Wellington were represented by a Men’s Team, Women’s Team, Under 15 Girls Team and a Under 13 Boys Team at the tournament held at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre in Tauranga. Sean Hanson was the main junior coach supported by Martyn Barry, Tim Wilson (ITTF Level 1 Coach) and James Wang (ITTF Level 1 Coach).
Table Tennis Wellington President, Malcolm Wong (International Umpire, National Referee, ITTF Level 1 Coach), was one of two Referees at the tournament and he was there for the whole 8 days of the tournament. This is the fourth time the tournament has been held in Tauranga (previously in 1970, 1973 and 1976). There were 18 tables with a canteen run by Nomad Food and Wine from 10am to 6pm.
Under 15 Girls Team
The Under 15 Girls Team (Mei Mun Teh, Erin Huang, Anna Wilson) easily won all their 4 matches, in a round robin, to win the Grade. They all have another year in the Under 15 grade and will be able to defend their title next year. Their result summary:
- v Waitemata 5-2
- v Canterbury 5-2
- v Otago 6-1
- v Hawke’s Bay 7-0
Singles Mei Mun Teh 7/8 Anna Wilson 7/8 Erin Huang 5/8
Doubles Huang/Teh 1/1 Teh/Wilson 2/2 Huang/Wilson 1/1
Yashka Rabichand (Wellington) was a draft player for the Southland Girls Under 18 Team which finished 3rd. She won 4 out of her 8 singles. Yashka has another year in the Under 15 grade.
Under 13 Boys Team
The Under 13 Boys (Yufeng Wang, Aaron Lan, Tom Christie, Ben Riddell) were second in group 1B and qualified for the Semi-Finals where they lost to Auckland. In the playoff for third/fourth place against Canterbury they reversed the result of their group clash and won 4-3 with Tom Christie winning the deciding match against Jayden Ralston 3-0 (11-9 11-8 12-10). This is Tom and Ben’s last year in the Under 13’s while Yufeng and Aaron have two more years. Their result summary:
- Group 1B v Canterbury 2-5
- Group 1B v Auckland B 5-2
- Group 1B v Waitako 6-1
- Semi-Finals v Auckland 0-4
- 3/4 playoff v Canterbury 4-3
Singles Yufeng Wang 6/8, Aaran Lan 4/8, Tom Christie 3/7, Ben Riddle 1/4
Doubles Christie/Riddle 0/1, Lan/Wang 2/2, Christie/Wang 1/2
Yufeng Wang was runner up in the Under 11 Boy’s Singles won by Timothy Choi (Auckland) 3-0 (11-9 11-2 11-3) and the Under 11 Boy’s Doubles (with Aaron Lan) won by Allen Zhu/Timothy Choi (Auckland) 3-1 (11-4 10-12 11-7 11-7).
The Junior Individuals needed an extra day as they finished at 9.30 pm (8 Oct) and 10.20pm (9 Oct). This is far too late for juniors to be still playing.
Women’s Team
The Women’s Team (Ye Zhai, Lisa Yue, Manon Soury-Lavergne (Draft – NCL)) won their grading match against Waitako 4-3 to qualify for the A Grade where they finished 4th.
- v Canterbury 1-6
- v Auckland 1-6
- v Southland 4-3
- v North Shore 1-4
Singles Ye Zhai 7/9 Lisa Yue 2/10 Manon Soury-Lavergne 0/9
Doubles Yue/Zhai 2/5
The Team found the going tough in A Grade with Ye Zhai still winning 5 Singles. Lisa Yue’s singles and double win (with Ye Zhai) in the grading match against Waitako and in the A Grade match against Southland ensured Wellington two wins.
Ye Zhai (6th seed) beat 2nd seed Jenny Hung (Canterbury) in the quarter finals of Women Singles 4-1 (8-11 11-7 11-6 11-8 11-8) and reached the final where she lost to the top seed Tianyi Li (Auckland) 4-0 (11-6 11-4 11-8 11-4). Tianyi Li won the Women Singles for the 5th year in a row. Ye Zhai/Lisa Yue were semi finalist in the Women Doubles losing to Jenny Hung/Avon Liu (Canterbury) 3-0 (11-2 12-10 11-3).
Men’s Team
The Men’s Team (James Harter, Yang Low, Paul Solt) placed 2nd in 2B Grade. Paul Solt won a crucial match against Simon Luo (Auckland Senior Men Red) 3-2 (4-11 9-11 11-9 11-8 11-3). Yang Low had three 2-3 losses. James Harter was in impressive form winning 9 out of his 10 singles which kept the team in contention in all their matches.
They lost in the semi finals to Waitemata 2 and in the 3/4 playoff to Nelson. Against Nelson two close matches went to Nelson making the difference.
- Group 2B v Auckland Senior Men Red 4-3
- Group 2B v Otago 4-3
- Group 2B v Manawatu 2 3-4
- Semi-Final v Waitemata 2 2-4
- 3/4 playoff v Nelson 3-4
Singles James Harter 9/10 Yang Low 4/6 Paul Solt 1/9
Doubles Harter/Low 2/5
Yang Low was a semi finalist in the Men’s B Grade Singles. He beat the C Grade Men’s Singles winner, Jack Chen (Auckland) in the Quarter Finals 3-2 (11-5 8-11 11-8 10-12 13-11) before losing to Mark Page (Waitako) 3-0 (11-4 11-4 14-12). Yang won the C Grade Men’s Doubles with Jimmy Caunter (Waitako) against David Jarvis (Bay of Plenty)/Paul Kyle (Waitako) 3-0 (11-5 11-5 13-11). Low and Caunter had previously won the NZ D Grade Men’s Doubles in 2015.
There was a lack of qualified umpires to umpire in the afternoon final session. The players who made themselves available to umpire were of a good standard. Paul Solt umpired the Men’s Singles Final.
Thanks to all the officials who ran the tournament. John Lea (Tournament Director), Paul Henderson (Deputy Tournament Director), Ron Garrett (Tournament Referee – Juniors), Malcolm Wong (Tournament Referee – Seniors), Grant Wilson (Media & Broadcast Liaison), Matthew Hetherington (Media & Promotion), Christine Young (Tournament Controller) and Jessica Macaskill (Tournament Controller).
A social dinner was held at the nearby Daniels in the Park on the last night and the TTNZ Annual Awards were announced.
-Malcolm Wong
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg, Vanessa Wood-lin, Aarya Advilkar (Canterbury – Silver), Anna Wilson, Erin Huang, Mei Mun Teh (Wellington – Gold)
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Ben Riddell, Aaran Lan, Tom Christie, Yufeng Wang (Wellington – Bronze), Keanu King, Robert Zhung, Alex Liu Cao, Leo Mamedov, Timothy Choi (Auckland – Gold), Ingamar Siegruhn, Andrei Casareo, Finn Brown, (Southland – Silver).
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman), Ye Zhai, Tianyi Li (A), Jin (Kim) Wang (A), Liting Guo (NL)
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Avon Liu & Jenny Hung (C), Jin (Kim) Wang & Tianyi Li (A),
Lisa Yue & Ye Zhai.
NZ B Grade Men’s Singles
L->R: Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman),
Mark Page (WK), Jun Tamaura (A), Jessie Wilson (C), Yang Low
Table Tennis Wellington 