The following entries have been received for the competition each Wednesday of November at the Empire club rooms, Petone, scheduled to start no later than 7.15 each evening (doors open from approx. 6.30 pm.)
Player list (in no particular order or grade):
Liam Johnston
Chris Talbot
Ian Talbot
Zhidong Yu
Shane Gibson
Nabe Talabu
Russell Buchanan
Jon Gan
Jason Granville
Scott Higham
Ricky Yeung
Liam Buckrell
David Buckrell
Jeremy Parant
Ian Grace
Ryan Cronin
Om Thakur
Soichiro Eguchi
Ilkkala Havukkala
Hui-Ling Vong
Chris Sutton
Alvin Panugayan
Jimi Nelson
Michael Zhang
John Wareham
Matthew Hobbs
Brendyn Shaw
Larn Sweeney
Virgil Kan
Gareth Telfer
Vance Kelly
Simon Jung
Craig Gear
Martin Xiong
Darrell Brown
Paul Solt
There are several places still available for late entries. Should anyone wish to submit a late entry, please contact Kevin Haines via treasurer@ttwellington.org.nz no later than 4.00 pm on Monday, 2 November.
Players are requested to be, if possible, at Empire by 7.00 pm on the Wednesday 4 November to hear the final details of how the competition will take place. The aim is to have three grades with 13 players in each, to play against each of the other 12 in their group over the first three weeks with playoffs in week four.
Tony was born in Wellington (1934). His father Robert was a Wellington Table Tennis Association Vice President. Tony first played in table tennis at age 10. Bill Scott, in the top floor of the building Tony lived in, had a table tennis table. Tony was taking tennis lessons from Tommy Williams who suggest that he play table tennis. So at age 11 he went to a table tennis club at the Newtown Primary School in Russell Terrace.
Tony went to Wellington College (1947-51) and boarded there from the Fifth Form (1949). There was a table at Firth House to practice on. Tony (15) played fellow Wellington College student and future NZ Men’s Singles Champion Murray Dunn (13) in a curtain raiser to the New Zealand v England Men’s Test (1949). Tony won the single game 33-31. Tony was selected in the 1949 Wellington Under 16 Boys Team in the annual match against Hutt Valley (won 10-2). In 1951 Tony won the Wellington Secondary Schools Senior Boys Singles, The Wellington Open Second Grade Singles and Doubles (with Roy Lea) and the Manawatu Boy’s Singles. He and Murray Dunn won the Wellington and Hutt Valley Open under 18 Boys Doubles. Also the Wellington Under 18 Mixed Doubles with Helen Dykes.
Tony was also a good tennis player, representing Wellington as a junior in the Slazenger Shield (1951-53). He and Murray Dunn won the 1949,1950 and 1953 Wellington Junior Boy’s Doubles. Tony reached the Quarter finals of the 1952 NZ Junior Boy’s Singles and was runner up in the 1952 and 1953 NZ Junior Boy’s Doubles with Murray Dunn. He played at the Island Bay Tennis Club and was the Island Bay Club Men’s Singles Champion in 1955-56 and 1956-57.
In 1951, Tony first played interclub for the Te Tapu Ranga Club. The one club team meet at Bill Wah’s garage in Adelaide Road, Newtown, Wellington. His team was Dennis Catley, Dave Marple and Alan Robinson. In 1952 Tony played in A Grade with Dave, Alan and Ron Sandilands. Ron had won the 1951 Under 18 NZ Boys Singles and Doubles with Murray Dunn. Dave and Alan were to win the 1952 NZ Under 18 Boy’s Doubles, and Dave also won the 1952 NZ Under 18 Mixed Doubles with M Emery. Tony was selected for the Wellington Men’s Team for the NZ Championships.
In 1953 Tony, Dave and Alan joined the University Club and played in The University Team in A Grade with O G Collins. Tony represented Victoria University at the NZ University Tournament in 1954 where Victoria won the teams and he won the Men’s Doubles with Alan Robinson and Mixed Doubles with Elizabeth Lesser. Tony was selected for the NZ University Men’s Team which played Wellington (Lost 0-12).
Tony represented Wellington Men’s Team at the NZ Championships (1952-54 and 1956). The highlight was in 1954 where he was the Player/Manager of the Men’s Team and Manager of the Women’s Team. Both teams won their Teams Competition. Tony was on the Wellington Association Committee (1954-56 and 1961-62).
Tony won the 1956 Nelson Open Men’s Singles. Also the following Men’s Doubles Titles.He won the 1952 Bush Open with Dave Marple and the 1954 Wanganui Open with Hugh Lauder. Also the 1955 Bush Open, 1955 and 1956 Wairarapa Open with John Crossley. In the Mixed Doubles he won the1952 Wairarapa Open, 1953 Bush Open, 1954 Hutt Valley and Manawatu Open all with Thyra McGregor, Also the 1956 Marlborough and Nelson Open Mixed Doubles with Val Cousins. In 1957 Tony married Val Cousins and they won the 1958 Wairarapa Open Mixed Doubles.
Val had been in the Wellington Women’s Team (1953-56, 1958) and was the top ranked Wellington Woman in 1954 and 1958. Val won the 1955 Hutt Valley Open Women Doubles (With Ann Wah), 1956 Nelson Open Women Singles and the 1956 Wellington Open Women Doubles (with Thyra McGregor). Later she took up running and was the first winner of the Women’s section of the Rotorua Marathon (1974).
