Over the weekend the Wellington Team of Manish Ahlawat, Mohsen Kafi, Daniel Rosner, & Depak Patel completed in Auckland at the 2023 North Island Teams event in the B Grade, finishing 6th!
Two of our junior Wellington girls travelled to Christchurch on King’s Birthday Weekend to play in the 2023 Canterbury Open Table Tennis Tournament.
Ruby Wei-Solt got a bronze in the under 13 Girls Singles and Ruby and Samantha Xu also got bronze in the under 13 Girls Doubles! Congratulations also to Paul Solt for third-equal in the O50 Mens Doubles (with Abhay Joshi).
Entries for remaining events:
Qualifier 2 – Wellington – 29th and 30th April – closing date 24th April
Qualifier 3 – Blenheim – 13th and 14th May – closing date 5th May
All information can be found on the TTNZ website events page.
Info: https://www.sporty.co.nz/2023nzvets
Some of the ​​​​​​​Test Teams vs Australia include some Wellington players:
| AGE CATEGORY | NEW ZEALAND | AUSTRALIA |
| Over 50 Men | Craig Dye (C), Heath Murdoch  | Walter Ly (NSW), Michael Bowrey (ACT) |
| Over 50 Women | Kris Alisch (C), Sabine Westenra | Anne-Louse Stewart (QLD), Rosalie Brooks (QLD) |
| Over 65 Men | Lindsay Ward , Gregg Davey (C) | Jing Peng (NSW), George Abdilla (SA) |
| Over 75 Men | Willie Weinstock (A), Bryan McConnochie | Thomas Samuelsson (QLD), Mick Wright (VIC) |
On Saturday 24th September, the 2nd one day camp for players in the Central Region was held with 30 players attending. An awesome coaching team had a program built on extending the players from the first camp back in July and a productive day was had by all. The camp was organised by Matt Ball with coaches Tim Seaholme, Natalie Paterson, James Wang and Tim Wilson involved.
Summer Interclub
Summer Interclub is now complete! Final results below. Also for the Vets on Saturday April 2 click below for the detail.
Continue reading “2022 Summer Interclub & Wellington Vets”
Enter or come along to watch the upcoming North Island Championships from Friday to Sunday, 16-18 July at the Empire Stadium (Marine Parade, Petone).
For photos and other updates visit TTW Facebook.
RESULTS
The Wellington Veterans Tournament was held with a good attendance of regulars, enhanced by new faces from Upper Hutt and even Dunedin. Over half of the players competed in two age groups, making it a busy day on the tables. Thanks to all who participated and best wishes to those travelling to Christchurch for the NZ Veterans Championships.
| Winner/s | Runner/s Up | |
| Over 40 Singles | Depak Patel | John Gan |
| Over 40 Consolation | Darrell Brown | Zhidong Yu |
| Over 40Doubles | Depak Patel & Zhidong Yu | Darrell Brown & Heath Murdoch |
| Over 50 Singles | Lindsay Ward | Ian Talbot |
| Over 50 Consolation | Bryan McConnochie | Zhidong Yu |
| Over 50 Doubles | Darrell Brown & Heath Murdoch | Depak Patel & Zhidong Yu |
| Over 60 Singles | Lindsay Ward | Ian Talbot |
| Over 60 Consolation | Peter Bloor | Leigh Grinlinton |
| Over 60 Doubles | Peter Bloor & Martin Young | Bryan McConnochie & Ian Talbot |
| Over 70 Singles | David Morris | Averil Roberts |
| Over 70 Doubles | Geoff Brown & David Morris | Averil Roberts & Rod Weston |
Hutt Valley win 1975 NZ Men’s Table Tennis Teams A Grade (24-26 August)
| Place | Team | Wins | Lost | Matches won |
| 1 | Hutt Valley  | 4 | 1 | 29 |
| 2 | Franklin | 4 | 1 | 27 |
| 3 | Auckland | 3 | 2 | 28 |
| 4 | Northland | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| 5 | Wellington | 1 | 4 | 19 |
| 6 | Catnterbury | 1 | 4 | 18 |
Hutt Valley
v Auckland lost 3-8
v Northland won 6-5
v Canterbury won 8-3
v Franklin won 6-2
v Wellington won 6-5
| Singles | Played | Wins | Losses |
| Gary Murphy | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| Terry Murphy | 13 | 5 | 8 |
| Murray Borlase | 12 | 3 | 9 |
| Hone Ridley | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Pat Low | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Doubles | Played | Wins | Losses |
| G Murphy / T Murphy | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| G Murphy / M Borlase | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| G Murphy / H Ridley | 1 | 1 | 0 |
The 1975 Hutt Valley Men’s Team won the NZ Men’s A Grade (Kean Shield) in Christchurch (24-26 August). They were tied with Franklin (4 wins) but as Hutt Valley had beaten Franklin they won the title.
