The TT Sports Wellington Open has been underway this weekend at the Empire Table Tennis Stadium, Win Nguyen has taken a lot of video so far for upload later but he also took some still pictures and here are the ones in my mailbox this morning… (now updated with some more)
Check out http://www.youtube.com/user/ttwfan later today and over the week for Win’s video uploads starting with the men’s open final.
There were 24 entries in the 9th annual Wellington New Chinese Friendship Association Table Tennis tournament, held on Saturday 25 June at the Empire Table Tennis Club (Petone). The organisers were association committee members Kate Wang, Jon Chen and Clara Zhang, with assistance from Frank Su.
The Open Singles was held in the morning. In a repeat of last years final, Catherine Zhou won 3-0 against Robert Chung. Catherine was too strong for all the other men in the field and won all her matches relatively comfortably to claim the title.
In the 3rd place playoff, Martin Young beat Harry Chen 3-0.
In the afternoon, the teams event was held. In the final, Team Imei ( Catherine Zhou, Delano Lam and Frank Su) beat Team Extreme ( Robert Chung, Kai Xu and Tony Law). Team Imei won the first 3 singles matches of the best of 5 match contest to quickly seal the title. Catherine Zhou again beat Robert Chung (3-1), Delano Lam beat Kai Xu (3-1) and Frank Su beat Tony Law (3-2). A great all-round effort by Team Imei.
The junior singles was won by Ian Wang. Ellen Xiong (competing against the boys) came second and Jason Zhao came third. Congratulations Ian, Ellen and Jason!
A big thank you to the Wellington New Chinese Friendship Association and the very hospitable organisers for holding this tournament. An enjoyable day of table tennis was had by all!
– Malcolm Wong and Robert Chung
Full tournament results were published here. Malcolm won the Over 50 Men’s Singles, and the Over 40 and Over 50 Men’s Doubles. This takes his Nelson titles to 18 and he has 68 in total! Malcolm reports that the tournament was well run due to the efficient organisation of Paul Op de Buysch, Donny Harris, Chris Hood and Debbie Stratford. Also his thanks to Karen Holmes and her team (Noelene Wells, Kay Hazeldine, and Dianne Watson) for running the cafeteria (presumably Malcolm has fond memories of the cafeteria!).
From Canterbury Table Tennis Association:
This is a reminder that the Canterbury Open is on Saturday and Sunday, the 9th and 10th of July 2011. The number of entries last year was a record and the standard of players and competition was fantastic. This year the Men’s finalists will share $1,000 and the Women’s finalists will share $500 prize money. Please visit our website for nearby accommodation options and the Entry Form and Info.
Entries Close Thursday 30 June 2011.
The Table Tennis stadium, surrounding suburbs (Riccarton Mall, local motels etc), Airport and generally our whole side of town have been largely unaffected by the earthquakes and aftershocks. If you fly in, drive to the TT stadium, stay anywhere nearby, visit the Mall etc you will not even know we have had earthquakes (If you especially visit the CDB or drive to the other side of town (eastern suburbs) you will then see the impact of the earthquake on old buildings, and liquefaction damage to roads and properties). The media only highlight the sad and sensationalist effects. Life after the quakes was quickly back to normal for most of us in Christchurch.
Please contact the stadium (03) 341 5561 if you have any queries.
Sincerely
Canterbury Table Tennnis Association.
[ed note: I had problems accessing their site with Google Chrome, it is fine in IE]
See here: Junior Development Entry July 2011. Age groups are Under 12, Under 14, and Under 17. (You can enter up to two consecutive age groups.) Entries close Thursday July 7.
All-comers welcome though past winners should note that previous singles winners are not be eligible for the same age group that they were successful in.
OK, here are the details…
Conditions: 2011 Wgtn Open Conditions
Entry Form: Wellington Open Entry form & in pdf format.
Tournament Correspondence to Paul Solt (tournament [at] ttwellington.org.nz).
Entries due June 28.
OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS:
Canterbury Open (July 9/10) click here.
North Harbour Open: click here (Sunday July 24).
