s in there are:
OPEN MEN
8. Thom Nguyen
OPEN WOMEN
7. Sabine Westenra
U18
3. Thom Nguyen
U15 Girls
9. Angela Chapman
Congratulations to Thom, Sabine, & Angela!
Summer Composite Round 1 had a few upsets on the night which augers well for an interesting series! The pdf with the team & individual stats is here: 2011 Composite Interclub 1109-Rd 1
As an overview on what table tennis is on and when during the summer period here is some information. (If you have any info to add please comment or let me know.)
Summer Interclub
Summer interclub (team competition, a bit more casual than the main winter interclub season) is broken into two distinct (unrelated) phases, first the Composite Interclub (see here and here). Second the ‘pre-season’ (late summer) summer interclub round with a format to be determined. For more details watch this blog or keep in contact through your club.
Your club
Some clubs remain open with a small break, others close for a summer break. Consider visiting a different club every now and again – chances are you’ll play people you’ve never played before.
Waterloo: starts again early March (probably the first week).
Onslow: starts again late March.
Tawa: Porirua East School, 8 Martin Street, Porirua East (turn right to hall prior to parking area). Operates from 7pm each Wednesday night April to October.
Titan: open through the summer except for 4 weeks off from mid December. Key hire for the Newtown stadium is available too, contact Table Tennis Wellington.
Belmont: running until the 25th of November and is starting up again in the middle of March.
Karori: finishes November 21, starting again late February or early March, to be determined.
Empire: The the last Monday night is Dec 12, the last midweek – Tuesday Dec 20 then opening casually from Jan 17 (officially Feb 2), and the last Junior club is Friday Nov 11. Opening dates for Mondays & Fridays to be determined.
Moonshine & Victoria University: – refer to club contact information here.
For more details or for other clubs refer to the club contact information here.
Exercise
Summer is a good time to start and get into a regular fitness pattern, if you find one that fits your schedule and you can enjoy it, then you’ll be more likely to keep it up through the whole year (um, this is do as I say, not as I do). I remember talking to a veteran player who noted that he would tend to win more often as the winter wore on, as other people got less fit! A fair-weather runner like myself will be one of his easy victims come Composite Interclub…
Elite squad coach Stephen Hirst recommends: “… it is always good in the off season to build your base fitness, i.e. lots and lots of cardio, skipping, running running and more running. As you get about 2 months out before the season starts I liked to taper off the running and start to replace that with more speed work like shuttle runs between two cones 20 metres apart. Start introducing more strength stuff with weights like squats for your quads. My favourite was jumping over a wooden bench traditionally found in schools 3 x 1 minute, it really kills you but gets you very explosive for the start of the season. Also continue this exercise throughout the season… This is all I used to do and can highly recommend it.”
My tip: paint the fence – if it worked for The Karate Kid it will work for you.
At least get out there and mow the lawn…
Helping
There are probably a hundred unpaid volunteers of some kind that help run and facilitate table tennis in the Wellington region. If you’re not already one of this bunch, think of something you enjoy doing that could contribute in any way. Put your name forward!
There is probably a table tennis table at one of your friend’s houses – go there and play and give them a lesson. Nothing will give you more pleasure. Just don’t forget to bring your own bat otherwise you’ll be battling to a 15-all deuce in the 3rd set against their 11 year old son because trying to topspin using their pimple-out no-sponge half-torn up left-in-the-sun fly-swatter only leaves you looping directly into the carpet at your feet.
The ulterior motive is that you could have some more people to bring along to your club. Lend them your real bat or a spare and open their eyes to what it is all about.
Summer project?
You might not have space for a table-tennis table in your own house but…
make a mini table tennis table… then become the best in the world.
Teams and schedule (SECTION 1 NOW UPDATED)… if you did not enter in a team but would like to be available as a reserve please let Bruce know.
REMINDER for those used to the Tuesday winter interclub grades… this is for WEDNESDAYS (7pm) at Empire!
2011 COMPOSITE INTERCLUB – DIVISION ONE
TEAMS
1 Tigers Bryan McConnochie, Elias Villanueva, Ben Westenra
2 Jaguars Phillip McConnochie, Harry Chen, Russell Buchanan
3 Lions Sabine Westenra, Martin Young, Jeremy Evans
4 Cougars Chris Talbot, Paul Griffin, Brendyn Shaw
5 Cheetahs Ian Talbot, Paul Brown, Craig Gear
6 Leopards John Gan, Tony Rutledge/Paul Solt, Matthew Hobbs
DRAW
Round 1 9 Nov
Tigers v Leopards
Jaguars v Cheetahs
Lions v Cougars
Round 2 16 Nov
Tigers v Cheetahs
Jaguars v Lions
Cougars v Leopards
Round 3 23 Nov
Tigers v Cougars
Jaguars v Leopards
Lions v Cheetahs
Round 4 30 Nov
Tigers v Lions
Jaguars v Cougars
Cheetahs v Leopards
Round 5 7 Dec
Tigers v Jaguars
Lions v Leopards
Cougars v Cheetahs
2011 COMPOSITE INTERCLUB – DIVISION TWO
TEAMS
1 Servals Graham Sole, Jacob Gates, Lucas Westenra/Ian Thomas
2 Bobcats Gareth Telfer, Rod Weston, Hui-Ling Vong
3 Ocelots Adam Slocombe, Chris Sutton, Chun-Kiet Vong
4 Caracals Mats Olsthoorn, Vladimir Vysotskiy, Reuben Reid
DRAW
Round 1 9 Nov
Servals v Caracals
Bobcats v Ocelots
Round 2 16 Nov
Servals v Ocelots
Bobcats v Caracals
Round 3 23 Nov
Servals v Bobcats
Ocelots v Caracals
Round 4 30 Nov & Round 5 7 Dec - to be confirmed
FORMAT:
Round robin only – NO playoffs
Points: 2 for any win, 0 for any loss. You can lose points for disciplinary reasons as per 2011 Code of Conduct.
Table Tennis Wellington 