Malcolm Wong has a lot of old records and sent in a story about the interclub grade he was involved in 1993, 20 years ago (pre-merger with Hutt Valley so it is only the Wellington teams). For those of you who have been around long enough some of the names will be recognisable and many are still playing today!
Blast from the Past
1993 Wellington A Reserve Grade remembered.
There were ten teams representing seven clubs, with Titan providing three teams. After the first round the top six teams qualified for Divison 1 and the bottom four teams for Division 2. Team results, and individual averages attached.
The first round was won by Onslow A (22 points) ahead of Karori (20) and Te Rama (19). The Onslow A team were all juniors. Their top player was Jamie Lennox, who had won the NZ under 13 Boys Doubles (1992). He would be selected for the New Zealand under 17 Boys Team (1995-96). Jonathan Armstrong was to win the NZ Under 21 Men’s Doubles (1996). Andrew Wiggins was the Wellington Secondary School’s Boys Singles winner that year.
Karori had the veteran, Ken Hindson, and two juniors, Simon Reed and Mark Jurgeleit. Ken had won the Te Rama Club Singles (1989) and would be in the Te Rama Team (with Matthew Hobbs and Malcolm Wong) that would win Division 2 at the Manawatu Teams Tournament (1996). Simon would be later involved in coaching Wellington Junior teams (1998-2001) and was the Manager/Coach of the Wellington Under 19 Boys Team that won the NZ Under 19 Boys Teams Title (2000) beating Canterbury 5-4 in the final.
Te Rama had an experienced team. Malcolm Wong and Martin Young were in the Te Rama Team had won the A Reserve Grade (1991) with David Robinson. Malcolm was in the Te Rama Team that won the C Grade (1986) and B Grade (1989). He has won 9 Te Rama Club Singles and also the Titan Club Singles (1995). Martin was in the Ling Tse Team that won the C2 Grade (1987) and C Grade (1988). He has won 15 Te Rama Club Singles. Brian Neale had played A Grade for Victoria University and Newlands. He was in the Newlands Team that won the A Reserve Grade (1971,1986 & 1989). He has won 10 Newlands Club Singles.Brian was in the Victoria University Team that won the NZ University Teams Tournament (1963) and he was runner up in the Men’s Singles.
Another good junior was Graeme Windley (Onslow B) who played mainly B Grade that year. He was NZ Under 17 Boys Singles runner up (1995) and won the NZ Under 19 Boys Doubles (1996) and NZ Under 21 Men’s Doubles (1999).
Other players still involved today were Kevin Haines (Onslow B), Bob Bell (Newlands)[recently moved to Napier] and Matthew Hobbs (Titan C). Bob won the Newlands Club Singles (1996) and Onslow Club Singles (2011). Matthew won the Onslow Club Singles (2012).
In Division 1 Te Rama won all their matches. There were 2 crucial matches. In the third round Te Rama beat Karori 6-5 despite Ken Hindson winning his 3 singles. Then in the penultimate round Te Rama played the leaders Onslow A, who were leading by 2 points. Te Rama needed to win by 7-4 or more to gain 3 points and move into the lead. Onslow started well and lead 4-2 only for Te Rama to win the last 5 matches. Malcolm Wong won all his 3 singles for Te Rama. In the last round Te Rama beat Titan A 9-2 to win the Grade. Division 2 was won by Titan B.for whom Ross McFarland starred.
In the grade match against Hutt Valley (8 August) two A Reserve Grade teams were selected. A Reserve 1 (Malcolm Wong, Martin Young and Hamish Rennie) and A Reserve 2 (David Buckrell, Nick Julian and Matthew Hobbs). The Hutt Valley A Reserve 1 Team (Staff Marshall, Stan Joe and Brett Pottinger) won 7-4 and their A Reserve 2 Team (Jeremy Evans, Steve Westmoreland and Darren O’Brien) won 8-3
In the A Reserve Grade Chanpionships (25 August) Te Rama had more success. Martin Young won the Singles against team mate Malcolm Wong (1990 & 1991 winner). In the Doubles Malcolm Wong and Martin Young won for the third successive year when they beat Jonathan Armstrong and David Buckrell.
Statistics from this grade in 1993: 1993 WTTA A-reserve Interclub.
Table Tennis Wellington 