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.
The Autumn Open was held on 1&2 May with a very good turnout of local players, plus a good number of quality players from other Associations. Competition was keen across all events with a number of upset results. Mention should be made of many junior players new to tournaments, all of whom performed to a good standard.
Singles results were as follows:
Winner | Runner Up | |
Men’s Open Singles | Matthew Ball | Alex Zhou |
Women’s Open Singles | Sunny Low | Sabine Westenra |
Men’s B Grade | Jack Webb | Yang Low |
Men’s C Grade | Ian Talbot | Scott Higham |
Men’s D Grade | Michael Stechman | James Catto |
Over 25 | Matthew Ball | David Buckrell |
Over 35 | Callum Rusbridge | Darrell Brown |
Over 45 | David Buckrell | Depak Patel |
Over 55 | Sabine Westenra | Martin Young |
Under 21 | Alex Zhou | Max Henderson |
Under 18 Boys | Zachary Wang | Hugo Yick |
Under 21 Girls | Mei Mun Teh | Yashka Rabichand |
Under 16 | Yufeng Wang | Akshay Aneesh |
Under 14 | Akshay Aneesh | Yufeng Wang |
Under 12 | Lucas Yang | Adam Andrew |
The Summer Interclub 2021 competition has finished with some close playoff matches. See attached tables for the full Series results.
In Division One, HYJW (Hugo Yick and Jack Webb) reversed the round robin defeat by the same score when they beat Empire Tigers (Manish Ahlawat and Robert Dias) 3-2 in a sudden death, one set doubles match. The two teams had been at the top of the grade all series and fought hard for the title. Division One had many close matches during the series with nearly a third of fixtures finishing with the one set doubles tie breaker.
In Division Two, LJMS (Liam Johnston and Michael Stechman) held off Daleks (Peter Bloor and Josh Brown 3-1 to take the title. The standard was a bit wider in this division, but there were still plenty of good players to give the leading teams some challengers.
Thanks to all players for their participation. Next Interclub will be the first Series of Winter Interclub commencing in May. In the meantime, we have the Autumn Open happening on 1&2 May. Make sure you enter!
Continue reading “2021 Summer Competition”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!”(Any other club champs results or links please send to me to link here!)
Titan

Lindsay Ward wins 13th Club Singles and 13th Over 40 Singles.
These were held on four successive Sundays from 10am onwards (22 & 29 November, 6 & 13 December) at the Newtown Stadium. Thanks to Robert Chung who organised the tournament.
Lindsay Ward won the Club Singles (22 Nov) for the 3rd successive year and 13th time overall when he defeated Paul Brown in the final 4-2 (-8, 8, 8, -4,5,4). Lindsay is this years North Island and Wellington Over 60 Singles Champion. Paul was also runner up last year and Depak Patel was runner up in 2018. In the semi finals Lindsay beat Joel Carton 4-1 (8, 10, 8, -6, 3) and Paul beat Yufeng Wang 4-2 (9,7,-5,-9,5,5).
Continue reading “Titan and Onslow 2020 Club Champs”2020 Nelson Open (19-20 September)
There were 46 entries at the tournament, with players travelling from Canterbury, Marlborough, Otago and Wellington. Only 7 juniors played on the Sunday with no outside players.
Simon Fenwick (C) won the Men’s Singles against Tavish Voight (O) 4-0 (6 1 4 4) and Kris Alisch (C) won the Women Singles against Jackie Wood (ML) 4-3 (-9 -12 7 9 -9 2 7). The Men’s Doubles was won by Craig Dye/Simon Fenwick (C) against Nathan Watson (MN)/Tavish Voight (O) 3-1 (3 -9 4 4).
Sabine Westenra won 5 events. The Open Women Doubles with Kris Alisch (RR3), Over 40 Women’s Singles (RR3), Over 40 Mixed Doubles with Malcolm Wong (RR3), Over 50 Women’s Singles against Marion Wood (ML) 3-0 (2 2 2) and Over 50 Women’s Doubles with Marion Wood against Chris Cole/Patricia Martin (N) 3-0 (5 5 2). She was runner up with Jessie Wilson (C) to Simon Fenwick/Kris Alisch in Open Mixed Doubles 1-3 (-12 7 -7 -7) and lost in semi finals of Open Women’s Singles 1-4 (-8 -9 -11 10 -14) to Kris Alisch. Unfortunately there is no photo of Sabine from the tournament.
Malcolm Wong’s win in the Over 40 Mixed Doubles was his 10th Nelson Mixed Doubles Title (He last won the O40 XD with Glenda Ferguson in 2001). He also won the Over 50 Men’s Doubles with Mark Nalder (N) against Gregg Davey/Alan Moore (C) 3-1 (3 -7 4 11) which was their 10th Nelson Over 50 Men’s Doubles Title together. They were runner up in the Over 60 Men’s Doubles to Gregg Davey/Alan Moore 2-3 (-8 -6 8 4 -5). Malcolm’s best singles result was beating the second seed David Watson (N) 3-1 (9 -9 4 7) in winning his group in the Over 60 Men’s Singles. Malcolm has now won 32 Nelson Open Titles.

Thanks to Paul Op den Buysch, Robin Knight and the other Nelson people who assisted in running the tournament and the cafeteria.
Continue reading “Nelson Open (Travel Report)”Recently a teams tournament, open to teams from Associations in the lower North Island, was held on a November Saturday at Empire. Sixteen teams, each made up of two or three players, took part, five from Manawatu and eleven from Wellington.
The teams were placed in two grades and each grade into two pools of four. A round robin was played within pools and a final round against the team that finished in the same position in the other pool within the grade. Four rounds in a day was a challenge for some, but one that all players appeared to enjoy. Many played eight singles and four doubles in an eight hour stretch and all players kept to a timetable that allowed few rests, but just enough time to enjoy Maggie’s much appreciated catering.
The competition was good with some top rated players on display. Hopefully, this can become an annual fixture on the calendar and one shared around the Central Associations. Thanks to all who participated.
Results – Division One
Winner: The Legends (James Harter, Callum Rusbridge, Hayden Tapp)
Runner Up: Manawatu Green (Matthew Ball, Nathan Watson, Jack Webb)
Third: Egg (Sean Hanson, Hugo Yick)
Results – Division Two
Winner: WFSA (Isag Alamani, Michael Buhia, Michael Onganon)
Runner Up: High Gear (Craig Gear, Scott Higham)
Third: Team Stech (Liam Johnston, Michael Stechman)
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.
Continue reading “2020 November Table Tennis Competition”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.
Continue reading “Player Profile: Brian Kennedy – All round sportsman”Dunedin 1-2 February

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).
Continue reading “Looking Back NZ Masters Games”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.
See John Kiley’s article on Merv in Saturday’s Dominion Post.
We are pleased to announce the
2020
New World Wellington City
Table Tennis Wellington
Open Championships
Saturday/Sunday 25-26 July
Enter Online (or print / xlsx)
Conditions
Entries are due by Online Entry, email, phone 04 478 0841, or mailed
to PO Box 12-038 Wellington, to be received by 9pm Wednesday 22 July.
This will be held at the Empire Table Tennis Stadium.
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.
Details and Entry Form
Online form or as a pdf to tournament@ttwellington.org.nz (or mail as per the form). Also refer to the Tournament Conditions.
Schedule
Saturday June 27 | |
9:30am | Over 50, Over 70(*) |
12:30pm | Over 40, Over 60(*) |
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.