Continue reading “Blast from the Past – Hutt Valley win 1975 NZ Men’s Table Tennis Teams A Grade!”
Table Tennis New Zealand have confirmed the 2020 tournament calendar going forward and one of the first tournaments to take place will be the North Island Championships from Friday to Sunday, 10-12 July at the Empire Stadium.
This will be the biggest tournament locally for some years and it will be quite concentrated over three full days. If you think you may be able to donate some hours or days to help the tournament run smoothly, we would love to hear from you. We need people to help with entering results into the tournament software (easy job, 10 minutes training), monitoring play so we can keep tables occupied and keep on time, helping with the shop, umpiring, coordinating medals for presenting and other miscellaneous tasks that crop up. No skills needed other than being able to get along with people and a desire to want to help.
Announcing the inaugural…
Also here are some upcoming events:
Jun 29-30 North Shore Open Jun 29 Hawkes Bay Open (Napier) Jul 7-8 Central Region Junior, Cadet and Hopes Training Camp (Palmerston North) Jul 7-13 Australian Junior Championships (TTNZ Selected Teams) Wollongong - starring Anna Wilson Jul 12-14 North Island Individual Championships (Wanganui) Jul 20-21 Otago Open (Dunedin) Jul 27-28 Wellington Open Aug 2 CollegeSport Wellington Table Tennis Regionals Individuals (enter by July 25) Aug 3-4 Waikato Open (Hamilton) Aug 7-10 ITTF-Oceania Junior Championships (Tonga) Aug 9 CollegeSport Wellington Table Tennis Regionals Teams (enter by Aug 1) Sep 2-4 NZ Secondary School Championships Sep 7-8 Manawatu Open Sep 28-Oct 6 NZ Junior & Senior Championships (Christchurch)
TTNZ Veterans
Recently we had Wellington vets at the TTNZ Veterans tournament and also representing New Zealand in test teams vs. Australia at the TTNZ vets in Taupo (full results). Many Wellington players attended & placings achieved by Wellington players are listed below:
Over 40 mixed doubles Sabine Westenra (with Lyndon White, CAN) 3rd-equal
Over 40 women’s doubles Sabine Westenra (with Christine Young, WAIT) 2nd
Over 50 women’s singles won by Sabine Westenra
Over 50 men’s singles Lindsay Ward came 3rd
Over 50 mixed doubles Sabine Westenra (with Lyndon White, CAN) won
Over 50 women’s doubles Sabine Westenra (with Haiyan Zhang, QLD) 2nd
Over 60 mixed doubles Lindsay Ward & Leigh Grinlinton 2nd
Over 60 men’s doubles Chris Talbot & Lindsay Ward 3rd-equal
In the selected NZ Test Teams vs. Australia we had:
Over 50s women: Sabine Westenra (5-0 to NZ)
Over 60s men: Lindsay Ward (2-3 to Aust)
Over 65s men: Ian Talbot (1-4 to Aust)
Well done to the above and to all the Wellington players who attended!
Anna Wilson vs. Australia
Table Tennis New Zealand is excited to be sending a team of 15 players to the Australian Junior Championships in Wollongong in July after a collaborative agreement was signed between TTNZ and TTA aimed at fostering development. The last Junior Team to participate in Australian Junior Championships was in Queensland in 2010.
From Wellington we have Anna Wilson selected by TTNZ – congratulations from all of us to Anna!
Yufeng Wang in the ITTF Hopes week
The 2019 ITTF-Oceania Hopes (Under 12) Week was held in April in Waikato with local boy Yufeng Wang selected to attend after qualifying in the New Zealand Hopes Open held in Christchurch in January. The young players attend a week long camp headed by Eva Jeler, one of the most decorated coaches in the world.
Remember to keep checking the Table Tennis Wellington Facebook group for even more of the goings on in Wellington especially all the news on the NZ Univerity Champs held recently in Wellington up there with piles of pictures and video uploaded by Rob!
