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Devon Seniors at Plymouth League HQ
Sunday 18th April 2004
A number of Woolwell members competed with some success. Sally Smith beat last year's finalist Pat Lyon in her group of the ladies singles, but then disappointingly went out to Pat's daughter Tracy in the last six of an event she was one of the favourites to win. She got some consolation by taking the Ladies Doubles title with Sonia Wicks after beating both Liz May & Lisa Radford and Pat & Tracy Lyon.
Richard Marshall lost out in a tough men's singles group to Mike Hugh & Joe Clifford Jnr but then won the plate event--after coming from 2-1 down to beat John Smith in the first round he had little difficulty, beating Pat Lyon in the semi-final & Joe Clifford Snr in the final. Harry Cutler also reached the plate semi-final before losing out to Joe.
Chris Smith beat Graham Mattacott in straight games to reach the last sixteen of the men's singles but then lost in five games to Rory Harries, with whom he teamed up to reach the doubles semi-final, before a brilliant effort saw them take eventual winners Chris Brown & Kevin Buddell the full distance. An astonishing match saw John Smith & Joe Clifford Snr save four match points in the fourth game & another two in the fifth to beat Harry & Freddie Cutler. They then caused the shock of the day in defeating Dennis & Shaun Gibbs, again in five, before bowing out in the semi-final to James Whitman & Mike Hugh. John pulled off another surprise by defeating Steve Pelczyk to reach the semi-final of the Veterans event. Chris Warn also did well to reach the last sixteen of the Men's event.
Richard Marshall & Laura McLeod won through one round of the mixed doubles, while Laura & Vicky Smith acquitted themselves well in both the ladies singles & doubles.
FULL RESULTS
Men's Singles 1st James Whiteman 2nd Mike Hugh
Ladies Singles 1st Sonia Wicks 2nd Lisa Radford
Men's Doubles 1st Chris Brown & Kevin Buddell 2nd Mike Hugh & James Whiteman
Ladies Doubles 1st Sonia Wicks & Sally Smith 2nd Lisa Radford & Liz May
Mixed Doubles 1st Kevin Buddell & Liz May 2nd Chris Brown & Lisa Radford
Veterans 1st Dennis Gibbs 2nd Kevin Taylor
Plate 1st Richard Marshall 2nd Joe Clifford Snr
DEVON JUNIOR CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS AT
EXMOUTH Saturday 27th March 2004
Woolwell TTC maintained its rapid growth as a table tennis force by dominating the Devon Junior Closed Championship, providing over two thirds of the finalists and winning seven of the eleven titles.
Pride of place must go to
Sally Smith who never needed to get out of second gear in completing the treble of junior girls singles, mixed & girls doubles--on the way showing once again that she is Devon's top girl.
Vicky Smith, who at the ripe old age of eight convincingly won the girls under-11's, helped her sister to the girls doubles giving away over six years to both opponents, successfully negotiated a tough event to take runners-up spot in the under-13's and then, for good measure, beat number two seed Hannah Bradford in straight games in the under-15's to reach the semi-finals.
Laura McLeod who comfortably won the under-13 girls event, beat Hannah Bradford in the under-15's, gave the very experienced Lucy O'Callaghan from Exmouth two tough matches finishing runner-up in the under-15's and third in the under-18's, and with Richard Marshall reached the final of the mixed doubles.
Chris Smith who survived yet another tough encounter with Richard to take the under-13's in four games, beat second seed Simon Poyner to claim runners-up spot in the under-15's, was unlucky to meet eventual winner Darren Reed in the semi-final of the under-18's & with Richard claimed second place in the boys doubles
Richard Marshall who reached four finals including the boys under-18's before losing to Darren
Harry Cutler who convincingly took the mixed doubles title with Sally &, with brother Freddie, nearly pulled off a shock win over Richard & Chris Smith in the boys doubles semi-final
Chris Warn who, in a scratch pairing took the boys doubles with Darren Reed after a tough five game battle in the final, and reached the semi-final of the under-18's
Alice Phillips who took runners-up spot in the girls under-11's and fourth in the under-13's
Jack Marsh who reached the semi-final of the under-11's while still under-10
Zak Zacharkiw who, at 11, did well to reach the semi-finals of the under-13's and quarter-finals of the under 15's
Seb Dartnell who reached the quarter-final of the under 13's, an event he can play in three more times
Freddie Cutler who reached the quarter-finals of both the under 15's & under 18's
Tommy Jenkins, Alex Rogers & Joshua Beaven who reached the last eight of the under 11's
FULL RESULTS
Junior Girls Singles 1st Sally Smith 2nd Lucy O'Callaghan
Junior Boys Singles 1st Darren Reed 2nd Richard Marshall
Junior Girls Doubles 1st Sally & Vicky Smith 2nd Lucy O'Callaghan & Lizzie Binks
Junior Boys Doubles 1st Darren Reed & Chris Warn 2nd Chris Smith & Richard Marshall
Junior Mixed Doubles 1st Sally Smith & Harry Cutler 2nd Laura McLeod & Richard Marshall
Cadet Girls Singles 1st Lucy O'Callaghan 2nd Laura McLeod
Cadet Boys Singles 1st Darren Reed 2nd Chris Smith
U-13 Girls Singles 1st Laura McLeod 2nd Vicky Smith
U-13 Boys Singles 1st Chris Smith 2nd Richard Marshall
U-11 Girls Singles 1st Vicky Smith 2nd Alice Phillips
U-11 Boys Singles 1st Dominic Sussex 2nd Ben Taylor
Exeter 1 * Tournament at Okehampton Saturday 24th Jan 2004 by Ian McLeod
Laura; Alice and Vicky travelled to Okehampton to play the Exeter 1*. The club was represented in all the girls' events: Vicky & Alice in the U11, Laura joined them in the U14 and Laura (11) was the sole representative in the U17.