Palmerston North (Himatangi Transport Veterans 12th Graded Open Doubles) Sunday Aug 6: Vets Graded Doubles 2011
Empire club have a regular newsletter “Empire Spin” – for those outside of Empire I’m taking the liberty of extracting some pieces from it and pasting below (with a couple of pics from Malcolm Wong). Any other clubs with news are most welcome to post here or email to me and I can put it into a blog entry too. It’s always interesting to share what’s going on!
Empire Spin
April 2011
Recent Results
Empire Vets Tournament 2011
First a big thank you to Chris Williams for doing all the pre-tournament planning and excellent organisation of the events on the day. Everything went very smoothly, the atmosphere was good and there were some enjoyable round robins and matches until mid-afternoon when unfortunately Merv Allardyce collapsed. Everyone rallied to help and special thanks must go to Melanie Armstrong who performed CPR before the ambulances (2) arrived. We are pleased to say Merv, although still in Wellington Hospital at the time of writing, is now doing well. Most people carried on playing although the atmosphere was not the same after Merv’s collapse.
Thanks must also go to our prize sponsors Graeme Jackson and Opus for 6 bottles of wine and to Paul Solt for the 4 bat cleaning kits. Additional prizes were purchased. Light refreshments provided by Maggie Dyer were available on the day – bread rolls, fruit and homemade slices.
We are pleased to announce the results:
| Event | Place | Name |
| Combined Age Doubles | WinnersRunners / up | Jim Jarmin / Ian WhiteMerv Allardyce / Chas Wong |
| Over 40 Doubles | WinnersRunners / up | Depak Patel / Keith AldersleyLindsay Ward / Ian Talbot |
| Over 40 Singles Division 1 | WinnerRunner / up | Lindsay Ward Ian Talbot |
| Over 40 Singles Division 2 | WinnerRunner / up | Depak Patel Raewyn Young |
| Combined Age Singles Division 1 | WinnerRunner / up | Jim Jarmin / Ian White (shared) |
| Combined Age Singles Division 2 | WinnerRunner / up | Paul Hurst Joy Mozer |
Summer Interclub
Congratulations to Depak Patel, a member of the winning team “Pommie Gits” in Section 1 and Elias Villaneuva and Kai Xu of “Dangerous” who won Section 3. Empire members playing and their results are shown below:
| Section One | Team | Played | Won | Lost | %age |
| Depak Patel | Pommie Gits |
10 |
10 |
0 |
100% |
| John Gan | Gantals |
10 |
8 |
2 |
80% |
| Ian Talbot | Gantals |
10 |
6 |
4 |
60% |
| Larn Sweeney | Wolverines |
10 |
5 |
5 |
50% |
| Raewyn Young | Young Guns |
10 |
4 |
6 |
40% |
| Paul Solt | Team Jools |
8 |
3 |
5 |
37.50% |
| Jason Giles | Assassins |
10 |
1 |
9 |
10% |
| Warren Evans | Assassins |
10 |
1 |
9 |
10% |
| Section 2 | |||||
| Mat Hobbs | Pong Masters |
10 |
8 |
3 |
80% |
| Martin Young | Courage |
10 |
5 |
5 |
50% |
| Malcolm Wong | Courage |
10 |
2 |
8 |
20% |
| Harry Chen | Brave |
9 |
1 |
8 |
11.10% |
| Section 3 | |||||
| Elias Villaneuva | Dangerous |
10 |
10 |
0 |
100% |
| Kai Xu | Dangerous |
10 |
10 |
0 |
100% |
| Rahul Suvarnan | Fearless |
10 |
8 |
2 |
80% |
| Hayden Kirkbeck | Executioners |
10 |
7 |
3 |
70% |
| Darren O’Brien | Heroes |
10 |
5 |
5 |
50% |
| Russell Buchanan | Heroes |
10 |
5 |
5 |
50% |
| Graham Sole | Executioners |
9 |
4 |
5 |
44.40% |
| Rod Weston | Fearless |
10 |
3 |
7 |
30% |
| Adam Xiong | Gladiators |
8 |
1 |
7 |
12.50% |
| Ellen Xiong | Gladiators |
10 |
0 |
10 |
0% |
Wanganui Open
Four keen and hardy souls went from Empire Club to play in the Wanganui Open on Saturday 16 April. A good day was had by all and some even made a profit (prize money earned exceeded entry fees) on the day! Here are the results of their day:
Depak Patel
Open Mens Singles – Runner up
Open Mixed Doubles with Raewyn Young – Winner
Over 40 Mens Singles – Runner up
Over 40 Mens Doubles with Bryan McConnochie (Titan) – Winner
Over 40 Mixed Doubles with Raewyn Young – Winner
Over 50 Mens Singles – Winner
Over 50 Mens Doubles with Bryan McConnochie (Titan) – Winner
Raewyn Young
Open Womens Singles – Winner
Open Womens Doubles with Gladys Halford (Manawatu) – Winner
Open Mixed Doubles with Depak Patel – Winner
Over 40 Womens Singles – Winner
Over 40 Mixed Doubles with Depak Patel – Winner
Paul Solt
Over 50 Mens Singles – Runner up
Over 50 Mens Doubles with David Welch (Wanganui) – Runner up
Elias Villaneava
Open Mens Singles Plate – Winner
Coming up…..
