"Wot's On When" - Diary dates 2012 :

 

Sunday 12th.February            Britannia Suffolk Grand Prix - download entry form HERE

Closing date for entries : 3rd.February 2012.

 

January 2012

Only four out of five for Jake !!

The Suffolk County Senior 'Closed' Table Tennis Championships held at Stowupland on Sunday 29th.January were a rousing success and more than lived up to expectations.

In the Woman singles the number one and two seeds both made it through to the final. Whilst number two seed Clare Lowe came through comfortably against Claire Westlake in her semi, Aimee Sparkes seeded one had a scare against Sonja Talbot losing the first set before coming through 3-1.

In the final it was Aimee that looked more comfortable earlier on and she took the first leg and had game points for a two love lead as Lowe held on to take the second 16-14. Again it was Sparkes looking more comfortable in the third winning it and Lowe managed to get a decent lead in the fourth before Sparkes got back to duece and in a tense few points Lowe just pinched the set. Lowe opened up a good lead in the decider which gave her the confidence to get her powerful forehand in which up until then Sparkes hadn't allowed and it was telling as Lowe conceded just three points in the final set to take the Suffolk title she last held as a 17 teen year old back in 1995. Sparkes can count herself a little unlucky as she had looked more likely a winner untill the deciding set.

In the Mens singles there were four groups of six players and with two players qualifying from each group for the main draw it was far from certain who would qualify.

As it turned out only seventh seed Nigel Hodder failed to get through from the top seeds.

Placed in Group two he understandably lost to the highest ranked player Ryan Collins, however two duece in the fifth loses to Malcolm Collins and Michael Wright meant it was Collins senior that qualified in second place as he comfortably beat Wright 3-0 in their game.

In Group one Ian Brown was the only player to take a leg off the number one seed Jake Collins as it was largely routine for him. In the battle for second spot Andrew Holmes came so close to beating former champion Andrew Dosher as he led 2-1 in games and was within points of winning before losing out, Dosher taking the second qualification spot with four wins.

Group three saw the top two players in the group having their match decide who would qualify as winner and runner up as Andrew Warner and Richard Hutchinson played out a five setter with Warner the winner. Earlier number one ranked junior boy Jack Anthony had pushed Hutchinson so close in their game before losing.

In Group four the two highest seeds came through, however Gary Young seeded four for the event lost to sixth seed Wayne Shaw 3-1 as both player won their other games so Shaw finished top. Both players found the going tough against the dangerous Richard Goodhand who took Shaw to eight in the decider.

In the quarter and semi finals only Malcolm Collins in losing 3-1 to Warner in his quarter extended his opponent. All other matches were 3-0 except for the quarter final between Shaw and Hutchinson as Hutchinson conceded after the first set.

Jake Collins was clinical against Andrew Warner as was Ryan Collins against Wayne Shaw in their semi's meaning for the third time in four years the brothers would go head to head in the final.

If anything it was even more of a cliff-hanger than in 2009 when Jake won for the first time.

Last season's men's singles were disappointing for Ryan as he was well below par but he looked solid in the earlier rounds this year and made an excellent start as both players went for it from the onset and it was elder brother Ryan that took the first set. In set two both players again were trading their best shots and Ryan despite holding game points for a 2-0 lead was just eclipsed by Jake 15-13. Clearly the tension was getting to both players as words were also traded between them which just pumped them up even more. Set three was a see saw game as Ryan got a good lead, however Jake is coolness personified under pressure and reeled off some superb power drives to take it 11-9. In set four Ryan's serve and follow up put him well ahead and he took it 11-8.

In the final set Ryan had the better earlier exchange and he led 5-2 and 6-3, but again Jake responded like the true champion he is rallying superbly when under pressure and coming up with shots off both wings, Jake turned it around to take the title for the second successive year and third time in four years. Ryan though will undoubtedly feature in this final again like his brother if both players stay keen and are happy to represent the county in the coming years as they are still only 20 and 21.

In the Restricted singles Michael Wright got revenge over Malcom Collins for his men’s group defeat winning 3-1 to set up a semi final match with Richard Goodhand. Goodhand though has twice won this event and has had a couple of very good years in the Ipswich league and despite winning the first set easily, Wright was comfortably beaten in the next three games. Paul Broxton in the other semi came from 2-1 down to defeat Andy Holmes.

The final was a little disappointing as Broxton like a number of players was unable to read the different spin and pace on his opponents combination bat and despite taking the second game to deuce it was Goodhand who emerged a comfortable 3-0 winner.

 Claire Lowe added the ladies doubles title to her ladies singles as she teamed up with Sonja Talbot to beat Aimee Sparkes and Clair Westlake 3-0, while Sparkes got a winners medal as she teamed up with Jake to win the mixed doubles title beating Warner and Lowe in the final also 3-0.