Tony and Val moved to Palmerston North in 1963. Their four children all played table tennis but only son Malcolm continued on with the sport. Malcolm was NZ Under 18 Boys Singles Champion (1975) and represented NZ in the Junior Boys, Men’s and Veteran Men’s.
In 1965 Tony passed the provincial umpires exam. He stopped playing table tennis in 1980 to concentrate on umpiring. In 1983 Tony and Gary Farquhar attended a umpiring course in Hong Kong. In 1984 they both passed the International Umpires Exam. Tony umpired in the 1985 Commonwealth Championships (Isle of Man) and 1985 World Championships (Gotenborg, Sweden). Tony and Val lived in London (1985-96). He umpired at many English weekend tournaments, often travelling with Surrey umpires Terry Carpenter and Terry Vance. In 1988 Tony was selected to umpire at the Olympics (Seoul, South Korea). In 1996 Tony and Val left London and returned to New Zealand to live in Wellington.
Tony returned to playing table tennis in 2014 as he had entered the World Veterans Championships in Henderson, Auckland. He plays table tennis at the mid week club at Newtown Stadium, Wellington on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon and at the Empire Club (Petone) on Tuesday and Thursday morning.
Information for this article was provided by Tony Darroch, Wellington Table Tennis Annual Reports, New Zealand Table Tennis Annual Reports, TTNZ Chronicles, The Salient (Victoria University of Wellington Student Newspaper), The Dominion Newspaper, Wellington Tennis Annual Reports and the Island Bay Tennis Club.
The following photos are from the TTNZ Photo Archives.
1952 Wellington Table Tennis Men’s and Women’s Teams. L/R back: Thyra McGregor, Tony Darroch, John Crossley, Murray Dunn, Colin Shewan, Charlotte Savage. front: Ann Leong, Laurie Wilson (Men’s captain), Bill Jopson (manager), Audrey Hughes (Women’s captain), Pam Smith.1953 Wellington Table Tennis Men’s and Women’s Teams. L/R back standing: Thyra McGregor, John Sigley, Eileen Brown, John Crossley, Murray Dunn, Pat Quinn Center seated: Colin Shewan, Audrey Hughes, Keith Pratt (manager), Laurie Wilson, Charlotte Savage Front On floor: Ann Wah, Tony Darroch1954 Wellington Table Tennis Men’s and Women’s Teams. Winners of the New Zealand Interprovincial Men’s and Women’s Teams Tournament. Left – Teague Shield (Women) and Kean Shield (Men). L/R: back: Pat Quinn, Ivan Houghton, John Crossley, Colin Shewan, Val Cousins Middle: John Sigley, Audrey Hughes, Tony Darroch, Murray Dunn, Eileen Brown Front: Thyra McGregor, Ann Wah1956 Wellington Table Tennis Men’s and Women’s Teams. L/R Back: Joyce Bratton, Tony Darroch, Alan Robinson, Brian Sim, Val Cousins. Front: Angela Williamson, Colin Shewan, Bill Jopson (Manager) Eileen Brown, Val White.
It’s that time again, the New Zealand Masters Games are back. The Games are scheduled in Dunedin 30 January – 7 February 2016 and we are expecting over 5000 people. The event line-up is huge, 60 sports from Tennis Table to Yachting and everything in between. Whether you wish to compete for a medal or give something a go in a social category – there is something for everyone! Be a part of New Zealand’s largest sporting event and smile as you tick it off your bucket list. Check out www.nzmg.com or visit the NZMG Facebook page for the latest games information and entertainment. Registrations are open now!
Big November, Super 13, call it what you like, the next spring competition is something a bit different for Wellington table tennis.
For the last few years the period from late October to early December has seen a Composite teams competition that attempts to match up teams of similar overall standard. Unfortunately, with fewer players entering the standard has tended to be less concentrated resulting in a reduced enjoyment factor. There have also been difficulties in finding replacements, given that the teams are not Club based.
For 2015, a new competition is proposed with players entering as individuals. The top 13 will be placed in one group with hopefully sufficient entries to make up a further two groups, also of 13 players. Each group would play a round robin over 3 weeks, playing four singles matches (best of 5 sets) per week, the order of the draw being generated on a random basis. There will be no doubles matches. Four tables would be used for each group ensuring a reasonable finish time.
On the final week, the top 5 players would play in a round robin playoff. The next 5 players would also play off against each other, with the last 3 players playing off with the top 2 players of the grade below. The other players in lower grades would in turn also have a playoff in groups of 5 on the same basis.
It is hoped that this will stimulate some interest in players staying involved during November. The competition is planned to take place each of the four Wednesdays during November. Obviously, if a player is unavailable during that period, there is no point in entering, although a player who can play for three of the nights could enter with a lesser rated player nominated in advance as a substitute for a given night. (The interclub committee would rule on the acceptability of the player so nominated.)
A small amount of prize money will be on offer.
Please give this competition some serious thought. Players may enter through your clubs or directly to me at treasurer@ttwellington.org.nz. Entries are tentatively scheduled to close on 27 October 2015. Be in to assure your place.
At this stage it is planned that plastic balls will be used. This will be a good opportunity to prepare for 2016.
