Note that entries (and payment) for the North Island Individuals to be held at North Harbour 4-6 May close at 6pm on Wednesday 11 April.
The form is on the TTNZ site: here.
The full result spreadsheet is here: 2012 Summer Interclub 0404 Final. Refer to the spreadsheet for the details but the winning and runner-up teams in each grade were:
Grade A:
Winner: Belmont Blast (Heath Murdoch & Callum Rusbridge) 3-2 over Empire Amber (John Gan & Depak Patel).
(All the X position vs. X position section vs. section playoffs in grade A on the Finals night were 3-2 results!)
Grade B:
Winner: Empire Palladium (Chris Williams & Richard Dalziel/Bruce Connolly) 3-2 over Belmont Bumble Bees (Frank Fu & Hui-Ling Vong).
Grade C:
Winner: Belmont Bandits (Matt Gill & Ramnick Tiwana) 4-1 over Empire Silver (Vladimir Vysotskiy & Alex Safronov).
Looks like it was Belmont and Empire fighting it out in the top of every grade on finals night with Belmont taking 2 out of 3 grades.
Congratulations all winners and thanks to all for playing in the summer interclub competition. There is a break before winter interclub which typically starts later in May.
Photos by Gareth Telfer:
There are a couple of great new articles in the press this week on Hui-Ling Vong and also Abram Goh following their results recent ITTF Hopes event in Auckland.
First is one on Hui-Ling in The Wellingtonian: Hui-ling targets table tennis titles which has a nice photo. One of her goals is to be the best player at her club (Belmont) so watch out Belmont – oh wait, that means becoming the best player in Wellington so watch out everyone!
The other one is in the Hutt News: Belmont youngsters rise to top and talked about Hui-Ling and Abram. The classic quote from Stephen Hirst was: “She looked very annoyed with a bronze,” Hirst says !
Stephen Hirst organised and managed a group of juniors that went to the recent Inaugural TTNZ Hopes and Cadets Trials in Auckland on March 25. Results and pictures (click on the “Images” tab) are here.
Organised by Sport Wellington, the annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival aims to expose primary school children to a variety of different sports. This year 54 schools applied to attend the event, of which only 20 spots were available. Given the delicate weather requirements of table tennis, outdoors was ruled out but thanks to Jamie Milne at Sport Wellington a place for table tennis was found within the concourse area (along with a couple of other similarly weather-sensitive sports).
While no doubt Stephen & co were run ragged by the end of the day, he reported the day as a great success and well worth the effort. They were able to distribute hundreds of leaflets listing the Wellington junior clubs to students and teachers and interest was high.
The age range here parallels the primary/intermediate & junior club coaching program that Table Tennis Wellington has also been running with thanks to Pub Charity support. Stephen Hirst is also the coach for this program and has been able to reach many schools and junior clubs in the Wellington area. Programs like this and the stadium event help build the grass-roots base and feed into the junior clubs.
Now that it is April 2, I can add that the following is completely false!
Apparently Liu Shiwen has long had an interest in New Zealand since playing rugby for a Guangzhou local side and watching the All Blacks while growing up. After being umpired by Malcolm, Liu was reported as saying that she noted that he was able to stay awake for the entire match; turned the score cards with precision; and she was particularly impressed with the net measuring tool Malcolm deployed prior to the match starting.
After some discussion Liu has arranged to come to Wellington to learn umpiring and in return she will play with Malcolm Wong and Martin Young in Premier 1 this year under the revived banner of the Te Rama Club, though whether she will play one or both doubles matches is yet to be determined as Martin and Malcolm have been a pretty mean doubles combination in the past.
Next week (April 4) is the last week – summer interclub finals night with playoffs based on position as of now.
Results from 28/3 are here (open this to see who you are playing on 4/4): 2012 Summer Interclub 0328
Here are some recent pictures. Picasa 3 has added some new style options which I will now inflict on you…
Every year a winner is selected for the Mike Flynn Memorial Award. This is awarded to the most improved junior in Table Tennis Wellington for the previous year also including attitude, cooperation and respect for others. (According to the rules of this award, an individual can only win this award once.)
Here is the previous winner for 2010 Delano Lam (Waterloo Club) presented by TTW President Paul Solt:
And the 2011 winner Gareth Telfer (Waterloo Club) with TTW President Paul Solt:
Congratulations to our recent and all winners of this award and also Waterloo Club!
