There was a break in the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis league last week as the week was given over to the Times & Directory Handicap Competition, ie the semi-finals of the Cup and the quarter-finals of the Plate.

The Premier’s New Milton A (Steve Hemmings, Phil Handy & Matthew Daish) booked their place in the Cup Final as they beat Winton YMCA B (Div 1) fairly comfortably by 5-2 aided and abetted by a hat-trick from Handy. This will be the A team’s third crack at the Final having been runners-up in 2010/2011 and 2011/12, so hopefully it will be third time lucky for them.

There were four New Milton teams left in the quarter-finals of the Plate, but remarkably none of them were drawn against the other. The only team to go through to the semi-finals were the C team (Svet Ignatov, Malcolm Floyd & Malcolm Nash) pictured below, who scraped a 5-4 win over Div 4’s Winton YMCA E. Malcolm Nash played up a division and had his 21 start reduced to 15 as he had to take on the handicap of the Div 2 player whom he replaced. Nash played very well but the five forfeited points proved a bridge too far so he went home empty handed. Ignatov won all three of his matches, while Floyd playing off +14 lost to Duncan Feltham (+23) in the first game of the evening but subsequently beat Duncan’s Dad Harold (+18). And so it was level-pegging at 4-4 when Floyd took on Will Sharpe (+21) in the ninth and final game. Floyd took the first end 31-29, but just lost the second by a nail-biting 30-31 to set up a very tense finale. However, Floyd kept his nerve and defended doggedly to win 31-27 to take his side into the semi-finals.

The G team’s Plate match against fellow Div 3 side Merton G also went right down to the wire in the ninth game, but Bill Page (+21) unfortunately lost to Merton’s Peter Dexter (+17) 27-31, 29-31. Progress also ground to a halt for the D team (Chris Pusey, Terry Jenvey & Bob Fagan) as they lost 1-5 to Winton YMCA C, and the F team (Malcolm Nash, Sylvia Smith & Eddie Tomkins) who lost 3-6 to Nimrod A. Full result details are below:-

Read the rest of this entry →

New Milton Table Tennis Club Chairman Shaun Newcomb and his doubles partner and protege Jack Pegram (Hertfordshire) are the new British Wheelchair Table Tennis doubles champions.

At the BTTAD (British Table Tennis Association for the Disabled) National Championships held recently at the Grantham Meres Table Tennis Centre, Newcomb and Pegram triumphed over stiff opposition, including current and past Paralympic players to take home the Gold.

Having also won the inaugural SportsAble Southern Disability Grand Prix doubles tournament in October, Newcomb and Pegram are a formidable pairing in wheelchair doubles and they went two sets up before the GB squad duo of Jack Hunter-Spivey and Sue Gilroy fought back to level the match. The game seemed to be slipping away as Newcomb & Pegram were down 4-8 in the deciding set but they managed to level and went on to win 12-10, the last few points giving the game a nail-biting finish.

SportsAble Open Singles winner Newcomb narrowly missed out in this Open Final having been two sets to one and 6-2 up in the fourth to the eventual Open winner Kevin Ploughman (Yorkshire), who showed real determination to come back and win the deciding end.

Both Newcomb and Pegram also had to settle for Bronze Medals in their respective disability classes, though as Newcomb said afterwards “three medals from the three tournament events at the National Championships isn’t too bad and it gives us an incentive to train a bit harder for 2015”.

Pictured below, Shaun proudly displaying his gold and two bronze medals.

In a week in which the New Milton Table Tennis Club could only muster three wins out of their ten matches in the Bournemouth and District league, the E team slipped off the top of Div 2. They were held to a 5-5 draw by Ringwood A at Greyfriars whilst Bmth Sports F took Milton’s place with a 8-2 maximum pointer over Merton F. Although only separated by superior games difference on 50 points apiece, Bmth Sports F have a game in hand as do third-placed Merton E (49 points) who beat New Milton D by 7-3 at Southbourne.