In the mens doubles final the brothers Collins were pushed to a fifth set by Warner and Young and it was only in the deciding set that they looked comfortable as they took it 11-4.

 The Under 21 singles saw Jack Anthony again perform with considerable stature against reigning champion Jake Collins and although he lost 3-0 all games score were respectable.

The Handicap singles was the only event that Jake Collins didn't win that he entered for, (unlike last year when he won all five) however brother Ryan was on hand to make it a family sweep of medals as he comfortably swept aside Andrew Warner in this one game of up to 31, Warner couldn't have given any more on the day reaching three finals but being runner up in all of them.

At the start of the day a minutes silence was observed for Peter Avenell Suffolk's County Coach who tragically suffered a heart attack and died earlier in January.

Scores from Stowupland :

Woman's Semi finals : Aimee Sparkes beat Sonja Talbot -9, 8, 6, 7. Claire Lowe beat Clair Westlake 2, 7, 5.

 Woman's Final : Claire Lowe beat Aimee Sparkes -9, 14, -9, 10, 3.

Men's Quarter finals :

Jake Collins beat Gary Young 2, 2, 9.

Andrew Warner beat Malcolm Collins 9, -9, 5, 6.

Wayne Shaw beat Richard Hutchinson 1-0 up and Hutchinson conceded

Ryan Collins beat Andrew Dosher 4, 2, 11.

Men's Semi Final's : Jake Collins beat Andrew Warner 8, 7, 4.  Ryan Collins beat Wayne Shaw 6, 6, 7.

Men's Final : Jake Collins beat Ryan Collins -10, 13, 9, -8, 8.

 Restricted Singles Final : Richard Goodhand beat Paul Broxton 7, 10, 3.

 Under 21 singles Final : Jake Collins beat Jack Anthony 8, 7, 9.

Handicap singles Final : Ryan Collins beat Andrew Warner 31 – 21. (-10, -6)

Doubles event winners :

Ladies Doubles : Claire Lowe & Sonja Talbot.          

Mixed Doubles : Aimee Sparkes & Jake Collins.          

Men’s Doubles : Jake & Ryan Collins.

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Suffolk County Senior 'Closed' table tennis championships 2011/2012 - Preview :

Britannia players dominate seedings........

The Suffolk Senior Closed County table tennis championships are taking place at Stowupland Sports Centre this Sunday 29th. January from 9am.

A total of 31 players, a record in recent years, have entered and with eight tropheys up for grabs there are 144 games due to be played on the day.

In the men's singles there are four groups of six or more players and with qualification to the main draw for just two, all groups contain players who could beat players ranked higher than them in the event, all of which makes it very exciting for the spectator.

Group two has Nigel Hodder, Mal Collins and Michael Wright in with number two seed Ryan Collins. Wright beat Hodder in the Suffolk closed vets event a few months ago while Mal Collins 'combination bat could cause trouble to all, so there are four potential qualifiers, and group three has Suffolk junior Jack Anthony, Paul Broxton, four times champion Richard Hutchinson and Andrew Warner all hoping to qualify.

In Group four Gary Young will have to face three unorthadox players in Wayne Shaw, Richard Goodhand and Ken Lewis, and in group one any two from Ian Brown, Andy Homes, Andrew Dosher and Jake Collins (the number one seed) are likely to qualify.

In the woman's singles Aimee Sparkes and Claire Westlake play each other in group one and it should be a thriller in group two as Claire Lowe, Sonja Talbot and Junior Lucy Zhu fight out for the two qualifying places.

In the restricted singles the top four seeds Paul Broxton, Richard Goodhand, Andy Holmes and Mal Collins could find a stiff challenge from Ian Brown, Mark James, Michael Wright and Ken Lewis.

The doubles seedings have thrown up two potential semi final clashes between the Collins brothers and Hodder and Shaw, while Hutchinson and Dosher could face Warner and Young.

The handicap singles, the under 21 singles, the ladies and mixed doubles make up the remaining events and it all starts from 9am going on until the early evening.

Spectators are welcome and admission is free.

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Britannia British League team find it tough :

-click on 'British League' tabs for update after third weekend action.....

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Sudden Death of Peter Avenell

"I was saddened and shocked to learn of the sudden passing on 5th. January,2012 of Peter Avenell who for many years was the main coach at Stowmarket TTC and a dedicated worker also for the Cadet League and Suffolk Junior squads.

Our condolences go to his wife Doreen and children.

Peter’s funeral is to be held on Thursday 19th January 2012 at 2.30pm at Honington Church, Honington, Suffolk, with internment after".

Family flowers only - donations if desired to East Anglian Air Ambulance or Stowmarket Table Tennis Club, c/o A.E Thurlow and Son, High Street, Ixworth, Suffolk. IP31 2HH.

Ken Lewis.
BTTC & SCTTA Chairman.