Sorry for the delay, I was out of town and got back tonight, here is the current set of results: 2012 Summer Interclub 0321
I will add some pictures soon so watch this space…
Here is the latest player profile from Malcolm Wong:
Eddie was born in Christchurch (1932). There was no organised sport during his time at primary school. In his secondary school days, at Christchurch Technical College, he excelled in football and cricket as well as playing table tennis for the Avonside Table Tennis Club from the age of 15 to 25. Eddie was in the first XI for both football and cricket. In football, as a centre forward, his outstanding performance in the South Island Schools Tournament (1949) resulted in him becoming selected as a South Island Schools representative. In cricket his rapid improvement lead him to be selected for the Canterbury Under 16 Boys team (1947) as a spin bowler, a team which included future NZ representative Murray Chapple (1953-66).
After Eddie left school, work and family took precedence over sport. In 1972 he moved to Wellington on a job transfer. When he retired at 60, Eddie was looking for a sport to play. He wanted to play tennis but there was no men at the local Midweek Club. A chance meeting with Ron Menchi lead to him joining the Empire Midweek Table Tennis Club (1992-93) where he became the Secretary. Eddie moved back down to Christchurch in 1993 and rejoined the Avonside Table Tennis Club. He immediately became the Secretary/Treasurer (1993-2003). He started up the Canterbury Midweek Table Tennis Club based on what he had seen at the Empire Midweek Club.
The then Canterbury Table Tennis Hall needed substantial repairs and planning permission for this would not be approved as it was in a residential area. Eddie with Keith Armstrong and Ron Fleming became involved in the purchase of the former Yates Seed Store(1999) for table tennis. They with Denver Glass, Neville Duggan and Brian Wilson were the driving force behind the conversion of the building into the current Table Tennis Canterbury Stadium (294 Blenheim Road), opening in early 2000. The six were presented with an appreciation medal by Table Tennis Canterbury. Eddie was further recognised for his endeavours by being made a Life Member of Table Tennis Canterbury and receiving a Summer Sports Award from Sport Canterbury in 2000. He was Table Tennis Canterbury Sportsperson of the Year (2002). Eddie returned to Wellington in 2003 and was responsible for running the Empire Midweek club, with Lois McStay, until 2009. He was awarded the Dick Gray Cup for Best Empire Club Member (2008) and the Empire Table Tennis Cup for Most Outstanding Performance(2009). There is a volunteer profile on Eddie in the Empire Spin Newsletter (August 2008).
Eddie soon made an impact in veterans table tennis. He was in the NZ Over 50 Men’s team to the Australian Veterans in Perth (1994). There he caused a hugh upset in a teams match by beating Ken Cole, who had just won the NZ Open Over 45 Men’s Singles. In 1999 Eddie was number 85 on the NZ Open Men’s rating list at the age of 67! In 2008 he won the NZ Open Over 70 Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles (with Lois McStay). Eddie has represented New Zealand four times in the Over 70 Men’s team in the test against Australia. He has won 12 individual NZ Veterans titles including the Over 70 Men’s Singles (2002) and the Over 75 Men’s Singles (2007 & 2009).
Eddie had an outstanding performance in the NZ Veterans Over 75 Men’s singles (2009). Eddie defeated the second seed, Geoff Nisbett, in the semi finals and then the top seed, Tony Herbert, in the final. Tony was then the current Australian Veterans Over 70 and 75 Men’s Singles Champion. Eddie continues to play table tennis at the Empire Midweek Club and hopes to play at the World Veteran’s Championships (2014) in Auckland.
Above: NZ Veterans Test Team (2008) for the match against Australia
Back Row (L/R): Christine Little, Sabine Westenra, Jim Jarmin, Eddie Moore, Fleming Alison, Lyndon White, Bill Stewart, Dave Scott, Bryan McConnochie.
Front Row (L/R): Pauline Bennyworth, Chip Eade, Lynnette Bellamy, Gerry Doyle, Alison Williamson, Lesley Gardner, Lindsay Ward, Raewyn Young.
Photo: TTNZ Archives
Results are here: 2012 Summer Interclub 0314.
Three more weeks left, two more left of the teams round robin followed by the finals night on april 4. For A and B grades that will be section 1 vs section 2: 1v1, 2v2, … 5v5, for C it will be 1v2, 3v4, 5v6.
NB: the draw was posted here.
Great practice for the Easter Vets.
