New Milton Table Tennis Club

The New Milton Table Tennis Club had a reasonable return in the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis league as they won 4, drew 2 and lost 4. There were some star performances again but Julie Smillie’s first hat-trick of the campaign couldn’t have come at a better time to help out her struggling B team.

Div 1 saw the third from bottom B team (Julie Smillie, Zoltan Karib-Barath and Shaun Newcomb) ease their relegation worries as they beat basement boys Bournemouth Sports G 7-3 for the second time. Smillie (pronounced “Smiley”) played a blinder to come up with her first hat-trick of the campaign, Karib-Barath bagged a brace and Newcomb added one more to the scorecard. Read the rest of this entry →

The New Milton A table tennis team booked their place in the final of the Times and Directory Handicap Cup for the second year running, but this time they did it the hard way as they were a player short.

Phil Handy was unable to play in their semi-final against Div 5 leaders Ringwood C because of work commitments, and the tournament rules do not permit calling on reserves for the semi-finals and the final. And so it was down to captain Brian Vibert and Steve Hemmings to carry out “mission impossible” as they started off three games down and with large handicap differentials. The Ringwood trio (Steve Heap, Dennis Elkins and Phil Smith) were all playing off +20 (up to 31) and they only needed to win two games to go through to the final.

Hemmings and Vibert were playing off +6 and +4 respectively which reflected their Premier status, and Hemmings literally got the ball rolling by beating Heap 31-25, 31-29. Vibert heaped on the pressure by beating Elkins 31-24, 31-27, then Hemmings beat Smith 31-27, 31-26 to level things off at 3-3. Vibert took Milton ahead as he got the better of Heap 31-26, 31-22 and Hemmings secured victory by beating Elkins 31-30, 31-28. At 5-3, Milton had not dropped a single set and Vibert proved that this was no fluke as he beat Smith 31-24, 31-27 in the sixth although this was academic by then.

In the other semi-final, the Premier’s Kinson B beat Div 1’s Lynwood B 6-0, so it will be an all Premier final between New Milton A and Kinson B. The final will take place at the Merton Club, Southbourne on Tuesday 20th March. Milton lost last year’s final to the youngsters of Bournemouth Sports S so are hoping to have a full side for their second bite of the cherry.

New Milton Table Tennis Club had their best week in the Bournemouth and District league so far this season as they clocked up seven wins out of ten matches. The defeats came from both extremes of the league as their A and B teams lost heavily in the upper echelons, but at least the K team picked up a welcome point from their defeat in Div 5. Read the rest of this entry →

The New Milton Table Tennis Club could only win four out of their ten matches in the Bournemouth and District league last week, and one of those wins came at the expense of one of their own teams in a local derby.

The second local derby between the E and G teams took place in Div 3, and this time the E team avenged their first round defeat by beating their club mates 6-4. The Gees owe their point to Matthew Daish who beat the E’s Simon Golding, Max Doohan and Clive Pitts to claim his sixth hat-trick of the season. Pitts and Doohan beat Matthew’s team mates (Simon Daish and Eddie Tompkins), but Golding lost to Tompkins in an enthralling five-setter. With the E’s being 5-4 up, the doubles proved decisive as Golding and Pitts saw off Matthew Daish and Eddie Tompkins in three straight sets. Read the rest of this entry →

New Milton Table Tennis Club now has only one team left in the Times and Directory Cup competition in the shape of the A team, who were last year’s losing cup finalists.

The A team got their revenge over Bournemouth Sports P who beat them in last year’s cup final. It was only slightly less of challenge as the Bourne youngsters had lower handicaps, but still pretty formidable as Louis Coppard and Jake Simpson started off +24 and Louis’ brother Andre was off +23. Steve Hemmings, playing off +6, quite literally got the ball rolling as he beat Louis Coppard in the first match, but Shaun Newcomb (+8) lost to Simpson. Captain Brian Vibert (+4) lost to Andre Coppard but parity was restored when Hemmings beat Simpson. Vibert put his side ahead by beating Louis Coppard but then Newcomb lost to Andre so Vibert again restored the lead by beating Simpson to make it 4-3. Hemmings completed a superb hat-trick by beating Andre Coppard to take Milton into the semi-finals. Read the rest of this entry →

New Milton TTC local player Matthew Daish ( aged 11) recently took part in the Milton Keynes U-13s 2 star tournament, Matthew, playing in his New Milton kit, was competing with 17 other youngsters from across the country.

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It ain’t over till the fat lady sings…

Matthew Daish was invited to take part in the Hampshire Schools U-11 Individuals Championship taking place at Waterside TTC today, along with other youngsters from across Hampshire. Daish cruised through the preliminary rounds to the final where he came up against local rival Jonny McMullan. Read the rest of this entry →

Three players from the New Milton Table Tennis Club; James Lewis, Simon Golding and Bev Scott-Johns distinguished themselves in the Bournemouth and District league as they not only played for their own teams but stood in for teams at higher levels, acquitting themselves extremely well in the process.

In the Premier, the A team (Steve Hemmings, Brian Vibert and stand-in James Lewis) improved on their first round away draw against Bournemouth Sports D by beating them 7-3 at home. The Milton trio all lost to Bourne’s Tom Andrews to settle for a brace apiece, including Lewis who was playing up from Div 1. Read the rest of this entry →

The Bournemouth and District Table Tennis league resumed last week after a week’s break for the Times & Directory Cup, and the New Milton club won five out of their ten matches, repeating their first round performance. The Club’s best results came in the lower echelons of the league, so they deserve first mention this week.

Div 5 saw the J team (Luke Gurton, Keith Kensley and Sam Watkins) do the double over Merton J, this time with the improved scoreline of 9-1 away at Southbourne. Watkins came up with his first hat-trick of the campaign, 16 year old Gurton scored his fourth treble and Kensley bagged a brace. Read the rest of this entry →

There was a break in the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis programme last week as the week was given over to the Times and Directory Handicap Competition. The New Milton club now have just two teams left in the Cup and one in the “Plate”.

The Cup provides an interesting diversion from the league programme in that it enables teams from across all divisions to be drawn against each other in a handicapped competition, best of three matches up to 31, with no doubles. The “Plate” competition is run for teams who lose their first match.

Last year’s cup runners-up New Milton A (Brian Vibert, Phil Handy and Steve Hemmings) from the Premier took on Div 2’s Bransgore and beat them 5-1 at Mudeford Wood. Hemmings who was playing off +6 got the ball rolling by winning the first match of the evening and then Handy and captain Vibert (both playing off +4) also won their first matches. Handy won the fourth match but then Hemmings lost to Gore’s Mike Anderson which made it 4-1. Order was once again restored by Vibert who won the sixth to secure a place in Round 3. Read the rest of this entry →