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The Britannia East Anglian Top 16 invitation table tennis tournament 2011/12 :

16 of the regions best known players, many highly ranked in the ETTA list descended on Ipswich at the Britannia club on Sunday to take part in the County’s most prestigious event.

- 'click' on TOP 16 tab for a detailed report....

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Lucy Zhu - named Eastern Region 2011 Player of the Year

The Eastern Region 2011 Player/Coach of the year awards have had a brilliant response from members of the Eastern Region whether that is players, parents, coaches, secretaries etc. Everyone plays a role in making Table Tennis a success in the region and thank you to all involved.

So many players/coaches deserve credit for the work they are doing in the region and they are all asset’s and valuable members of the Eastern Region. Stephen Gertsen and John Andrews would like to thank everyone for their efforts and dedication in 2011.

Here are some of the players and coaches that were nominated :

Coaches: Aad Kwakkelstein, Mark Mitchel, Mark Dare, Neil Brierley, Ernie George, Chris Fuller, John Alsop, Maria Ingles, Mick Harper, George Earle, Roy Smith, Tom Browne, Paul Davison, Ryan Pitt, Gergely Urban, Vidal Graham, Dean Andrews, John Andrews, Richard Wells, Peter Hirst, Gareth Herbert, Diane Gutteridge, Maurice Fearn, Tim Jolly, Stuart Seaholme, Roger Close, Malcolm Norris

Players: Luke Walsh, Jordi Gabriel, Jack Anthony, Dan Bullen, Jordan Ingles, Ryan Williams, Chralotte Boston, Adam Jepson, Ben Brown, Kleber Silva, Ryan Hubbard, Gracjan Sen, Evangeline Collier, James Knudson, Luke Jones, Robert Shrimpton, Ella Patel, Jarad Patel, Alex Holland, Isaac Beevor, Emily Godfrey, Jane Li, Lucy Zhu, Chris Cockburn, Tasha Kent, Ethan Walsh

2011 Eastern Region Coach of Year

The winner of Coach of the Year for 2011 goes to Mark Dare of Norwich and Wensum table tennis club.

Regional Coach Stephen Gertsen said “Mark is a fantastic ambassador for the Eastern Region and has been for many years. Mark works extremely hard and always puts others before himself; he has brought so many players into the sport and offers his support to many coaches not only in Norfolk but across the region”.

2011 Eastern Region Player of the Year

The winner of Player of the Year for 2011 goes to Lucy Zhu of Suffolk who trains at St Neots, Wensum, Bury St Edmunds and Britannia table tennis clubs.

Regional Coach Stephen Gertsen said “Lucy really deserves this award for her commitment and attitude to training and competitions around the region and country. Lucy lives in an area where it is difficult to access high quality coaching/practice and therefore travels all over the region on weekly basis racking up a huge amount of mileage”.

“Whenever I have organised training Lucy has always made the effort to attend and is a brilliant role model for the younger girls within the region. She is professional in her approach on and off the table and under the guidance of coaches such as Marcia Ma has come on leaps and bounds over the last 12 months”.

Lucy has had a fantastic season and her results this season to date have shown a massive improvement. At the National Championships in Hatfield in November Lucy reached the Semi final stage of the Under 15s event. She also reached the Semi Final of Sussex 4 star in both Junior and Cadets in September. Lucy is part of the England Youth Development Squad which takes place at Lilleshall and has been selected for a training camp in Belgium in April through the Eastern Regional set up. She is currently ranked at 5 in the country. Lucy is very motivated and is keen to make 2012 a special year also……..

Well Done to Mark and Lucy and keep up the good work. They will both receive a engraved trophy on behalf of the Eastern Region.

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The Britannia East Anglian Top 16 will be taking place at the Dome on Sunday 8th.January 2012 - play is scheduled to commence at 11am. Spectators welcome, admission free.

The great news is that it is a strong line up and features three former champions including the currant champion Jake Collins who is ranked number one in Suffolk and seeded three for this championship.
The number one seed is the currant men's England ranked 29 Neil Charles who was unable to defend his title last year, while the second seed is England number five lady Lauren Spink. Both these players play in the Ipswich league for Wherestead Asteroids and are unbeaten in the league this season having defeated before Christmas the Ipswich Champions Britannia Falcons who had both Jake and Ryan Collins playing.

Ryan is seeded fourth while twice a former top 16 champion from Cambridge Martin Gray is seeded six just behind Tony West.

Anthoney Corbin from London debuting in this event is a former top 50 player and seeded seven while Ipswich veteran champion Andrew Warner is the eighth seed.

Also making her debut in this event is a former Suffolk Junior player Kelly Skeggs who later represented Essex and won the Essex lady's title a few years ago, now making a comeback after attending University, she now represents Norfolk.

The rest of the field is made of players based in East Anglia many of them holding rankings on the English list.
The format is four groups of four players with all players within their group playing each other in a round robin and based on games won and lost the top two players in each group go through to band one and those finishing third and fourth go into band two with three further games to be played by all so players finish between 1-16

 

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December 2011

Britannia British League team in action :

The second weekend of the 2011/12 season took place on 10th.&11th.December'11 at St.Neots.

With a nightmare weekend for 'new boy' Wayne Shaw, the team completed the weekend dropping to fourth place in the division.

Click on the 'British League' tabs for full details .........

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November 2011

Andy Warner retains County Veterans title .....

The 2011/12 Suffolk Veterans ‘Closed’ Championships took place at the Britannia Dome on Sunday 20th.November with all the top seeded players on parade, and with six events there was plenty to play for.

The handicap singles kicked off the day giving players of all standards a chance. Ken Lewis played some of his best table tennis in years beating Andrew Dosher 31-24, however it was Ian Brown that shone the brightest in this event beating on route to the title Andrew Warner, Charles Fulcher, Ken Lewis and finally Bob Jennings.

The main singles event the over 40's started with a round robin section to determine entry in the main draw and it was Ken Lewis again who showed some top form to take top seed Andrew Warner all the way just losing a cliff hanger 7 in the final game. Lewis though carried on playing well to upset higher seed Dave Unwin to qualify with Warner.

In group two both Richard Hutchinson and Charles Fulcher remained unbeaten until their game which saw another five set thriller as Hutchinson came back from 7-3 down in the fifth to win the group.

Group three saw Brian Amos push Dosher all the way before going down, he also lost to Wayne Shaw. In the deciding match Shaw overcame Dosher 3-1.

In the only major group seeding upset Michael Wright played superbly to beat Nigel Hodder 3-1 for first and second place in group four.

The main draw didn't disappoint as Fulcher took the first leg against Warner in their quarter who then equated and saved a game point in the third before winning 3-1, while Dosher managed to beat Wright 3-0 in their game, Hodder showed his best form to beat defending champion Shaw 3-0 and Ken Lewis lost 3-2 to Hutchinson.

In the first semi final Warner versus Dosher had many great rallies but it was the number one seed Warner who endured 3-1, while in the other semi Hodder's serve and flat hit was too much for Hutchinson as he won 3-0.

A few weeks ago in the Ipswich league Hodder won 3-2 this time Warner prevailed in the final by the same score to win the title for the third time.

All other events were a straight draw apart from the over 60's singles.

In the over 50 singles final Nigel Hodder made it two from two as he defended the title he won last year at the first time of asking against Ian Brown.

In the restricted singles Dave Unwin playing in these championships for the first time in years avenged two earlier loses on the day to take the title beating his over 40's group conqueror Lewis in the semi's and his over 50's semi final victor Brown in the final by 3-2.

The doubles produced a classic semi final match between number one seeds Warner and Hutchinson against and Dosher Fulcher as the former seemed to have it in the bag at 2-0 and 8-4 up but some inspired play brought Dosher and Fulcher back to 2-2 all and 8-4 up before a last gasp effort got Warner and Hutchinson home. In the final Warner and Hutchinson played number two seeds Hodder and Shaw and did well to get back to 2-1 and it was a tense fourth leg as Hodder and Shaw held out to take the title.

The notable winners from this years event were Ian Brown who won two events and finished runners up in two others plus Nigel Hodder who beat two higher ranked players to get to the final of the over 40's singles, also winning the over 50's singles and the mens doubles. Andy Warner won the main singles event the over 40's and got runners up in the doubles, while Ken Lewis Britannia and Suffolk Chairman showed much better form than of late beating Bury Star Dave Unwin in the over 40's to qualify for the main draw and getting close to wins over a number of higher ranked players.

Scores form the dome

 Over 40's Semi finals

Andrew Warner beat Andrew Dosher -10 5 6 9

Nigel Hodder beat Richard Hutchinson 9 10 8

Final: Warner beat Hodder 6 -8 -10 5 3

 

Over 50's Singles - Nigel Hodder beat Ian Brown 10 9 9

Mens doubles Final - Wayne Shaw / Nigel Hodder beat Andrew Warner / Richard Hutchinson 5 9 -9 10

 Restriced singles Final - Dave Unwin beat Ian Brown -12 8 -9 5 3

Over 60 singles - Ian Brown beat Ken Lewis.

Handicap Singles Final - Ian Brown beat Bob Jennings 31 26

 

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October 2011

The Britannia Suffolk Grand Prix Series.

Despite the setback of having to cancel the local Grand Prix scheduled for October, the series will continue.