SATURDAY 24 March, 2012
9:30am – 5:00pm
Empire Stadium, Marine Parade, Petone, Lower Hutt
Over 40, 50 and 60 events
Singles and Doubles
Timetable
|
9:00 – 9:30am |
Registrations, practice time |
|
9:30 – 12:30pm |
Round robins for all singles events; doubles events |
|
1:00 – 3.00pm |
Post section singles events; doubles continue |
|
3:00 – 4:30pm |
Semi finals and finals for all events |
Information
1. Players may enter in up to two age groups but they must be consecutive, ie Over 40 and Over 50 or Over 50 and Over 60.
2. Ages are as at 31 December 2011.
3. Entry fee is $10 per player and can be paid on the day.
4. The organisers reserve the right to merge events, change the format or run consolation events, depending on the number of entries.
5. Entries close on Wednesday 21 March 2012 with Chris Williams on 04 527 8629 or williamsck [at] xtra.co.nz
The entry form is here: 2012 Empire Veterans Entry Form.
Light refreshments will be available for purchase.
Results are here (thanks Chris): 2012 Summer Interclub 0307
Lots of action on the full tables this week and not too many creaks and groans, so you must all be ironing out those early-season wrinkles.
NB: the draw was posted here.
Thanks to Malcolm Wong for another player profile!
Depak Patel is a Empire Premier 1 player and a ITTF level 1 coach. He was born in the town of Pardi in the state of Gujarat (India). When he was 3 months old the family immigrated to England. After a 3 month journey by ship they settled in Leicester, the largest city in the East Midlands.
Depak played football (left winger) at school from age 10. Among his team mates was Winston White (right winger), who was to play professionally for Leicester and several other clubs (1976-93) making 529 appearances and scoring 61 goals. Playing for a rival school team was Gary Lineker (striker), who went on to played 80 times for England (48 goals). Depak was in the football team that were the Midlands Asian Students 5 a side Champions. He is a supporter of both Leicester City and Chelsea Football Teams.
Depak started playing table tennis at the local youth club at age 13. A teacher at his high school encouraged him to go to a Saturday coaching group. He joined Abbey Table Tennis Club and started off in Division 15 which his team won in his first season (1976). Depak progressed through to Division 4 before he moved to London. There he joined Ashford Table Tennis Club where he played Division 1 in 1988/89 and 1989/90. The Club won the British League (1988/89) with a team full of internationals including the Belgian, Jean-Michael Saive (The future European Men’s Singles Champion in1994 and World Number 1) and New Zealander Peter Jackson. Depak won the National Asian Students Table Tennis Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles in 1981 and 1984.
Depak also played cricket. He played for the Universal Cricket Club at 14 in the same team was his older brother. Depak was in the team that won the Leicester Liger Festival of Cricket Tournament (1976). His team included 4 Indian test players including Dilip Doshi who was a friend of his older brother in India. The other Indian test players were Ashok Mankad, Brijesh Patel and Madan Lal. The trophy was presented by Mushtaq Mohammad, the former Pakistan Cricket Captain. Depak’s best season was in 1990 for the Sunbury Village Cricket Club where he took the most wickets (75), had the most 5 wicket bags and had the most ‘Man of the Match’ awards during the season. Depak scored his only century (107 n.o.) when he carried the bat through out the innings for the Papatoetoe Cricket Club Presidents team (2000)
Depak moved to New Zealand in 1991 and has lived in Wellington and Auckland. Currently Depak plays and coaches at the Empire Club. He has won the Titan Club Singles twice (2007 & 2008) and the Empire Club Singles on 3 occasions (2004, 2009 & 2010). Depak was in the Wellington O45 Team that won the NZ Teams twice (2006 with Bryan McConnochie) and (2008 with Chris Talbot & Lindsay Ward). Depak was selected for the NZ Veterans team in the test against Australia (2007). He was the Captain of the NZ Over 50 Men’s Team at the Australian Veterans Tournament (2010). He has won 78 tournament titles including the North Island Over 40 Men’s Singles (2009). Depak said his best tournament wins were against Craig Dye and Thomas Samuelson. He is still very keen about playing table tennis and practises up to 4 times a week.
… are here: 2012 Summer Interclub 0229. Thanks to Chris Williams for again putting the results together for summer interclub.
A good night, the first competition night of the year for most. I’m still recovering…
Official notices have been sent out already but you may be interested to know that the 10th Annual General Meeting of Table Tennis Wellington is being held commencing 7:30pm at the Empire Table tennis Club stadium. Even if you are not a specific member or club delegate, you can attend as an observer. Also, there are spaces available on the executive committee so there is a chance you’ll be nominated!
Notwithstanding specific coaching roles or specific honorariums (accepted or otherwise), members of committees are unpaid and may work many hours, sometimes in between family crisis and imminent work deadlines! Next time you walk into a club or activity, consider how many people might have been involved along the way in bringing table tennis to you. That small amount of money you spend really goes a long way. In the overall scheme of things, any time or expertise you can provide over and above those dollars counts a great deal towards maintaining table tennis in our community.
A committee is a vehicle for planning and decision-making, followed by enabling the people and resources to execute specific projects. While a committee should ideally proportionately represent a range of interests, note that many (if not most) major activities happen externally to direct committee involvement, with perhaps only intermittent interaction if at all. To clarify what I mean, here are some examples:
- Someone of their own accord organises entries and car-pooling for people interested in travelling to a tournament together.
- Clubs themselves operate independently from each other and at least mostly independently from the TTW at the association level.
- Your local sports shop that advertises and sells table tennis equipment is a separate process with essentially no connection to any club, association, or national sports body or committee. Arguably, the greatest force for promoting table tennis in New Zealand overall is Rebel Sports.
At the end of the day, we are all better off if everyone working on a community project is doing something they enjoy and in an area they are interested in. Maybe there is some project that you may be interested in, that you would like to run or be a part of, you can get on a club or association committee or not even be on a committee at all but just talk with your committee to see how your project can dovetail nicely with everything else that is going on.
Hi folks, after the usual late rush of entries and fiddling to get seedings near-enough, here are the actual draws for Summer Interclub from Wednesday February 29 through April 4. Thanks to Bruce for getting it all together.
Grades A and B are split into two sections with a playoff between them on the last night. Grade C has a 1v2, 3v4, 5v6 playoff on that last night.
2012 TTW Summer Interclub draw A Grade
2012 TTW Summer Interclub draw B Grade
2012 TTW Summer Interclub draw C Grade
Refer to the earlier 2012 Summer Team Interclub blog entry for more details.
See you all Wednesday at the Empire Table Tennis Club stadium.
This is the report from Malcolm Wong on his recent trip to the NZ Masters Games. Malcolm won 6 medals on his trip this year.
This multi sports event was held in Dunedin (4-12 February 2012). The table tennis (4-7 February) was held at the Edgar Sports Centre in South Dunedin. The Netball was also held there at the same time which made for a very noisy environment.
Malcolm Wong won 3 silver and 3 bronze medals. Silver medals in the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Doubles with Stephen Craw (Christchurch), and in the Over 55 Mixed Doubles with Patricia Swale (Invercargill). Bronze medals were in the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Singles, and the Over 55 Teams with Stephen Craw.
The results are published here.
Malcolm beat NZ Veteran representative Stephen Craw in both the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Singles. He lead Wang Qi 2-1 in the Over 45 Men’s Singles before losing 2-3.
The medals were presented by a different person each day. Leigh Gibbs (Games Ambasssador and former Silver fern player & coach), Audrey Fogarty (widow of Bill Fogarty – 1948 NZ Men’s Singles Champion) and Barrie Kendall (Long time organiser of the masters table tennis in Dunedin).
Ngaire Garrett caused the biggest upset when she beat the former NZ Women’s Singles Champion Yvonne Fogarty in the semi finals of the Over 55 Women Singles.
Thanks to the organisers, Stephen Burgess, Graeme Clent and Barrie Kendall for their work in running the tournament.
PS: In 2013 the NZ Masters Games will be in Wanganui Feb 1-10, 2013.
To all players and their families,
Table Tennis Wellington will be holding a BBQ on Sunday 12th February from 4pm outside the Empire Table Tennis club rooms. This is to foster the family atmosphere we would like all our players to feel part of and genuinely hope you and your family would be able to come and join in this event with us.
We would like you to all participate in some outdoor fun games like Volleyball, Football and Cricket. If any of you have equipment for these games could you please bring it along.
We will be providing sausages and bread and would ask that you bring a salad or a plate of food to share.
To help us with catering could you please advise if you will be attending and if so the number of people you will be bringing.
Please RSVP to Gabrielle Telfer at telferhome [at] clear.net.nz
We look forward to seeing you all there.
-Stephen Hirst
Contact your club for entry, refer to the doc attached for full details: 2012 TTW Summer Interclub Entry Form.
Clubs are invited to submit entries for the 2012 Summer Interclub event being run from 29 February to 4 April (dates subject to change depending on entry numbers).