The best of the club’s wins came in Div 2 as the C team did the double over lowly Lynwood C, this time with the improved scoreline of 9-1. Captain Dave Cuddon and Matt Winter (pictured below) both scored hat-tricks, but Malcolm Floyd just missed out on his own treble as he lost 12-14 in the fifth and final end against his old nemesis Melvyn Gregory.

Full results appear below:- Read the rest of this entry →

For the second week in a row, the New Milton Table Tennis Club’s teams won five out of their ten matches in the Bournemouth & District league, one of the wins coming at the expense of one of their teams in a local derby. The D team (Chris Pusey, Bob Fagan & Terry Jenvey), pictured below, were out for revenge after losing 4-6 to their E team in their first round derby, and they did just that by reversing the scoreline to win 6-4 this time. The E’s were missing their star captain Frank Handy but Gerard Redman kept his team’s end up with a fine hat-trick.

Three of the other Milton teams reversed first round defeats (G, H & K teams), but the most impressive change of fortune came from the K team in Div 5. The Kays lost 4-6 against Bmth Sports R away at Chapel Gate in the first round and were looking for revenge in the home return. Uncannily enough both teams fielded identical sides, the Kays once again with Fern Daish, Lynn Willrich & Alex Whitehead, and the table-topping Bourne featured Tom Collins and seasoned veterans Jim Simmonds & Robin Thomas. The comprehensive 8-2 Milton win completely belied the 27 points differential between Milton and the unbeaten Bournemouth team, thanks to a hat-trick from Whitehead and a brace apiece from the ladies. The doubles were needed to take maximum points against a shell-shocked Bourne, and the ladies fought really hard to edge it 3-2 to land the four precious points. Full results details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

The New Milton Table Tennis Club managed a 50% return in the Bournemouth and District League last week as their teams won five out of the ten matches played. Going into the week, the club’s G team were second from bottom of Div 3 and the F team three points above them at third from bottom. This week, the F team lost 2-8 to Ringwood B, but the G’s beat bottom-placed Bmth Sports H 6-4 courtesy of another hat-trick from Simon Golding (pictured below). This means that the G’s move out of the drop zone at the expense of their clubmates purely on games-difference. Watch this space!

Team performance of the week came in Div 2 as the D team whitewashed Ringwood A 10-0 in their own backyard, thanks to hat-tricks from Chris Pusey, Bob Fagan and captain Terry Jenvey (pictured below). The K team are on a bit of a roll in Div 5 as they won their third match in a row aided and abetted by hat-tricks from Lynn Willrich and Alex Whitehead. The club’s other treble-makers were the A team’s Phil Handy in the Premier and Richard Brockbank whose full-house gained a precious point for his struggling L team in Div 5.

Full results details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

The New Table Tennis Club is on a bit of a crusade to bring more ladies into the sport and this was very much in evidence in the Bournemouth and District league last week, with seven of the fairer sex representing the club. Starting with the all female K team in Div 5 (Lynn Willrich, Fern Daish & Lucy Craddock), they reversed their 4-6 first-round defeat against Shamrock B by beating them 7-3 in their own back yard this time. Lynn (pictured below hitting the heights) came up with her second hat-trick in a row, Fern bagged a brace and 16 year old Lucy chipped in with the one win.

Julie Smillie’s win helped her B side to a hard-fought 5-5 away draw against Merton C in Div 1, and Dee Flanagan’s excellent brace helped her struggling J team to a 7-3 win over Merton J in Div 4. Sylvia Smith played up a division for the E team in Div 2, and her magnificent win helped them take a point off Merton D in a 3-7 defeat. Veteran Sibyl Bartlett, who captains the L team in Div 5, drew a blank but watched 15 year old Andrew Stainton come up with his first ever hat-trick in the league in their 3-7 defeat against Merton L.