In an attempt to ensure the remainder of the series does not suffer the same lack of player support, and to hopefully avoid clashes with other events, the tournament dates have been revised the entry fee has been reduced. Whilst this means of course that the prize money has had to be reduced, the events now represent even better value for money still with prize money and voucher in addition to the opportunity to gain national computer ranking points for each tournament.

The series is open to ALL players, male or female, with NO AGE RESTRICTION.

Revised series events schedule :

GRAND PRIX

CLOSING DATES

DATES

FOR ENTRIES

Already played

Sunday 21st.August 2011

 

2nd.Grand Prix

Sunday 4th.December 2011

Friday 25th.November 2011

3rd.Grand Prix

Sunday 12th.February 2012

Friday 3rd.February 2012

4th.Grand Prix

Sunday 8th.April 2012

Friday 30th.March 2012

Final Grand Prix

Sunday 13th.May 2012

Friday 4th.May 2012

 

ALL ENTRIES

STRICTLY BY POST ONLY

Note : entry fees reduced

NO EXCEPTIONS

to £16.75 per Grand Prix

 

Entry forms can be downloaded from this website - see top of this page, or the following websites :

‘Spotlight’ section of ETTA website www.etta.tv

Suffolk County TT Assn. www.suffolktabletennis.net

NB. Please enter as early as possible - Entries are accepted on a last in first out basis with a maximum entry restriction of 32 players. Leaving it ‘till the last minute to enter could mean you miss out !!

Support your local ranking event, it really is a case of ‘use it or loose it’.

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September 2011

Press release 26.09.2011 :

             Annual challenge competition comes to an end.

             In 2009, Britannia Club Chairman, Ken Lewis, introduced a new Britannia club competition.

            The competition was specifically designed to try to ensure that ALL club members could compete on an equal basis regardless of standard of TT ability, age, or sex.

            The competition is ongoing over a period of 12 months with competitors gaining 'challenge points' and 'bonus challenge points'.

         The challenge competition has an annual prize fund provided by sponsors HAWK EXPRESS CABS, hence the competition name – Hawk Express Cabs Challenge.

            Britannia TTC is extremely grateful to HAWK EXPRESS CABS who in addition to providing the competition prize fund, also contribute annually to club funds.

                          Insert photo taken by EADT photographer [25.09.11] – photo of 2011 challenge competition winners and runners-up.

            Unfortunately, owing to the current economic climate, the sponsorship arrangement has now come to an end and unless a new sponsor can be found, this annual challenge

            competition will not continue owing to the clubs heavy financial commitment relating to the ongoing upkeep of its premises.

            To this end, Britannia Club Chairman Ken Lewis would welcome contact from any potential new sponsor with a view to formulating mutually beneficial sponsorship deals for

            this or any other of the club’s competitions. Ken can be contacted direct by e.mail to : ken.lewis@britanniatabletennisclub.co.uk.

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Britannia 2011 Top 12 - This years Top 12 event took place at the Dome on Sunday 25th.September 2011

Ryan Collins retains Britannia Top 12 title - Click on 'Top 12' tab for a full report and results .......

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Britannia British League team in action :

The first weekend of the 2011/12 season took place on 17th.&18th.September'11 at St.Neots.

With an initial loss followed by a draw and two wins means the team completed the weekend in a creditable third place.

Click on the 'British League' tabs for full details .........

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge :

For the 2010/11 FINAL TABLE        - 'click' on HECC/information tab........

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August 2011

Jake Collins takes first ever Britannia Suffolk Grand Prix title.

The very first ETTA ranking tournament to be played in Suffolk at the Britannia table tennis club in Ipswich on Sunday the 21st of August lived up to all expectations.
 
With the format changed slightly for 24 players, there were eight groups of three players where the winners, runners up and third placed players all went into separate groups for final play off's which were band one, two and three, so all players on the day regardless of how many wins or losses were assured of five games each.
 
The main talking point in the group stage was the excellent form of Suffolk number one lady Aimee Sparkes, seeded 15th for this event she beat the number 5 seed Daniel Fielding from Peterborough to qualify for the top section as she came from a game down to win 3-1, this proved to be the only seed that ended up in a section other than forecasted.
 
Elsewhere eighth seed Paul Broxton over came Andy Holmes 3-1 in the battle for the top spot in their group and in the same group Suffolk's top junior girl Lucy Zhu led Holmes a game and 10-9 up before losing 3-1.
 
Seventh seed Richard Hutchinson came from 0-2 to beat Fred Dove in their encounter for band one qualification. Not to be out done, number two seed Tony West lived dangerously as he also came from 0-2 to beat Cambridge's Martin Freeland in their group match.
 
In the band one section quarter final's Jake Collins shared the first two sets with Gary Young in some very entertaining rallies, number one seed Collins got into his stride to take the next two but not before being put under considerable pressure.
 
Next on making something of a comeback Essex's Alex Abbott faced Ipswich's Paul Broxton who struggled against the short pimpled back hand of his opponent, Broxton went down in straight sets.
 