The draw was not kind to our two in the U11s as they met in the first round of group matches. The competition started well with Vicky beating Sophie Harris in straight sets, whilst Alice took Holly Clark all the way only losing 9-11 in the 5th. Vicky & Alice met in the next game and Vicky came out a 3-0 winner seeing her through to the semi -final against Rachel Trevorrow. Vicky was on top form as she demolished her opponent in 3 straight games to earn her place in the final. The U11 Final saw her against Rebecca Seal from Bridgwater who in the previous week had beaten our girls in a schools' event. The previous week's defeats were put firmly behind Vicky as she played at the top of her form to win a great final, ending 3-0 and Vicky became the U11 champion. At 8 years and three months she is the youngest winner of the event in its twenty-three year history, beating the record of three times winner & more recently five time National Senior Women's Champion, Nicola Deaton.
In the U14s Laura & Vicky were drawn with Rebecca Seal, whilst Alice had to contend with the older and more experienced group. Vicky came out a 3-1 winner against Rebecca Seal, but went down 1-3 to Laura. Laura rounded off the group with a rapid 3-0 victory. Alice managed to come third in an extremely tough group. The quarter final saw Laura against Amy Clevely (13). With an inspired game Laura dispatched her 3-0. The semi final was a familiar affair Laura Vs Hannah Bradford, Hannah winning 3-2 and going on to win a well deserved final against Ceri Maltby to become the U14 Champion.
The U17 event saw Laura drawn with the two U14 finalists. In her first game against Hannah, after going 2 games up, Laura eventually lost 2-3 in a game in which poor umpiring put off both players. Another loss to Ceri Maltby was forgotten about, with a tight 3-2 victory against left hander Carri Gill. The U17 champion came from the other group, Sarah Hall.
Overall the girls played very well coping with some pressure and playing all their shots with style.
South West Region Junior Trials
Woolwell's representatives had an excellent day at the final trial for the top eight players in the region at each age group.
Sally Smith won the junior girls' event for the second successive year after beating fellow Devon representative and favourite Lisa Radford in straight games then only losing one of her seven matches.
Chris Smith & Richard Marshall exceeded all expectations in the boys' cadet event by finishing second & third equal respectively. Richard had first ever wins against Matthew Trevorrow & national number nine under-13, Alex Kearney. In an evenly fought event with lots of unexpected results, Chris avoided all the potential pitfalls. He lost only to Darren Reed in a close fought match 13-11 in the fourth game, and the much higher ranked Michael Harvey, who himself lost three times to tie with Richard.
Both boys also played in the junior event (Chris had qualified unexpectedly, and Richard as a last minute substitute for the absent Sam Bruty) and not surprisingly struggled as the two youngest & lowest ranked players in such company. Nevertheless Chris took Michael Harvey to five games, ran Jon Hughes from Somerset close and beat Cornwall's higher ranked Adam Tatlow, while Richard completed a successful day by reversing the morning's result to beat Chris in five games and leave them equal in sixth place.
With the top four in each event qualifying for the National Ranking Trials, all three qualified to fight another day.
Vicky Smith had a successful day against top class opposition in the Cirencester 1* under-11 & Under-13 event. Three wins out of six in the under-11 event saw her take runners-up spot in the Consolation event. She also played very well in the under-13 event against much older girls & her day included three straight game victories over arch rival, nine year old Kelly Reed from Cornwall.
To see earlier reports from this season click on
Away from Woolwell this season Page Two
To see a review of last season away from Woolwell click on
Away from Woolwell 2002/03
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