Also worthy of a namecheck, Shaun Newcomb jumped up a division to the Premier and played out of his skin to join “A” team regular Phil Handy in a treble against Winton YMCA A. Veteran Brian Bickell came up with a full house for the B team (Div 1) in captain Newcomb’s absence, and Mike Roberts recorded his sixth hat-trick for the J team in Div 4. Full results details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

Lymington table tennis star Matthew Daish became county champion for the third consecutive year when he won the Hampshire U13 school’s title at the Waterside Table Tennis venue last month.  The 13 year old New Milton Table Tennis Club player, who won the English school’s U11 national championship in 2012, will now represent Hampshire at this year’s English School’s Table Tennis Championships in Doncaster.  Good luck Matthew!  Matthew is pictured below, proudly displaying his trophy for the cameras.

Article reproduced with kind permission from the New Milton Advertiser

There was a break in the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis league programme last week as the week was given over to the Times & Directory Handicap Cup competition. Going into the week, the New Milton club had one team left in the quarter-finals of the Cup proper and five teams in Round 2 of the “Plate” competition. The A team (Steve Hemmings, Phil Handy & Umit Kaya) who usually play in the Premier league booked their place in the semis with a 5-1 demolition of Merton L (Div 5) down at Mudeford Wood. The A team have been drawn against Winton YMCA B (Div 1) in the semi-final to be played at Mudeford Wood on Monday 17^th March.

In Round 2 of the “Plate”, the New Milton C team (Malcolm Floyd, Svet Ignatov & stand-in Clive Pitts) from Div 2 also beat a side from Div 5, Nimrod C down at Mudeford Wood on the same night. In their 7-2 victory, Floyd and Ignatov scored hat-tricks, and Clive Pitts playing up from Div 3 chipped in with the one win. Pitts deserves a special mention because he had to play off the handicap of the player he was replacing, which reduced his handicap from 18 to 15, so he did extremely well to pick up his win.

Not so fortunate at Mudeford Wood on the same night, the J team (Geoff Biggs, Dee Flanagan & Mike Roberts) lost 3-6 to fellow Div 4 side Nimrod A to exit the Plate.

The D, F, G teams all won their matches to join the C team in the quarter-finals of the Plate, and once again the draw for the last eight has quirkily enough kept the Milton teams apart. The D team (Chris Pusey, Bob Fagan & captain Terry Jenvey), pictured below, who normally play in Div 2, disposed of Div 5’s Bmth Sports S by 7-2 at the Arnewood School, thanks to a hat-trick from Fagan and a brace apiece from Pusey and captain Jenvey.

The New Milton F team (Malcolm Nash, Ian Linney & Sylvia Smith) beat fellow Div 3 side Merton H 5-2 aided and abetted by a fine hat-trick from Linney. The G team (Bev Scott-Johns, Clive Pitts & stand-in Dan Williams) braved the elements to travel out to Breamore and were rewarded for their efforts with a 6-3 win over their Div 3 fellows. Pitts earnt a second mention in despatches in the same week as he played for the second evening in a row and won a hat-trick for his own side. Full result details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

In a week in which the New Milton Table Tennis Club could only muster three wins once again in the Bournemouth and District League, the B team proved that they are back to winning ways with their second win in two weeks. Captained by wheelchair-player Shaun Newcomb (pictured below), the B team improved on a 6-4 first-round defeat against Merton B with a 7-3 win down at Mudeford Wood. Newcomb came up with his first hat-trick of the campaign, Zoltan Karip-Barath bagged a brace and Brian Bickell chipped in with the one win. Newcomb capped a fine evening by joining Bickell to win the doubles fairly comfortably in the end.

There were some other excellent captains’ performances last week, including Terry Jenvey’s treble which helped his D team hold Merton C to a 5-5 draw in Div 2. Also in Div 2, Frank Handy’s hat-trick helped his table-topping E team do the double over Lynwood C with a 6-4 win at the Arnewood School.

Other treble-makers to be mentioned in despatches were Dan Williams whose first hat-trick of the campaign helped his H team to scrape a point against Winton YMCA D in Div 4, and Fern Daish and Lynn Willrich whose trebles resulted in the K team doing the double over Winton YMCA G in Div 5. Full results details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →