Lewes St. Michael’s TTC hosted the second leg of the East Sussex Junior Table Tennis Circuit at the Landport Community Hub on Saturday, 13th January.
The tournament was divided into morning and afternoon sessions with 14 players competing for medals across the two sessions.
Ten players were split into two groups of five for the morning section. Originally, it had been planned that there would be under-11, under-13 and under-15 groups. However, with only Liam Higgins (Simply TT, Hastings) being eligible for the youngest group and the other nine being under-13, it was decided to play with two groups of five. The winners and runners’-up then contested the under-15 medals while the remaining players played off for the under-13’s.
The groups ran pretty much to form, with the exception of Leonardo Rose winning a tough five-gamer against Amalina Gorridge to secure top spot in Group A. Lewes player Vincent Ridley topped Group B with Roman Gorridge, Amalina’s cousin, making it three out of four semi-finalists from Hastings vying for the under-15 medals. Liam didn’t let being the youngest in the competition faze him as he secured third place in Group B to earn a bye to the semi-finals of the under-13 competition. Fraser Dick of Hailsham TTC earned the other “golden ticket” finishing third in Group A.
In the knockout stages Leonardo and Amalina won through 3 – 0 against Roman and Vincent in the under-15 section. Vincent averaging 8 points per game, demonstrating a closer match than suggested by the scoreline. While in the under-13 section, Samuel Lloyd (Hailsham TTC) fought through a tough 5-game match against Matthew Mackenzie (Lewes St. Michael’s TTC) taking the last game 11 – 9. The other quarter-final also went to five with Rufus Pawson-Davies (Simply TT) recovering from 0 – 2 before Toby Hook (Lewes St. Michael’s) won the final game to progress to the semi-finals. The under-13 semi-finals saw Frazer winning in four while Toby made his way to the final with a 3 – 0 win against Liam. Again the results do not necessarily reflect the closeness of these matches as the seven games produced 124 points between them, almost 18 points per match.
And so to the finals for the morning session. Amalina faced her group stage nemesis, Leonardo, avenging herself in four (11 – 9, 11 – 8, 6 – 11, 11 – 6). Frazer took the under-13 gold medal defeating Toby in three games.
At the end of the morning session, medals were presented to the winners and runners’-up of both sections.
For the afternoon session the tournament was joined by Charlie Burman, Xavi Kustermann, Freddy Lawrence and Caio Vieira (all Lewes St. Michael’s), while Frazer, Matthew and Samuel concluded their participation for the day. Xavi also trains at Brighton City TTC.
With there now being three under-11’s it was possible to run a competition for them on a round-robin basis. Xavi emerged as the winner without losing a game. Liam took the runner-up position having beaten Caio 3 – 1 after losing the first game 11 – 13. All three then played in the knockout stage of the under-13 competition to give them all, at least, one extra match.
As with the morning session, players were split into two groups. Both groups were of four players, all under-13, with the group winners and runners’-up playing for the under-15 medals in the knockout stage while the third and fourth placed players were joined by the under-11’s in a knockout competition for the under-13 medals.
In the under-13 knockout, Roman received a bye in the quarter-finals while the other three under-13’s played the under-11’s for a semi-final place. All three quarter-finals were settled 3 – 0 with Charlie, Toby and Xavi joining Roman. The semi-finals saw Charlie take a 2 – 0 lead against Toby only for Toby to battle back to win the remaining three and propel himself into his second final of the day. In the other semi, Xavi continued his winning ways against Roman who provided the toughest opposition 11 – 7, 12 – 10, 11 – 6.
The final resulted in a fifth consecutive 3 – 0 win for Xavi as he overcame Toby’s formidable backhand.
The under-15 semis resulted in a 3 – 0 win for Amalina, against Freddy, although Freddy scored 20 points in those three games, while Vincent was determined to get through to the final but had to contend with having fought a gallant five games against Leonardo, including a fourth which recorded 32 points.
Another Amalina – Leonardo final resulting in Amalina’s second gold medal of the day, winning 3 – 0.
At the end of the session, Mr. Rob Hoy (Lewes St. Michael’s TTC and Eastbourne League Representative on the Sussex County TTA Management Council) presented the winners and runners’-up medals.
Many thanks to Rob Hoy in enabling the tournament to take place in Lewes, especially as his wife had injured herself in a fall at home. Hopefully a speedy recovery will ensue.
Also on the “thank you” list; James Gorridge, for his usual support, Nadine Davies, Peter Higgins and Albert Kemp, for officiating matches and never forgetting the parents, for supporting these young players, and the players themselves for providing entertaining table tennis in a sporting manner.
