A fortnight of table tennis tournaments concluded with the Grand Finals Night of the Bournemouth and District Annual Individual Championships at the Grange School, Somerford, last Friday night. Four players from the New Milton Club took part in the Finals, with three of them going home with titles.

Octogenarian Brian Bickell broke a Bournemouth & District record by being the first player ever to win all four of the Vets titles. In the Vets 40+ final he avenged his defeat by Bournemouth Sports’ player Louie La in the Division 1 semi-finals by depriving him of a second title. The Vets 50+ saw him narrowly defeat fellow Div 1 player Ian Brown from Broadstone in a gruelling match that went all the way to five sets. However, he had easier victories against fellow Div 1 player Ian Robertson (Merton) in the Vets 60+ and Vets 70+ finals, seeing him off in three straight sets in both matches. This tops last year’s performance in which he “only” won the Vets 60+ and Vets 70+ titles.

The Junior Under 15 final was a repeat of last year’s match between Milton’s Jack Trafford (Premier) and Matt Stanfield (Div 1) from Bournemouth Sports, with Trafford coming out on top again. Whereas Trafford disposed of Stanfield in three straight sets in last year’s final, the Bourne youngster took him right down to the wire this year, Trafford just edging it 13-11 in the fifth and final set.

For the second year running, the Div 5 title was won by a New Milton player, this year it being Taki Hall, playing in her first Bournemouth tournament. Her opponent, Marina Scott (Bournemouth Sports) gave Hall a really good run for her money, coming back to win the second set 11-9 after losing the first 5-11. Hall then narrowly won the next two sets 14-12, 11-9 to secure the title.

New Milton’s Terry Jenvey did well to make it through to the Div 3 final, but he faced a very tough opponent in the shape of southpaw Howard Lewis from Bournemouth Sports. The result went the way of the form book (Lewis was second to top in the winning averages), with Jenvey losing in three straight sets, having put up a good fight.