The title of the 1942 book: “Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood” (by Edward Lasker) captures the spirit of competitive chess (and indeed any sport) with enthusiasm on one side and yet the innate mortal warfare on the other.
Enjoy the TTSports Wellington Open this weekend everyone!
A report on the recent Nelson Open (June 25/26) from Malcolm Wong who won the O40 & O50 MD with Mark Nalder (Nelson) and was r/u in the Second Grade XD with Glenda Ferguson (Nelson). The Wong/Nalder combination have now won 10 doubles titles and Malcolm Wong has won 65 tournament titles!
This tournament was held at the new Saxton Field Sports Stadium (7,000 sqm) which was built at a cost of $13 million. Funding has been provided by the Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council and the Saxton Field Sports Stadium Society. There are 5 basketball courts in the main part of the complex, which is also used for netball, volleyball and handball. Table tennis is in a separate part of the complex. There are 8 tables and there is heating to regulate the temperature inside. There is an office, table tennis shop and cafeteria on the ground floor and seating upstairs.
Bryan Keane ran the tournament with his normal efficiency, with Paul Op Den Buysch operating the Xpand2Play system on the computer and Daryl Jones (Marlborough) writing out the certificates. Play started 9am on the Saturday and finished 10.30pm. Having group play for all events meant a longer day than usual.
Canterbury players dominated the Open events. Simon Fenwick won the MS against William Pringle 4-2 Pringle/Chris Erskine (Nelson) won the MD against Fenwick/Nalder(Nelson) 3-1 Jenny Hung beat Megan Stratford (Marlborough) in the WS 4-0 Hung/Tracey Deeley (Nelson) won the WD and Hung/Fenwick won the XD. Veteran Mark Nalder played in 7 finals, winning the O40 & O50 MS and MD, and was r/u in the MD and Second Grade MS & MD.
…results are all posted on http://www.tabletennis.org.nz, in particular the draws including Wellington players (search for “(W)”) – many players making it out the the group stages:
U18 Boys‘ – congratulations Thom Nguyen winner!!!
Teams:
NZ Junior Open (25-28 September 2003) revisited, a summary from Malcolm Wong including how some of the players have progressed:
This World Junior Circuit Tournament was held, in conjunction with the New Zealand Championships, at the Queens Wharf Events Centre in Wellington City. There were four Oceania countries. New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. From Asia came China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan and India.
John Stapleton (TTNZ representative and main co-ordinator) and PaulEscott (TTW Chairperson) headed the team organising the event. Key areas were handled by Andrew Palmer, Sabine Westenra and Robert Chung (Information Technology), Shona Cudby (Control Table), Merv Allardyce (Equipment), Averil Roberts (Administration), Ron Menchi (Accommodation), Malcolm Wong (Transport), Steve McCarthy and Robert Chung (Publicity, Sponsorship, Opening Ceremony) and John Stapleton (Timetable, within ITTF formula). The Referee was Angelo Tabone (Australia) and the Deputy Referee was Michael McAvinue (Manawatu). The umpires included Richard Ammundsen, Paul Escott, Averil Roberts and Malcolm Wong from Wellington.
China dominated all the events.
They won both the Boys and Girls Teams and also the Boys and Girls Singles and Doubles. Zhang Jike won the Boys Singles and the Doubles with Ma Long. Jia Jun won the Girls Singles. Chang Chenchen and Feng Tianwei won the Girls Doubles.
Chinese players at this tournament were to achieve further success at the World Junior Championships. Li Hu (2003) and Ma Long (2004) were to win the Boy Singles. Chang Chenchen won the Girls Singles and Doubles (2004).
At senior level, the following were to achieve success at the World Team Championships this year. Feng Tianwei, who had lost to Stephanie Sang (Australia) in the Girls Singles quarter finals 2-4, moved to Singapore in 2007. She represented Singapore at the World Championships and Olympics in 2008 where the team were runner up to China on both ocassions. This year she won 2 singles when Singapore beat China 3-1 in the Women’s World Team finals in Moscow. She is currently the World Number 2.
Ma Long and Zhang Jike were in the China Men’s Team which won this years World Teams final by beating Germany 3-1. Ma Long has been World Number 1 since January 2010 and Zhang Jike is currently World Number 5.
I talked to Malcolm Wong following the recent 2010 Junior Open: “I became a provincial umpire in 2000 as I felt I should know the rules of the sport I played. Umpiring at the NZ World Junior Circuit Tournament in Wellington (2003) encouraged me to go further in umpiring. I umpired the world men’s number 1, Ma Long, at this tournament.”
In 2004 Malcolm became a National Umpire, a National Referee in 2007, and then passed the International Umpires exam in 2008. Last year he umpired at the French Junior Open and the Commonwealth Championships. After attended and passing an exam at a Racket Control Seminar (5 April) in Auckland he can now be appointed to be Chief Racket Controller at ITTF Tournaments.
On umpiring at the recent NZ Junior Open (6-9 April) in Auckland: “The first three days I was umpiring twelve hours each day, including 21 matches on day one. A lack of umpires meant I was umpiring virtually every round!
“Umpiring requires a good knowledge of the rules, the ability to concentrate during matches and apply the rules in an impartial manner.” – If you are interested in learning more about Table Tennis umpiring, Malcolm would love to hear from you!
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Attached: Malcolm’s Report on Racquet Control Seminar and New Zealand Junior Open 2010
Premier 1 draw is here: TTW Winter Interclub Premier 1 draw Rd 1
Premier 2 draw is here: TTW Winter Interclub Premier 2 draw Rd 1
Premier 3 draw is here: TTW Winter Interclub Premier 3 draw Rd 1
Interclub Rules are here: TTW Interclub Rules – final
Code of Conduct here: 2010 TTW Code of Conduct
Have a fun year!
…will update this with full results soon, for now:
Here’s a quick pic from Malcolm Wong (far left)…
Commonwealth Table Tennis Champs (Glasgow) 2009 – Teams match (Men’s) South Africa (3) v Malaysia (1)
L/R Malcolm Wong (Umpire – New Zealand) Kho Mao Sheng (Malaysia) Luke Abrahams (South Africa) Brian Powell (Assistant Umpire – Guernsey)
Match won by Kho 3-0 (11-8 17-15 13-11)