In the third quarter final, Aimee Sparkes gave number four seed Steve Kerns plenty of problems in the first and third sets where both sets went to deuce however the overall game of Kerns proved to be just to consistent.
 
In the final quarter Tony West was totally in his element against the defensive style of four time Suffolk champion Richard Hutchinson who unfortunately had to use a bat he wasn't familiar with on the day.
 
Before the major semi finals and final were played, some of the notable other matches for band two and three supremacy were the band two quarter final where Britannia and Suffolk Chairman Ken Lewis just lost out in five sets to Daniel Fielding, while up and coming junior from Luton Thomas Hooker went down fighting in his quarter to experienced Essex campaigner Hammish Innes 3-1
 
In the band two final Fielding who had been expected to qualify for band one managed the consolation of victory in comprehensive style against Innes winning easily 3-0.
 
In the final of band three the Suffolk junior boy ranked two Jack Anthony put up a decent show against Chelmsford's Robert Shrimpton taking the first set, but his opponent has improved a lot over the year and turned the tables thereafter to win 3-1 
 
Attention now turned to band one and in the first semi final between Jake Collins and Alex Abbott the veteran's ability to flat hit and block with short pimples caused all sorts of trouble for Collins, and after losing the first it was tighter in the second but the youngster missed a number of opportunities on game point and Abbott led 2-0, and at 1-3 down in set three the writing appeared to be on the wall, but Collins inner cool and ability to dig himself out of trouble saw him back in the driving seat and he eventually pulled away to take the third set at 8. In the fourth Collins seemed to have no trouble with his opponents bat and with his court coverage and power shots he raced through the fourth set, and in the final set a decent start from Abbott was dealt with again in the same fashion as Collins took the final set to six.
 
The other semi final was also in five sets, to some extent Tony West and Steve Kerns have similar games with good back hands and powerful forehands, they tended to play each other on the back hand then try and look for the forehand opening and this was also a good match for the spectator as West led twice in sets only to be comfortable caught in the next leg each time. The difference here was that West made a really good start in the decider which gave him the confidence to put Kerns under pressure which he did to take the decider at 3.
 
All top four seeds had come through and likewise the number one and two seeds for the tournament got to the final.
 
Flat hitter and ace blocker West made a great start to cushion his opponents power taking the leg at 5, back came Collins with his power hitting and loop drives to win just as easily in the next, in a tense third leg West did superbly to nick it at 9 but Collins again showed his clout really upping the tempo and able to rally and carefully set himself up as West seemed a little out of depth, at the start of the final leg West made two serving errors to gift his opponent a 2-0 lead, Collins seized upon this and powered his way in front, and despite a valiant last effort Jake Collins deservedly took the first Grand Prix 3-2
 
 Results from the Dome :
 
Band one
 
Quarter finals     Jake Colllins beat Gary Young  14, -9, 6, 9
                           Alex Abbott beat Paul Broxton   2, 2, 9
                           Steve Kearns beat Aimee Sparkes  12, 5, 12
                           Tony West beat Richard Hutchinson 4, 2, 6
 
Semi finals        Jake Collins beat Alex Abbott -7, -12, 8, 5, 6
                          Tony West beat Steve Kerns  9, -4, 5, -7, 3
 
Final                 Jake Collins beat Tony West -9, 3, -9, 6, 8
 
 
3rd and 4th        Alex Abbott beat Steve Kerns 8, -13, 9, 6     
 
5th and 6th       Gary young beat Richard Hutchinson   6, 5, -5, 3
 
7th and 8th       Paul Broxton beat Aimee SParkes 7, -6, -10, 12, 6
 
 
Band two Final           9th and 10th     Daniel Fielding beat Hamish Innes 1, 5, 7
 
 
11th and 12th      Andy Holmes beat Martin Freeland -9, 9, 10, 10
 
13th and 14th      Malcolm Collins beat Fred Dove 7, 8, -7, 9
 
15th and 16th      Ken Lewis beat Thomas Hooker 6, 7, 9
 
 
Band three Final      17th and 18th     Robert Shrimpton beat Jack Anthony -7, 5, 5
 
 
19th and 20th     Ray Zhu beat Joe Eastdown -5, 10, 8, 4
 
21st and 22nd     Lucy Zhu beat Brian Amos 5, 7, 10
 
23rd and 24th     Gabrial Story beat Sam Hooker 9, 6, 4
 

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BTTC 2011 Summer League tables up-dated :

For latest league tables  - 'click' on Summer League/information tab .........

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge :

The last date to play challenges qualifying for the 2010/2011 competition is Wednesday 31st.August 2011.

                              - 'click' on HECC/information tab for latest 'leader board'.........

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Fred Dove denied third consecutive BTTC Hardbat title by Tony West .........

