The 2020 version of the November ‘Four Wednesdays’ competition has finished following some weeks of interesting and competitive play. Points were accumulated over the weeks, based on the closeness or otherwise of singles matches and a few doubles thrown in. A total of 29 players participated, 23 of them playing all four weeks. Thanks to all players for their commitment.
The winner this year was Manish Ahlawat, who had led from the second week, although he suffered a couple of losses in the final week. Runner up was Mat Hobbs, closely followed by Depak Patel and Darrell Brown. Congratulations to each of these players.
Brian (left in the image above) was born in Wellington (1947). At the age of 12, with his father and two younger brothers, they started playing table tennis in their garage. Later at age 14 he started playing table tennis at the nearby Northland Community Centre (Wellington). The same year (1961) Brian played A Reserve Grade table tennis for the Northland Club ( with Pat Williams, Colin Brydon and Phil Tessier). The team finished 2nd in the grade with 26 points. Just 2 points behind the winner, Municipal. Brian was a right handed attacking and counter-attacking player. His main weapon was his forehand heavy loop topspin shot.
The next year the team was promoted to the Wellington A Grade. Brian was to be in a A Grade team until he retires at the end of the 1975 season. In A Grade Brian played for Northland (1962-3), Onslow (1964-66), Kilbirnie RSA (1967-73), Kilbirnie United Eagles (1974) and Kilbirnie United (1975). He won the club singles at the Northland and Kilbirnie RSA Club. Kilbirnie RSA won the A Grade in 1971 (Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust, John Woodcock) and 1973 (Richard Lee, Adrian Lust, Brian Kennedy, Lindsay Ward, Boris Halama). In 1974 Kilbirnie United Eagles (Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust, Lindsay Ward, Warren Mak) won the A Grade.
Kilbirnie RSA ( R Lee, A Lust, B Kennedy) won the inaugural Rothmans National Club Team Competition in 1973, beating Canterbury University in the final 8-3 at Newtown Stadium, Wellington.. The players invested the $100 prize into the Wellington Association new stadium fund.
Brian first represented Wellington as a junior (1962-65). His first match in 1962 was for the Under 16 Wellington Boys team (with Bruce Young, Ken McNatty, Neil Langley) against Hutt Valley (lost 5-7). In the Junior Boys he was ranked 5th (1963) and 1st (1965). There was no Junior Boys ranking in the 1964 Wellington Annual Report. His brother Paul was also ranked in the Wellington Junior Boys. 10th (1965), 9th (1966) 7th (1967) and 2nd (1968). Brian won the 1963 Wellington Open Under 16 Boys Singles. In 1964 he won the Wellington Open Under 18 Boys Doubles and the Wellington Senior Secondary Schools Boys Doubles (both with Brian Gregory).
Brian was ranked on the Wellington Men’s List 10th (1966), 9th (1968), 6th (1969), 5th (1970, 2nd (1971 & 1972), 3rd (1973) and 1st (1974 & 1975). He was in the Wellington Men’s Team to the NZ Teams Competition (1970-75). The 1970 team was 6th in A Grade and lost the promotion/relegaton match to Northland 2-6 to be relegated from A Grade. His Wellington Team won B Grade in 1971 and lost the promotion/relegation match to Hutt Valley 1-5. In 1972 the team won B Grade and won the promotion/relegation match against Otago 6-0 to regain A Grade status. The team was in A Grade for the next 3 years when Brian was in the team. He was in the Wellington Team the won the Croudis Shield against Hutt Valley (1972 and 1973) and the Clapshaw Shield against Canterbury (1975). He was also in the Wellington Team that won the Lower North Island Teams Tournament (Hawera) in 1973 and 1975.
Malcolm Wong and Martin Young participated at this tournament held at the Edgar Centre, Portsmouth Drive, Dunedin. There were 18 tables (16 Butterfly and 2 Stiga Tables). 75 players entered in the novice and Over 35, 45, 55, 65, 70 and 75 age groups. Singles were in the morning and Doubles and Mixed Doubles were in the afternoon. Malcolm wins a gold in the Over 65 Men’s Doubles and bronze in the Over 65 Men’s Singles and Over 65 Mixed Doubles. Martin wins bronze in the Over 45 Men’s Doubles.
