Updates from Malcolm Wong: 2014 World Veteran Table Tennis Championships

From Malcolm who was in Auckland as an official at the 2014 World Vets in May.

Over 1600 players completed in the 17th World Veteran Championships held in the Trusts Arena (Henderson) in West Auckland. A great experience in the largest table tennis tournament to be held in New Zealand and an excellent venue. There were many volunteers that helped to make the tournament run successfully. Access to the Stadium was only allowed on Friday 9 May at 9 pm and volunteers worked until 5am to lay down the Stag Flooring. Also the tables that were put up to allow the players to practice in the weekend were taken down for the opening ceremony on Sunday night and then were put back up which took to midnight.

I was a Table Manager (Monday and Tuesday) for group play in singles and doubles where 59 tables were used. Then i umpired from Thursday to Saturday. I umpired the Over 50 Women Singles final and the Over 60 Men’s Doubles final on Saturday afternoon. I was also the counter for a expedite match in the Over 75 Men’s Singles Final which was the last match to finish.

A number of Wellington players qualified for the main draw in the Men’s Singles. They were Heath Murdoch (Over 40), Chris Talbot (Over 50), Ian Talbot (Over 60), Merv Allardyce (Over 80) and Eddie Moore (Over 80). Eddie Moore was the only player to win a match in the main draw when he beat Ichimura Saburo (Japan) 3-0. Chris and Ian Talbot qualified for the main draw in the Over 50 Men’s Doubles where they lost a close match 2-3. Merv Allardyce and Eddie Moore were runner up in the Over 80 Men’s Doubles Consolation Final.

Thanks to Terry Cockfield who supplied me with the photo of the group of umpires and of Merv Allardyce and Eddie Moore playing a doubles match.