Coaching Nights
Depak with help from Raewyn, is now running a coaching night for members, every Thursday night. Come along and pay the usual $4.00 or use your concession card and take advantage of some expert coaching.
Winter Interclub
This is likely to commence towards the end of May. If you would like to play please contact Chris Williams.
Friday Night Club
The junior club’s first night for the year is Friday 29th April. This is open to all children, although most suited to those late Primary school age to early Secondary School. Come along from 6.30 pm.
Plaque for Time Capsule Project
This has now been engraved by Peter Campbell, so keep an eye out on the Time Capsule as it is expected to be attached soon. Thanks to Arthur and his helpers, it is great now to see the project completed…well until the year 2034 when the capsule can be opened!
Click below for the Teams and Individual Entry Forms for the New Zealand Open Championships to be held in Christchurch from the 12th to the 16th of October, 2011. Please note the closing date of 31st August 2011.
http://www.tabletennis.org.nz/nationalevents.htm
2011 Marlborough Open Table Tennis Championships
Supported by The Redwood Trust
SIMCOX STADIUM, Batty’s Road, Springlands, Blenheim
Saturday 7th May and Sunday 8th May
Entries due May 2, click here for the details.
North Harbour Table Tennis are hosting their Junior Open on Sunday May 15.
Click here for more details. Entries are due May 10.
EMPIRE VETERANS TOURNAMENT|
9:00 – 9:30am |
Registrations, practice time |
|
9:30 – 12:30pm |
Round robins for all singles and doubles events |
|
1:00 – 3.00pm |
Post section play |
|
3:00 – 4:30pm |
Semi finals and finals |
Players may enter in only one age group.
The organisers reserve the right to merge events or change the format, depending on the number of entries.
Light refreshments will be available for purchase.
“”The North Island Open Championships Entry Forms are available at http://www.tabletennis.org.nz/nationalevents.htm
These Championship are being held in Palmerston North from 29 April to 1 May 2011.
Entries Close 8 April 2011. Entry fees payable with entry – details at above and on the forms.
The Manawautu Association advise that the published timetable is a proposed one. They may be adjusted when the number of entries is ascertained.
They will email entrants when finalised, so do not forget to include your email address on the entry form. The start times will also be published on the web site.” – TTNZ
(Wednesday, March 9th ) CHANGED TO Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Complimentary BBQ and Drinks will be held at the conclusion of play!
The latest report from Malcolm Wong:
The New Zealand Masters Games (4-13 February, 2011), a multi sports event, started in Wanganui (1989) and alternates between Wanganui and Dunedin. Dave Welch has organised the table tennis from the beginning, which is held at Jubilee Stadium. Dennis Galvin (Waitemata) and Robert Dunn (North Harbour) have been to the table tennis at all the Games in Wanganui.