21 Men and 9 Women entered this tournament. There were singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. From overseas were Rohan Dhooria (AUS), Vicki Wu (FIJ), Wang Qi (FIJ) and Gary Nuopula (SOL) in the men’s competition. Also Jian Fang Lay (AUS), Parleen Kaur (AUS), Grace Yee (FIJ) and Loata Neli Duncan (FIJ) in the Women’s competition. This is one of a series of 6 Tournaments in Oceania.
The others are in Tonga (Nuku’alofa) 29-30 June, Australia (Gold Coast) 25-26 August, Fiji (Suva) 8-9 September, Tahiti (Papeete) 3-4 November and Vanuatu (Port Vila) 9-10 February 2019. The players, in the singles, earn points towards qualification to the 2019 Oceania Cup Tournament.
Joachim Kusche and Alan Moore were the Referees. There were 12 umpires, with only Ron Garrett (Southland) and Malcolm Wong (Wellington) not from Canterbury. They were International Umpires Alan Moore, Ron Garrett, Hamish Rennie and Malcolm Wong. National Umpires were Mimi Walle , Akiko Goto and Gregg Davey. The other umpires were Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg, Suniko Yoshioka, Ruhi Advilker, Ulrike Kusche and Steve Moore.
The schedule was light for the umpires. On the Saturday I umpired a mixed doubles match between Nathan Xu/Jiayi Zhou and Wang Qi/Loata Neli Duncan won by Xu/Zhou 3-0 (6, 7, 3,). Also the Women Singles Group A which was won by Jian Fang Lay, with Jiayi Zhou 2nd and Lisa Yue 3rd. Play finished at 4pm on Saturday.
On the Sunday I umpired the last 16 Men’s Singles match between Teng Teng Liu and Simon Fenwick won by Liu 4-0 (3, 6, 1, 2 ). Then the Women Singles Semi Finals between Jenny Hung and Jiayi Zhou won by Hung 4-1 (3, 7, 8, -9, 3 ). My last match was the Women Doubles (Last match in a round robin of 3 pairs) between Parleen Kaur/Jiayi Zhou and Zhiying Cheng/Lisa Yue won by Kaur/Zhou 3-1 (3, -3, 5, 13 ). Play finished at 4.45pm on Sunday.
Lisa Yue was the only player from Wellington. She was 3rd in her Women Singles group. She had another chance of qualifying as the 3 third place players in the groups were put into the Women Singles Stage 2 Qualification Group. Lisa won the group to qualify for the Quarter Finals where she lost to Jenny Hung 4-0 (3. 3, 3, 2 ). Lisa, with Zhiying Cheng, lost both her Women’s Doubles matches (Round Robin of 3 Teams). In the Mixed Doubles, Lisa with Kelsey Amor, reached the finals where they lost to Rohan Dhooria/Parleen Kaur 3-0 (6, 4, 8).
Other final results (below).
Men’s Singles
Teng Teng Liu (NZL) beat Rohan Dhooria (AUS)
4-1 (6, 5, -9, 5, 2)
Women Singles
Jian Fang Lay (AUS) beat Jenny Hung (NZL)
4-0 (2, 3, 8, 7 )
Men’s Doubles
Dean Shu/Nathan Xu (NZL) beat Rohan Dhooria (AUS)/ Paul Innnes (NZL)
3-2 (-4, 8, 8, -7, 10)
Women Doubles (Round Robin)
1st Paurleen Kaur (AUS)/Jiayi Zhou (NZL)
2nd Loata Neil Duncan/Sally Yee (FIJ)
-Malcolm Wong
Mixed Doubles presentation. Gary Williams (TTNZ Chairman), Lisa Yue (WGN), Rohan Dhooria, Parleen Kaur, and Yi-Sien Lin (Tournament Director)
Standing: Gary William (TTNZ Chair), Malcolm Wong (Ump), Grant Wilson (Media and Broadcast Liason). Seated – Yi-Sien Lin (Tourn Dir) and Joachim Kusche (Tourn Ref).
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
Nationals for the juniors was a great success with all players placing in the top three in their respective events:
Teams
- Girls Under 15Â (Anna Wilson, Mei Mun Teh and Erin Huang)Â won Gold
- Boys Under 13Â (Yufeng Wang, Aaron Lan, Tom Christie and Ben Riddell)Â won Bronze with a great come from behind win over Canterbury
- Yashka Rabichand came third as a draft player with Southland in the Under 18 Girls
Individual Medals
- Yufeng Wang collected Silver in the Under 11 Boys Singles.