- click on Championships/hardbat tab for 2011 report and final placings .........

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July 2011

The first ever National ranking tournament to be held in Ipswich will take place on

                    Sunday 21st.August 2011 @ the Dome.

There will also be prize money and vouchers in addition to ranking points.

Entries are restricted to 32 players and will be accepted on a last in first out basis.

BRITANNIA TABLE TENNIS CLUB

together with

www.teessport.com

Present

The Britannia Suffolk Top 32 Senior Grand Prix

Pilot event [the first of an intended series of six]

This is an ETTA computer ranking event with prize money and vouchers.

 

Closing date for receipt of entries

EXTENDED TO 18th.AUGUST'11.

Entry forms are available from the Dome, or by 'clicking'  HERE .

 

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge  : JULY is a DOUBLE challenge points and bonus challenge points month.

- 'click' on HECC/information tab for latest 'leader board'.........

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Breaking news .......

Some 'breaking' [indeed, ground breaking] news ......... There is to be a series of national ranking tournaments in Ipswich.

I am delighted to be able to confirm that later this year there will be an ETTA ranking tournament [already approved by the ETTA]

which is being promoted by Britannia TTC and will take place at the dome.

It is intended that there will be a series of 6 such tournaments, the first of which has been scheduled for Sunday 21st.August, 2011.

Further details will be released in due course.

Regards,

Ken.

BTTC Chairman.

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June 2011.

Britannia Summer League 2011 is well under way with a total of eleven teams taking part.

For latest league tables  - 'click' on Summer League/information tab .........

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge - 'leader board' updated : to include all challenge results received up to and including 26.06.2011.

  - 'click' on HECC/information tab for latest 'leader board'.........

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Britannia Hardbat 2011 :

The Britannia Hardbat 2011 tournament will be taking place at the Dome on Sunday 17th.July 2011.

To enter or for further information contact the organiser, Andy Warner on 07910.696070.

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Suffolk County Table Tennis Association :

The Suffolk County Table Tennis Association AGM will be taking place on Tuesday the 28th. June 2011 at Stowupland, commencing at 7.45pm.

Suffolk County TTA exists to enable Junior, Senior and Veteran players in Suffolk to play against other counties in weekend competitions, and to hold annual ‘closed’ tournaments.

The County First team of Aimee Sparkes, Clair Emmerson, Ryan and Jake Collins and Lee Barnes won promotion so there will be medals to give out plus there is the real need to sort out a number of vacant committee positions if the County is to survive.

Both Andrew Dosher and Peter Fordham [Chairman and Secretary respectively] are standing down from their positions, and although Andrew will continue to help out with the Senior and Veterans tournament and Peter is still happy to remain as National Councillor, it is essential that those main positions are filled.

Mick Palmer has also resigned as President after over 40 years service both as a player and offical.

If you have any questions and/or are considering helping out you can e-mail either Andrew Dosher or Peter Fordham on :

dosher1970@yahoo.co.uk or fordhampeter@btinternet.com

 

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May 2011.

Britannia TTC Summer League 2011 :

 - scheduled to start w/c 30th.May 2011

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                           HAVE YOU ENTERED YET ?

             YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A BRITANNIA MEMBER TO TAKE PART

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Contact one of the following for an entry form, or for further details :

Sean Gridley 01728.860378 e/m seangridley@hotmail.com

Sonja Talbot 01473.713770 e/m son.jat@virgin.net

or Brian Blagden 01473.252623 e/m bib-serta@talktalk.net

                                       Entry forms are also available from the Dome or by clicking HERE

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge - 'leader board' updated : to include all challenge results received up to and including 29.05.2011.

There is just no stopping Lydia Vulliamy !! Her latest 'victim' was non other than club Vice Chairman, John Seabrook.

John had to give Lydia quite a start [18 points handicap difference] which proved just too much for John, and netted Lydia 36 challenge bonus points giving her a massive 464 points total.

Brian Blagden regains the lead in the Senior Men's section with Paul Packwood moving up to third place.

                        - 'click' on HECC/information tab for latest 'leader board'.........

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Ryan Collins retains Britannia Men’s singles title.

The Britannia table tennis club’s 2011 ‘closed’ championships took place on 7th & 8th.  at the Dome over a very warm May 2011 weekend.

Finals results :

Under 13 singles :            Fionnnian Orrey beat Alex King               5, 9, 7.

Junior singles :                 Thomas Banham beat Kieran Bean          5, -6, -7, 9, 9.

Veteran’s singles:            Andy Warner beat Andy Holmes           -5, -9, 3, 2, 2.

Veteran’s 50+ :               Ken Lewis beat Ian Brown                   -8, 8, 4, 12.

Veteran’s 60+ :               Ken Lewis beat Ian Brown                   -5, -8, 7, 9, 8.