Six gold medals to Raewyn Young and Ian Talbot
Raewyn Young made a clean sweep of the Over 35 and Over 45 individual events, winning the Women Singles, Women Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Ian Talbot was a member of the winning Over 35, Over 45 and Over 55 teams. He also won the Men’s Doubles in the same age groups. Other Wellington players to win gold medals were Bryan McConnochie (4), Chris Talbot (3), Depak Patel (2) and Graeme Sole (1).
Teams events (Wednesday- Friday, 9-11 February)
In the Over 55 teams, Bryan McConnochie and Ian Talbot retained their title winning all their matches. In the Over 45 teams Chris and Ian Talbot won their fourth consecutive title in a close final 3-2 against Depak Patel/Raewyn Young. In the Over 35 teams, the Talbot brothers and Bryan McConnochie won the final 4-1 against Depak Patel, Raewyn Young and Paul Solt. This was also the Talbot brothers fourth consecutive title.
A player collapsed from heat exhaustion in the late afternoon, during the teams event. He went to hospital and was later discharged. This happened despite him drinking plenty of water during the day. It was a reminder that players must listen to what their bodies are telling them.
Individual Events (Saturday-Sunday 12-13 February)
Saturday was the longest day with play finishing at 10.30pm. This was due to allowing people to enter both the Over 35 and Over 55 events. In the Over 35 Men’s Singles final Shane Wilson (Wanganui) beat Ian Talbot 3-0 which was a repeat of the 2005 final. A great 43rd birthday present for Shane, who was the 1993 Wellington Open Men’s Singles winner. Charly Talumepa (Manawatu) won the Over 45 Men’s Singles beating Chris Talbot 3-2. Gerard Lucas (Sri Lanka) retained the Over 55 Men’s Singles 3-2 against Ian Talbot. Gerard also won the Over 65 and Over 70 Men’s Singles and won the most gold medals for table tennis (7).
Doctor Gerard Lucas, a retired paediatrician, was the former Sri Lanka number 1 (1965) and national team member. He had wins against the visiting Pakistan national champion, the Russian ranked number 2 player and Chinese players. In 1967 he won the All India Men’s Doubles, with P V Gopalakrishnan. At the World Masters Games in Edmonton, Canada (2005) he won the Silver medal in the Over 55 Men’s Doubles.
The Women Singles was won by Raewyn Young (Over 35 and Over 45), Val Scarr (Over 55 and Over 65) and Annice Robottom (Over 70). A certain international umpire was 65 on Sunday. She will be umpiring at the World Championships held in May, in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
Results are on the NZ Masters Games site.
Fancy a trip down south? See the TTNZ National Events page for all the details… (entry forms from the Table Tennis Southland website, entries close March 7).
From the newsletter:
With the collapse of the roof over Stadium Southland due to excessive snow we have been able to secure the ILT Velodrome (part of Stadium Southland) for the 2011 New Zealand Veteran Championships together with the Paul Skelt Hall at Badminton Southland (across carpark from Stadium Southland).
The Velodrome will have a mobile wooden floor installed for Netball and Basketball which we are able to use during Easter. This floor will hold 14 tables. A further 4 tables will be used in the Badminton Stadium (Paul Skelt Hall). Also a wooden floor.
INVERCARGILL is the gateway to the south. Planes fly into Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown. Air New Zealand is the only one to fly into Invercargill.
Take an extra one or two weeks to travel south via the South Otago road through the Catlins to Invercargill. Visit Stewart Island by boat, approx 1 hr or fly about 15 min. Visit beautiful Fiordland via coast road through Riverton to Manapouri, Doubtful Sound, Te Anau, Milford Sound, then to Queenstown.
It takes approx 2 ½ hrs to travel to Manapouri, Te Anau or Queenstown, but there are lots to see on the way so allow for more time. Wanaka, West Coast, Mount Cook are all worthwhile taking time to visit.
The 27th Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships were held recently (16-23 October 2010) at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne.
This venue was situated in a south Melbourne suburb next to a lake in Albert Park, where the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is held every year.
Over 300 participants from around Australia and New Zealand took part, covering ages 40 to over 80. New Zealand had its biggest team ever with 30 players making the trip over the Tasman.