Timetable
Wed 22 February: Entries close for all grades
Wed 29 February: Grades commence
Wed 4 April: Playoff round (dependent on format and entries)
Venue & Start Time
All matches will be played at the Empire Stadium, Marine Parade, Petone. The stadium will be open from
6:30pm each interclub night. Interclub matches are due to start at 7:00pm. Players should pay their night fees to
the duty official by 7:00pm and the score sheets will be available from the control table.
Teams
Teams in all grades will consist of two players.
Teams are to be entered by clubs and must be affiliated members of TTW.
Teams with three players or four players can be submitted with any two players playing each week. In such
cases it is up to the club to ensure two players turn up each week.
If a team (one or both players) fail to turn up without giving 24 hours notice to the Interclub Convenor, they will
be liable for the match fees of both teams in their contest for that week.
Please enter team names on the entry form.
Format
Assuming six teams in each grade: Grades will be played as a single round of 5 weeks and a finals/playoff night
in the sixth week.
Teams will play 1 contest each week, consisting of 5 matches; two singles for each player and one doubles for
the team. Matches will be best of seven games to 11 points except for the doubles which will be played as a
best of 5 games.
[… refer to that attached document above…]
Thanks again to Malcolm for his latest player profile, this time on local celeb Lindsay Ward!
Lindsay first played tennis at age 10 and was a Wellington Primary Schools Representative. He won the Wellington Boys Under 15 Singles (1969). Lindsay was the Club Singles Champion at Vogelmorn (4) Miramar (2) and Wellington (5). He played Regional 1 tennis for Miramar and Wellington. In a Dominion Post story he was nick-named The Surgeon for the way he dissected his opponents. In 2000 Lindsay won the NZ Veterans Tennis Over 45 Men’s Singles, the Over 45 Men’s Doubles with Terry Poynter, and Over 40 Mixed Doubles with Robyn Flynn.
Lindsay first played interclub table tennis in 1969 for Kilbirnie RSA. By 1972 he was playing in their A Grade team with Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust and Boris Halama. He won the Wellington Secondary Schools Table Tennis Boys Singles and Doubles title and was a Wellington Junior Representative that year. In 1973 his Kilbirnie RSA team won the A Grade title (Gerald Bell Memorial Cup). Lindsay was ranked number 1 (Wellington Junior Boys) and Number 10 (Wellington Men’s) and won the Under 18 Boy’s Singles and U21 Men’s Singles at both the Wellington Regionals and Wellington Open Tournaments. When the Kilbirnie RSA folded up, the players formed Kilbirnie United. Kilbirnie United (Lindsay with Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust and Warren Mak) won the Wellington A Grade Competition in 1974.
In the top grade Lindsay has won more than 1,000 matches. He has been the top Wellington player in the averages 18 times. Since the Premiers Grades began in 1981 Lindsay has maintained an overall average of over 83%. His best year was 2008 where he won 36 out of 37 matches played (97.30%) but was surprisingly only ranked 7th on the Wellington Men’s list. He is the only person playing Premier 1 in the first year of the competition (1981) still playing in the grade today.
Adrian Lust, Dianne Ord, Lloyd Richards, Robert Kerr
Lindsay was the Wellington number one ranked Man 17 times during the period 1978-2005. He has won the Men’s Singles at the Wellington Open 7 times over 28 years (1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2006) and was a losing semi finalist this year. He has also won the Men’s Singles at the Hutt Valley Open, Kapiti Open, Wairarapa Open and the Manawatu Open. In 1978 he reached the semi finals of the NZ Men’s Singles and was ranked number 9 in NZ that year. At the NZ Open Lindsay won the Over 45 Men’s Singles twice (2001 and 2008) and the Over 45 Men’s Doubles with Ian Talbot (2003). He was selected in the Over 50 NZ Men’s team in the test against Australia (2008).
This year Lindsay won the Over 50 Men’s Singles at the North Island Tournament for the third year in a row. He won the Over 30 and Over 50 Singles at the Wellington Open. Lindsay lost a close match with Craig Dye in the NZ Men’s Over 30 Singles final. He still has many years of table tennis ahead of him!
Lindsay made it to the semi-final of this year’s Wellington Open:
Lindsay is currently 51st on the TTNZ Men’s open Ratings list (the 3rd placed Wellingtonian there).
(Thanks to the TTNZ Archives for the older photos and Win for the video.)
Table Tennis Wellington 