Finals Night Report 2018-19 Season

Well, what a cracking night’s Table Tennis some of you missed.  The Finals night held on the 26^th of March 2019 at Instow was sadly only watched by 10 spectators but they were treated to an evening of outstanding Table Tennis.

The first game of the evening was to set the standard for all that followed.  This was the first semi final of the Open Singles fought between Matthew Thomas (of Smugglers) ranked number 7 in Division 1 in the league averages and his team mate Peter Hedge ranked number 13.  As it turned out games swung in the extreme one way then the other until the final deciding set, with Peter coming back from behind to win an exhilarating 5^th set with a score of 12-10.

Match two was the first semi final of the Veteran singles between Michael Sussex (of Spin Doctors) ranked 4 and Steve Cragg (of Holsworthy A) ranked 9.  This was another very close encounter with both players playing extremely well but Steve just came out on top in the final deciding set.

The second semi final of the Open Singles was between Ben Taylor (of McDonalds & Co) ranked 1 and Martyn Beer (of Misfits) ranked 8.  On the night Martyn put up a great fight but Ben was just too powerful for him and comfortably won in three straight sets.

However, the second semi final of the Veterans singles was another very keenly fought match.  The players involved were Matthew Thomas and Martyn Beer each player beat the other very convincingly every other game but Matthew won the deciding set 12-10 in a nail biting finish.

And so to the finals. 

The Handicap Singles final was played between Dave Sillifant (of Holsworthy D) and Andrew Suliaukas (of Chulmleigh Chiefs)  Andrew had a 9 point start on Dave and although Dave got off to a great start a fighting finish from Dave gave him a well deserved win of 21-19.  After the disappointment of the first set Dave up his game and narrowly won the second 21-18 with a convincing win of 21-15 in the final set to become this year’s champion.

The Open Doubles was another closely contested match between Matthew Thomas partnered by Peter Hedge and Ben Taylor partnered by Dave Morgan.  Matthew and Peter were just to consistent for Ben and Dave and won 3-1 after several hard fought and close games.

The seventh match was the Veterans final between Steve Cragg and Matthew Thomas.  As you can see from the scores this was a very up and down match but Steve put up good resistance in several of the games but Matthew was again just too strong with his great forehand topspin attack.  Scores – 11-1, 9-11. 11-1, 12-14, 11-9

The final match of the night was the Open Singles Final between Ben Taylor and Peter Hedge.  This was a very on sided affair with Bens full out attack reducing Peters counter attack very well beaten.

A great night was had by all with a finish time of 10:05.