Four players from Table Tennis Wellington took part in the championships. The Over 50 Mens A team consisted of Depak Patel (captain) and Ian Talbot (both Empire) and Bryan McConnochie from Titan/Kapiti. Raewyn Young (Empire) was the captain of the Over 40 Womens team. The other team members were Joanna Ma (Otago) and Akiko Goto (Canterbury).
Over 40 Womens Teams results:
| vs Victoria B | won 11-0 |
| vs Queensland B | won 10-1 |
| vs Northern Territory | won 10-1 |
| vs Western Australia | won 10-1 |
| vs Queensland | won 6-5 |
| vs New South Wales B | won 10-1 |
| vs Presidents | won 8-3 |
| vs New South Wales | won 6-5 |
| vs Victoria | won 6-5 |
In the final against Victoria, Akiko played the final match against Vicki Carruthers (a very experienced player), who had already lost to Raewyn and Joanna. Akiko was not expected to win but showed great determination to fight back from 2 sets down to win 11-13, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8. The NZ team erupted with delight when the last point was won – a truly memorable experience. This team was the first from NZ to win a gold medal in a team event since this tournament commenced 27 years ago.
Raewyn won 70% of her matches and was placed 9th and Joanna was placed 2nd on the Merit List.
Over 50 Mens Teams results:
| vs Queensland B | won 8-3 |
| vs ACT B | won 10-1 |
| vs Northern Territory | won 6-5 Bryan won the last match 3-0 |
| vs Victoria | lost 2-9 |
| vs New South Wales | lost 0-11 Was a tough day at the office! Bryan got a set of Paul Pinkevic |
| vs Tasmania | won 7-4 |
| vs New South Wales B | won 11-0 |
| vs Queensland | lost 3-8 Ian defaulted 2 matches due to injury |
Depak won 58% of his matches with Bryan winning 50% and Ian 46%. The team finished a creditable 6th out of 14 teams.
Did you attend a National event: Norths or Souths (team or individual), Nationals Junior or Senior, NZ Vets)? Please return the survey per the email copied below from Tim Seaholme (ttnzar [AT] xtra [dot] co [dot] nz).
Dear Association/Player,
As you know 2010 had in place a trail tournament structure, and the review process for this is underway. TTNZ would love to include your experiences and views on how this has gone and invite you to complete an online survey by following this link:
TableTennis NZ survey_distributed.pdf
Your views will help to shape the tournament structure in 2011 so please take the time to complete the short survey. Please complete your responses by Sunday 7th November.
TTNZ hope that you have had an enjoyable year of table tennis, and I look forward to more excitement next year.
Kind regards,
Tim Seaholme.
NZ wins gold at the Australian Vets Over 40s women’s team event, beating Victoria 6-5 in the final!
This team includes Raewyn Young (captain) (Empire Club) with: Sarah Sandley, Joanna Ma, & Akiko Goto.
For detailed results click here.
Note also the over 50 Men No. 1 Team: Ian Talbot (Empire Club), Bryan McConnochie (Kapiti), Depak Patel (Captain) (Empire Club).
More details and pics coming soon…
Peak result summary includes:
Both Wellington teams won their grading matches (men 3-2 over Tahiti to go into the B Grade and the women 3-2 over Tahiti to go into the A Grade).
Team results here:
2010 New Zealand Senior Open Team Events results
The men 5th in B Grade and the women 6th in A Grade. Congratulations to all!
“Roger Rao (Auckland) (pictured) created history at the TTNZ National Senior Championships when he became the youngest ever winner of the men’s singles at 13 years and 337 days, breaking a record previously held by TTNZ Hall of Fame inductee Richard Lee………..”(TTNZ) 
Click here for a NZ Herald article on the NZ team currently competing at the Commonwealth Games.
The TTNZ site posts results.
Or go here for a ‘what’s on’ and recent results search on NZ Herald.
Update: NZHerald on the quarter final loss to Malaysia
Update: TTNZ wrap-up here: New Zealand Table Tennis Team at the Commonwealth Games– with lots of great pictures also note Val Scarr of Manawatu umpired in the teams Gold match between England and Singapore.
L/R: Jenny Hung, Annie Yang, Li Chunli (coach), Karen Li, Yang Sun