On Saturday Martin Young qualified second in his group behind John Fogarty (Dunedin) losing 2-3 to him and lost in the semi finals of the Over 45 Men’s Singles to Wang Qi (Dunedin) 0-3. In the bronze medal match in the Over 45 Men’s Singles he lost to John Fogarty 2-3. Martin Young with Peter Williams (Auckland) lost in the semi finals of the Over 45 Men’s Doubles to Willie Brocks and Zahid Hanif (Dunedin) 1-3. They won the bronze medal match in the Over 45 Men’s Doubles 3-1 against Richard Keen (Dunedin) and John Keenan (Masterton).
With Covid having an impact, only one series of Winter Interclub was held in 2020. A big thanks to those who participated.
Premier was split into two groups, streamed by TTNZ rating points to try and concentrate the talent. Two player teams played off and some good matches were seen. In Premier One, the Waterloo Wasps came out on top, with Sean Hanson going through unbeaten and supported well by Vance Kelly who improved with regular hard play. Premier Two saw the Empire Echoes come through on top after the round robin, but they were overcome by the Titan Tarantulas in the final.
Division One proved an interesting grade with many solid players and some close matchups between the top teams. The Empire Enigmas benefited from only using three players and deservedly won the grade, although they will look back on several close threats to their unbeaten run.
Division Three had only five teams and Karori Kaboom were the top team, scoring heavily most weeks. There were a number of new players in this grade and they will have benefitted from the experience.
Each grade had its own Grade Championships with the main results below:
Premier One Winner: Depak Patel Runner Up: Darrell Brown Premier Two Winner: Manish Ahlawat Runner Up: Nabetari Tioti Division One Winner: Sabine Westenra Runner Up: Om Thakur Division Two Winner: Quoc Dinh Runner Up: Roger Watkin
Sad news with Merv Allardyce passing away on Saturday (July 11) age 88. As a Life Member of the Empire Table Tennis Club he was also well known within the Wellington and indeed the New Zealand table tennis community including as a dedicated administrator for TTNZ in the head office for 11 years. He will be missed by so many, sympathies from us all to Merv’s family.
The 2020 Table Tennis Wellington Veterans Open is now being held on Saturday June 27! The conditions and forms are below or use the online form to enter. Please enter by 6pm on Wednesday June 24.
There are over 40/50/60/70 age groups (if you turn that age on or before Dec 31, 2020) – singles and doubles. The tournament will be held at the Empire Table Tennis Club Hall, Marine Parade, Petone. Round up your friends and car-pool in! Please pass this information on to anyone else you know who may be interested.
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.
Normally about now we would be coming to the end of Series One of Winter Interclub. The calendar is against us to run a full competition and the reality is also that many players are just starting to pick up their bats again and probably need some time to get up to speed.
Accordingly, starting Wednesday 17 June, we are running a four-week competition, singles only, with players split into groups of 9. Players will be streamed and will play a round robin over two weeks against the other 8 players in their group (four singles a night). They will repeat the process over the following two weeks.
We therefore invite players to nominate themselves, either directly or via their clubs, to me by Friday 12 June. Please only enter if you expect to be able to play for each of the four Wednesdays commencing 17 June.
Gary Hudson Roselli (85) 21/1/1934-13/7/2019 Dies 13 July 2019 suddenly at home aged 85 years. Dearly loved husband of Pam and father of Carol, Annette, Maria, Gina. Lesley, Richard and Gaye (Dominion Post 15 July 2019). photo: 1959 Gary Roselli (National Library Site)
Gary was born in Westport, the youngest of 3 boys. His oldest brother was Peter followed by Leon. He went to Westport North Primary School and Westport Techical High School (now Buller High School). After school he began his pharmacy studies. He was good at sports, especially table tennis and tennis, where he was a junior/senior West Coast Representative.
In 1948 he played a match against former world champion Michael (Miklos)Szabados in Westport and in 1949 played against fomerly World Champion Victor Barna in Westport.
Gary won the West Coast Open Boys Singles (1948,1949 & 1951), Men’s Singles (1953) Men’s Doubles (1951& 1953 with John Allan) and Mixed Doubles (1953 with Miss B Walsh). The Buller Open Men’s Singles (1953 & 1954), Men’s Doubles (1953 with J Allan) and Mixed Doubles (1954 with V Walker). Also the 1954 Buller Closed Men’singles and Mixed Doubles with Miss K Mooney. There was no Buller Open (1950-52) and the 1954 West Coast Open results were not received by Table Tennis NZ.
In 1955 Gary moved to Wellington and worked in 2 pharmacies in the city before moving to High Street, Lower Hutt (1961) where he remained until he retired. He joined the Onslow Table Tennis Club. He won the Onslow Club Singles Champion 3 times (1959-61) and also won the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles 3 times. The Men’s Doubles was won in 1960 & 1961 with Rudd Taylor and in 1962 with Ivan Houghton. The Mixed Doubles was won in 1959 with his then wife Margaret Roselli and in 1960-61 with Madeline Hooker.
He played Wellington A Grade for Onslow. The team finished 5th (1957) 5th (1958), 4th (1959), 2nd (1958), 4th (1959), 2nd (1960) 5th (1961) and 2nd ( 1962).
Gary won reached the Quarter Finals of the 1958 NZ Men’s Singles, beating the 8th seed George Smith (Auckland) and Ron Foster (Otago) before losing to the winner Bob Jackson (Auckland). He was ranked Number 9 on the NZ Men’s Ranking List that year. In 1959 He won the Hutt Valley Open Men’s Singles defeating John Crossley (Wgtn) 3-2 (21-23 21-14 15-21 21-19 21-17). In the 1959 North Island Men’s Doubles Final Gary and Roy Lea (Wgtn) lost to Murray Dunn/John Crossley (Wgtn) 0-3 ( 15-21 19-21 19-21). In 1961he won the Hutt Valley Open Mixed Doubles with Val Smythe (Wgtn).
Gary was ranked on the Wellington Men’s ranking list 6 times (1957 (9) 1958 (3) 1959 (3) 1960 (3) 1961 (2) and 1962 (6). He was selected in the Wellington Men’s Team to the NZ Championships (1958-61). In 1958 Wellington were runner up to Auckland with their match tied at 6-6 (Auckland winning on games 15-13). Wellington were again runner ups in 1959 losing to Auckland 0-12. In 1961 Wellington ( Murray Dunn (Captain, Geoff Jennings, Gary Roselli, John Crossley, Mike Beder) won the Kean Shield ( NZ A Grade Men’s Team) winning all 5 matches including beating Auckland 9-3 in the final.
Gary was in a Wellington Team that won the Croudis Shield against Hutt Valley (1958 17-11 1959 16-10 1960 score not in annual report 1961 19-9). The Claphaw Trophy against Canterbury was won in 1958 22-6 and 1961 15-13. The Gordon Cup against Auckland was won in 1961 at Taumarunui 18-10 which was the last time the Cup was completed for. He was in the Wellington team that beat Wairarapa 1958 12-0 and 1961 32-16. In 1958 he was in the Wellington Men’s Team that beat NZ University 11-1.
Gary later played for the Empire Club and was mainly a reserve for the top team in A Grade interclub (1965-76). He played 4 matches (won 10 lost 2) for the 1972 Empire A Grade No 1 Team (with Hone Ridley, Warren Evans and Keith Pointon) which won the Hutt Valley A Grade. He was in the 1973 A Grade Team (with Hone Ridley and Pat Low) that won the Hutt Valley A Grade where he won 23 out of 36 matches. 1981 was his last year of interclub for Empire for the A Reserve No 1 Team (with Tony Rutledge, Keith Pointon and Merv Allardyce) which finished 3rd.
In Tennis Gary was a Life Member of the Avalon Tennis Club. He won 5 NZ Veterans Men’s Doubles and 4 NZ Veterans Mixed Doubles Titles. They were:
1985 NZ Over 50 Men’s Doubles with Ivan Easton 1986 NZ Over 50 men’s Doubles with Geoff Lankow 1993 NZ Over 55 Men’s Doublies with Viv Hargreaves 2000 NZ Over 65 Men’s Doubles with Tom Wotherspoon 2001 NZ Over 65 Men’s Doubles with Tom Wotherspoon 1993 NZ Over 55 Mixed Doubles with Mary Ryan 1995 NZ Over 60 Mixed Doubles with Ann Stephens 1997 NZ Over 60 Mixed Doubles with Mary Ryan 2000 NZ Over 65 Mixed Doubles with Jean Stevens In 1990 Gary with Geoff Lankow were runner up in Australian Over 55 Men’s Doubles Gary represented NZ in the following Veterans teams tournaments overseas 1994 Men’s Over 60 – Von Cramm Cup, Florida USA with Larry O’Neill & Russell Blewden 1995 Men’s Over 60 – Von Cramm Cup, Portschach Austria with Don Tayor & Larry O’Neill 1998 Men’s Over 60 – Von Cramm Cup , Fort Lauderdale, USA with Larry O’Neill, Don Taylor & John Hempsted 1999 Men’s Over 65 – Britannia Cup, Costa Brava Spain with Larry O’Neill & Don Taylor
Information for this article came from Peter Roselli (details on Gary before his move to Wellington) , National Library site, Wellington Table Tennis Annual Reports, Onslow Table Tennis Club records, Table Tennis NZ Website, Table Tennis Review (July & Aug 1959), Avalon Tennis Annual Report. NZ Tennis Seniors website and Tennis Seniors Australia website.
Betty Irene Thompson (nee Powell) died 5/03/2019 in Wellington, aged 97. Much loved mother of Trevor, Jennifer, Lester and Louise and special grandmother of Michael and Laura. (Dominion Post, 7 March 2019)
Betty first played table tennis in 1939 at work in Wellington during the lunch hour and after work. She played interclub for Railways and Technical (1948) and was ranked in the Wellington Women rankings 1946 (5), 1947 (4), 1948 (6). She was a Wellington Women’s Representative to the 1947 NZ Championships that won the Women’s A Grade Teams and became the first team to win the Herbert G Teagle Memorial Shield. Betty was an allround attacking player on both wings.
In 1946 Betty won the North Island Women Doubles with May Wareham (Wgtn) and the Mixed Doubles with Eric Boniface (Wgtn). Also the Hutt Valley Open Mixed Doubles with Eric Boniface.
In 1947 Betty won the NZ Mixed Doubles with Eric Boniface. The South Island Women Doubles with Audrey Hunt (HV) and Mixed Doubles with W J (Bill) Fogarty (Otg). Also the Wellington Open Women Doubles with A P (Agnes) Knight (Wgtn) and Hutt Valley Open Women Doubles with A Hunt. In 1948 Betty retained the Hutt Valley Open Women Doubles with A Hunt.
Betty moved to Manawatu in 1949. She won the Taranaki Open Women Singles and Doubles,with M Fahey, and gained a NZ Women ranking of 10th.
Betty then moved to Timaru and won the South Canterbury Women Singles (1951 & 1953) and Women Doubles with E A Collins (1952 & 1953). She won the 1952 South Island Women’s Singles and Doubles with E A Collins. She was on the NZ Ranking list 1951 (9), 1952 (4) and 1953 (7). Betty was the only player to defeat Margaret Hoar in the 1953 NZ Women’s A Grade Teams.
In 1954 Betty moved to Otaki in the Manawatu. She won the Manawatu Closed Women Singles (1954 & 1955), Women Doubles with Merle Rolston (1955) and Mixed Doubles with H Jones (1955).
Also 8 more Provincial Open Doubles and 3 Mixed Doubles Titles. They were: 1954 Wairarapa Open Women’s Doubles with N Andrews (Wairarapa) 1956 Wanganui Open Women’s Doubles with Val Rolston (Manawatu) 1957 Bush Open Wpmen’s Doubles with Val Rolston 1957 Hutt Valley Open Women’s Doubles with Val Rolston 1957 Hutt Valley Mixed Doubles with Hugh Lauder (Wgtn) 1957 Manawatu Open Women’s Doubles with Val Rolston 1958 Wellington Open Women’s Doubles with Val Rolston 1958 Wellington Mixed Doubles with Hugh Lauder 1958 Manawatu Open Women’s Doubles with Val Rolston 1958 Bush Open Women’s Doubles with Val Rolston 1958 Bush Open Mixed Doubles with Hugh Lauder
In Veterans events Betty (Rotorua) won the 1978 NZ Over 45 Women Singles and Doubles with D Ord (Manawatu). In 2006 representing Manawau She won the North Island Over 65 Doubles with Merle Sneddon (MN) and Over 70 Mixed Doubles with Bill Otene (WT). In 2009 Betty won the NZ Masters Games Over 70 Women Doubles with Betty Meads.
Thanks to the Dominion Post, TTNZ Annual Reports, Table Tennis Wellington Annual Reports, Table Tennis Wanganui website and the TTNZ photo archives for information that is in this article.
– Malcolm Wong
1947 Wellington Association Representatives L/R back: L M Wilson (captain), J S Crossley, M Gosling, E Boniface seated: A Hughes, D R Croxton, E P Marshall (manager), B I Powell, A P Knight front: R S Gray, B J Eames
1955 Manawatu Women’s Team at NZ Championships – Napier L/R: Janet Oxenam, Merle Rolston, Daphne McLean, Lois Rodgers, Betty Powell
The 2020 Table Tennis Wellington Veterans Open is being held on Saturday March 21 the conditions and forms are below or use the online form to enter. Please enter by 6pm on Wednesday March 18.
There are over 40/50/60/70 age groups (if you turn that age on or before Dec 31, 2020) – singles and doubles. The tournament will be held at the Empire Table Tennis Club Hall, Marine Parade, Petone. Round up your friends and car-pool in! Please pass this information on to anyone else you know who may be interested.
Announcing TTW Summer Competition (interclub) for 2020 – round up your teammate(s) and spread the news and we look forward to your entry!
Two
player teams, play two other teams each night, best of 5 to 11
Five Wednesdays March 4 – April 1 @ Empire TTC Hall (04 568 6054)
Open from 6:40pm, matches to start 7pm
FEES $7 per player per Wednesday to
the duty official before play
ENTER by Thurs Feb 27 via your club or email (we match extras into composite teams). A team can have any number of players but only two play per match.
FORMAT 2 Player teams: each team plays two matches (against two other teams) each Wednesday – each team vs. team match is two singles each (best of 5 to 11) plus a one-set doubles (best of 1 to 11) played only if it is 2-all as a tie-break. I.e. each night you play four singles and sometimes also one or two doubles sets.
STRUCTURE Divisions
depend on entries. Match sheets will be kept
for tie breaking.
RESULTS Available here and printed for display on the ETTC wall.
CONDUCT The TTW Code of Conduct (see the website) will be enforced.
BALLS White 3-star balls will be
provided, accordingly you must wear non-white shirts.
RESERVES Each team find your own fill-ins, consider rotating a third player in your team.
By Malcolm Wong on the 2019 Oceania Junior Table Tennis Championships – Nuku’alofa (7-10 August) at which he a part of tournament’s team of officials.
I arrived on Monday afternoon (5 August) on a Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Fua’amotu International Airport, Tonga. Siaoski Faka’osi (Tournament Director) was there to meet me. His day job is Team Operations Coordinator for the Tonga Rugby Union and he has been to the last 2 Rugby World Cup as a Tongan Official. He transported me to the Atele Indoor Stadium where the 3rd Elevate Performance Training Camp (4-6 August) for Fiji (4) and Tonga (6) juniors was being run by Patrick Wuertz (former Oceania High Performance Officer).
Later I was taken to my accommodation at Villa Ishadora Hotel, which is by the Pacific Ocean. This was where the overseas referees and umpires stayed. Barry Griffiths (General Manager – ITTF Oceania) and Ryan Wiegand (Events Officer – ITTF Oceania) who was the ITTF Competition Manager for the tournament, were also staying there. Jessica Macaskill (Development Officer – ITTF Oceania) was also in Tonga to assist with the tournament.
Andrew Maguire, Paul Solt, Malcolm Wong, & Tomos Christie travelled to the Marlborough Open while Paul Solt & Malcolm travelled to the Nelson Open. See the attachments for Malcolm’s reports now that I’ve finally posted them!
This year’s November competition saw 37 players turn up on at least one night, including 25 who played three or four nights.
Thanks go to all the regulars, but thanks in particular to those players of the Winter Division One and Two standards who were prepared to play against the lower rated youngsters and encourage them in their quest for improvement. No doubt you will be seeing more of them in the next few seasons!
The competition was more about turning up and enjoying table tennis, sometimes against players not played before. Points were largely incidental, but the following had the top results at the end.
1 Depak Patel (25 points)
2 John Gan (24 points)
3 Darrell Brown, Nabetari Tioti (22 points)
5 Liam Johnston, Harry Chen (21 points)
7 Matthew Hobbs (20 points)
8 Lucas Yang, Michael Stechman, Om Thakur, Zhidong Yu (19 points)
Schedule Under 12 1.15 pm Under 14 9.30 am Under 17 1.15 pm
Players should arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the starting time and report to the Tournament Manager’s desk. Do not wear white or especially light coloured clothing and wear correct sports clothing & non marking sports shoes.
Table Tennis Wellington 