- Yufeng Wang and Aaron Lan collected Silver in the Under 11 Boys Doubles.
Result details are posted to the TTNZ’s Tournament Planner page.
Also check the TTNZ Facebook page for photos from the event in Tauranga.
Speaking of national events I have a report from Malcolm Wong on the 2018 South Island Championships held earlier on July 7-8:
There were 104 players at the tournament in Christchurch. Fiona Zhai Ye, Lisa Yue and Andrew Maguire travelled from Wellington.
Fiona Zhai Ye became the first TT Wellington(*) player to win the South Island Women Singles when she won all her matches ( round robin of 5) from Mimi Walle (C), Shelley Smith (S), Lisa Yue and Anny Li (A). (*)Previous winners from Hutt Valley were Raewyn Young (1993) and Sabine Westenra (1995).
Lisa Yue and Fiona Zhai Ye were runner up in the Women Doubles to Shelley Smith/Mimi Walle 3-0 (11-6 11-6 14-12). Lisa Yue with Hongyi Li (C) were runner up in the Mixed Doubles to Ivo Mikulec (C)/Mimi Walle 3-1 (6-11 11-5 11-7 11-5).
Andrew Maguire with Shelley Smith were runner up in the Over 30 Mixed Doubles to Yikai Tian (C)/Akiko Goto (C) 3-1 (11-6 11-6 8-11 11-5). Andrew with Dave Samson (C) were runner up in the Over 40 Men’s Doubles to Abhay Joshi (C)/ Lyndon White (C) 3-0 (11-5 11-3 11-8). In the Over 30 Men’s Singles (Round robin of three) Andrew lead the winner Vladmir Ivanov (C) 2-0 before losing 3-2 (8-11 9-11 11-4 11-7 11-4).
– Malcolm Wong (South Island Championships report)
Wellington won 10 gold medals achieved in the Open (1), Grades (1), Juniors (3), and Veterans (5). In the Open events Wellington had success in the Mixed Doubles where Sean Hanson and Fiona Zhai Ye beat Yuhan Gao (North Shore)/Hui-Ling Vong 3-0 (12-10 11-7 11-5). This was the Wellington area’s first victory in the Open Mixed Doubles since Shane Laugeson (A) and Tracey McLauchlan (HV) won in 2001. Hui-Ling Vong was runner up in the Women Singles to Jin (Kim) Wang (Auckland) 4-2 (11-13 11-3 11-7 13-15 11-4 11-5. Vong had defeated fellow Wellington player Fiona Zhai Ye in the semi finals 4-3 (12-14 11-7 11-6 11-7 9-11 10-12 13-11). In the Men’s Doubles Sean Hanson/Dinyar Irani (A) were runner up to Kelsey Amor/Victor Pollett (WT). In the Women Doubles Fiona Zhai Ye/ Lisa Yue were runner up to Jin (Kim) Wang/Tianyu Zhang (A) who won 3-0 (12-10 11-7 11-5).
In the B Grade Men’s Singles James Harter was runner up to Mark Page (WK) who won 3-1. Together they won the B Grade Men’s Doubles against Depak Patel/Yang Low 3-0 (11-5 11-4 11-8). Yang Low won a bronze medal in the B Grade Singles, losing in the semi finals to James Harter 3-1 (11-9 11-9 5-11 11-8). Darrell Brown had upset Yang Low in B Grade Group play 3-0 (13-11 11-9 11-9). Martin Young won a bronze medal for reaching the semi finals of the C Grade Men’s Singles, losing to Jimmy Caunter 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-4). In the Women C Grade Doubles Anna Wilson/Erin Huang were runner up to Emily Jin/Minette Whitehead (WK) 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-9).
In the Juniors, Hui-Ling Vong won the Under 18 Girl’s Singles defeating Zhiying Cheng (NS) 3-0 (11-5 11-8 12-10). This is the first Wellington victory in the U18 Girls Singles since Michelle McCarthy won in 2005. In the Under 15 Girls’s Doubles Mei Mun Teh with Vanessa Wood-Lin (ML) won the round robin (3 pairs) with the crucial match against Emily Jin / Minette Whitehead (WK) won 3-2 (10-12 11-4 11-7 8-11 12-10).
