Ryan Collins takes prestigious “Britannia Top12” 2005 title…..

The first major event in the Suffolk table tennis calendar at the Britannia Dome in Ipswich on Sunday, 11 September 2005 produced some breathtaking games and undoubtedly the biggest headline winner in the event’s six year history.

The event is open to the 12 best players in last season’s Ipswich premier league based on averages. On the day 4th seed Charles Fulcher wasn’t able to play which allowed 15 year old Ryan Collins a reserve the opportunity to play as the 12th seed. This was pivotal on where the title would eventually end up.

The draw saw two groups of six players with all in a group playing each other, the top two, based on games won and lost going through to the semi finals, the other players playing for final positions.

In group one the top two ranked players Fred Dove & Wayne Shaw won all their games, so by the time they met they were already assured qualification. Their match for top spot was a thriller with Shaw’s fantastic array of attacking shots causing mayhem for Dove who trailed 1-2 in games and by a number of points before turning the game around for victory. The other highlight of group one was the form of Jake Collins who had wins over Andrew Dosher Michael Wright & Carl Ashton. He also took the first leg of Dove in their game.

The second group was much tighter and finished with three players each having four win and a loss which meant it went to a count back. The group started with a major seeding upset as Ryan Collins edged home against Suffolk Men’s singles champion Lee Barnes 11-9 in the decider. Last seasons Men’s singles runner up Nigel Hodder came from 0-2 down against Ryan Collins to win, only for Barnes to beat him 3-1 in their match. In the last batch of games in the group, the top two seeded players clashed, Andrew Warner having to win the have a chance of qualifying having already lost two games, while Barnes could not afford another loss. In a hard fought fiver setter Barnes nicked it 11-9. In the last game between Ryan Collins and Andrew Holmes everything depended on the outcome. Hodder had already qualified while Barnes had to hope Holmes would win to get through. The first two games were routine for the youngster but Holmes led 9-4 in the third before Collins reeled off seven straight points to go through as group winner, Hodder finishing second and Barnes just missing out.

Ryan Collins showed no nerves in his semi against Shaw winning 3-0, while Dove & Hodder had a dog fight of a game. In the other semi, Dove seemed to have Hodder under control only to be pegged back by the flat hitting of his opponent who led 10-6 in the decider, but it was a relieved Dove who went though after saving four match points to win 12-10.

The final was greatly anticipated as it pitted England ranked Dove the number one seed against the last minute replacement & 12th seed Ryan Collins. How would the youngster play the combination bat of his opponent in a big final?

All those questions were answered as Ryan took the first set having no problems with Dove's pimpled rubber. Dove took the second, but in a tense third and fourth sets there was nothing in it bar a few points, and Ryan showed his coolness to edge them both by the closest of margins using his powerful forehand to claim what has to be the biggest seeding upset in a major event in Suffolk.

Ryan beat the number one two three & four seeds on the day, two of them ranked nationally in the top 150 players in the country.

Scores from the dome

Final Ryan Collins bt. Fred Dove 7, -4, 9, 10.

Third & fourth Nigel Hodder bt. Wayne Shaw -7,1, -7, 3, 8.

Fifth & sixth Lee Barnes bt. Jake Colins 5, 8, 10.

Seventh & eighth Andrew Dosher bt. Andrew Warner 8,-8,5, 9.

Ninth & tenth Carl Ashton bt. Andrew Holmes 2, 9, 6.

Eleventh & twelfth Vicky Gray bt. Michael Wright 5, 8, -9, 6.

Report and scores courtesy of Andy Dosher.