Aaron Lan won the Under 11 Singles (round robin of 3) upsetting Yufeng Wang in the crucial match 3-0 (13-11 11-9 11-7). Yufeng Wang was runner up in the Under 13 Boys Singles to Alex Liu Cao who won 3-1 (8-11 11-4 11-3 11-5) and in the Under 13 Combined Doubles with Tomos Christie.
Depak Patel won the Over 40 men’s Singles against Miko Kirschbaum (MN) 3-2 (7-11 10-12 11-6 11-5 11-5). This was his third win as he had previously won in 2006 and 2009. Martin Young won the Over 60 Combined Singles for the first time by beating Dave Scott (BP) in the last round 3-1 (8-11 11-5 12-10 14-12). Both made 4 wins and a loss. As Martin had beaten Dave he won the gold. Martin’s only loss was to Malcolm Wong who won 3-1 (14-12 11-6 9-11 11-8).
Bryan McConnochie won the Over 65 Combined Singles (Round Robin) by defeating Dave Scott (BP) 3-2 (15-13 5-11 10-12 11-4 11-9). This was his third win as he had previously won in 2015 and 2016. Bryan also won the Over 70 Combined Singles for the first time by defeating Jim Jarmin (MN) 3-0 (11-6 11-4 11-5).
In the Over 30 Men’s Doubles Harry Chen/Martin Young were runner up to Andrew Leonard (WK)/ Tim Seaholme (MN) 3-2 (12-10 3-11 11-6 6-11 11-5). The Over 40 Men’s Doubles Final was won by David Jarvis (BP)/ Paul Kyle (WK) who beat Darrell Brown/Depak Patel 3-2 (9-11 11-8 5-11 13-11 11-5). The Over 50 Men’s Doubles was won by Harry Chen with Paul Whitehead (WK) who won against David Jarvis (BP)/Paul Kyle (WK) 3-0 (11-5 11-5 11-8). The Over 60 Men’s Doubles was won by Russell Winkley (HB)/ Dave Scott (BP) who defeated Malcolm Wong/Martin Young 3-0 (11-4 12-10 11-2).
Martin Young won the Over 60 Singles, runner up in the Over 30 and Over 60 Men’s Doubles and a bronze in the C Grade Men’s Singles.
Harry Chen won Over 50 Men’s Doubles and was runner up in the Over 30 men’s Doubles.
Malcolm Wong was runner up in the Over 60 Men’s Doubles.
– Malcolm Wong
Table Tennis NZ has a page on the Umpires & Referees Committee check it out if you’re curious or interesting in progressing your umpiring skills. There’s a lot of good material up there. You may or may not know that when Malcolm Wong turns up at at tournaments like the recent Autumn open that while he might pick up his bat and play – he is also there in a more official capacity. Malcolm is indeed an International Umpire and a National Referee!
Malcolm is also the TTNZ Umpires and Referees Committee Convenor so has work in between tournaments too.  For example.
Malcolm travelled to Palmerston North last September to present Jim Jarmin with his 50 Year Umpiring Service Award (1967-2017).
Jim was born in Manchester, England. He started playing table tennis at the age of 19 in Birmingham. In 1966 Jim moved to New Zealand where he joined the Mount Albert Table Tennis Club in Auckland and qualified as a provincial umpire that same year. Jim later moved to Palmerston North in 1980. He has served on the TTNZ Umpires and Referees Committee and the Table Tennis Manawatu Committee and was also a founder member of the Manawatu Table Tennis Veterans Club. Jim was awarded Life Membership of Table Tennis Manawatu (14/11/2014). Jim, with Chip Eade (Waitemata), won the NZ Men’s Over 45 Doubles in 2005 and the Over 65 Men’s Doubles in both 2005 & 2006. He was selected for the NZ Men’s Over 70 Team in the veterans test against Australia in 2008.  Jim said his proudest achievement was winning the 2014 World Veterans Consolation Men’s Doubles with Werner Krafft (Australia).
The 18th Manawatu Veterans Doubles Tournament, sponsored by Himatangi Transport, was held on the same day as Jim’s award. There was a morning session (62 entries) where players played with their selected partners (6 groups round robin). In the afternoon session (58 entries) players were matched with another player (6 groups round robin). Prizes were given for the first and second place pairs in the morning and to the first place pair in the afternoon. Players came from Wanganui. Stratford, Taumarunui, Edgecumbe, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington. Only Tony Rutledge came from Wellington. He played in the morning session. Former Waterloo player, Ian White (83), who now lives in Levin also played.
-Malcolm Wong & Matthew Hobbs
Table Tennis Wellington 