Veteran’s 70+ :               Brian Blagden beat Paul Packwood       4, 6, 3.

Pot Luck Doubles :         Ryan Collins/Paul Packwood

                                        beat Lucy Zhu/Tim Diss                    -9, 5, 7, -8, 9.

Restricted singles :          Ken Lewis beat Tim Diss                   -6, 7, 8, 9.

Ladies Singles :              Lucy Zhu beat Sonja Talbot                9, 6, 7.

Men's Singles :              Ryan Collins beat Gary Young            5, 7, 8.

   

CHAMPIONSHIP STATS :

34 players completed a total of 10 events.

A grand total of 152 matches were played during the weekend.

Youngest competitor – 7 year old Logan Trinder

Oldest competitor – 86 year old Paul Packwood.

Bob Jennings completed 18 matches on Sunday.

Paul Packwood completed 16 matches on Sunday.

Ian Brown completed 22 matches over the week-end.

Tim Diss completed 21 matches over the week-end.

Ken Lewis completed a staggering 26 matches over the week-end.

TOP PERFORMANCES :

Ryan Collins retained his Men’s singles title.

Andy Warner retained his Veteran’s singles title.

Unseeded Sonja Talbot defeated fourth seed Brian Amos.

Brian Amos reached 1xquarter final, 2 x semi finals, and defeated number 1 seed Jason Annal.

Ian Brown reached 2 x semi finals and 2 x finals, and twice defeated number 2 seed Wayne Shaw.

Ken Lewis completed a championship ‘hat-trick’ winning Restricted singles, Veteran’s 50+

and Veteran’s 60+ titles.

For a full report on all the action, 'click' on Championships/Closed Championships tab.......

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge - 'leader board' updated : to include all challenge results received up to and including 30.04.2011.

Several players took advantage of April being a HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge DOUBLE points month, non more so than the sole lady competitor Lydia Vulliamy.

Not only did Lydia issue challenges at every possible opportunity during the month, but she took a number of notable scalps beating several players with much lower handicaps than herself including superb wins over Bill Forsdyke, Carl Harvey and Kieran Watts the current runaway leader in the Junior section. In only those three challenges Lydia netted 60 challenge points, and even more impressibly a massive 80 bonus challenge points giving her the highest overall points total [376] in the competition.

James Harris also seized the opportunity to leapfrog Brian Blagden into first place in the senior men’s section. 

                                   - 'click' on HECC/information tab for latest 'leader board'.........

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PRESS RELEASE : BTTC 2011 ‘Closed’ Championships Preview.

The Britannia 2011 ‘Closed’ Championships will be taking place over the weekend of  7th. and 8th.May at the clubs home venue, the dome adjacent to Thurleston school in Defoe Road.

Players from as young as 9 years of age through to the the oldest player at 86 years will all compete in various events including Junior Singles, Ladies Singles, Mens Singles, Restricted Singles, Veterans 40+, 50+, 60+, and Veterans 70+, and will include some of the nationally ranked and top players in Ipswich.

Kieran Bean and Tom Banham will be hoping for a repeat of last years final with Kieran defending his Junior title, though both will no doubt come under pressure from the improving Fin Orrey and Keiron Watts along with Kriss Brill who was recently awarded the title of the club’s most improved junior.

Ryan Collins is the top seed in the mens singles and is likely to face Wayne Shaw, the number two seed in the final, but both are sure to come under pressure from third seed Andy Warner and fourth seed Gary Young, with a number of others including Mark Lewis,  Ian Brown and Andy Holmes all capable of causing a possible upset.

Sonja Talbot will have to call on all her experience if she is to lift the Ladies single title having to face the much improving Nicola Perrins and Andrea Alleyne, and also the up and coming junior, Lucy Zhu.

Another player who will need to call on all their experience is defending Veterans champion Andy Warner. His top competitor is Wayne Shaw who leads a list of likely contenders including Ian Brown, Andy Holmes and Ken Lewis, themselves experience campaigners capable of upsetting the seedings.

Whilst Brown and Lewis are likely to dominate the veterans 50+ and 60+ events, Bob Jennings is certain to put up a fight along with the oldest player in the championships, Paul Packwood.

The combined age of the veterans 70+ finalists at no less than 160 years between them will be a youth versus experience affair with 84 year old Packwood Packwood facing the comparative youngster Brian Blagden who is some 12 years younger than his opponent !!

In the Restricted singles, the top seeds, Jason Annal, Ken Lewis, Tim Diss and Brian Amos respectively will all face tough opposition which will include Lucy Zhu, last years surprise winner who is now ranked number 6 nationally as a junior, along with her dad Ray Zhu, Nick Revell, Kamil Lentas, James Harris and  Mark Tucker, recently returned to table tennis, all players capable of causing an upset.

The finals of all the events are scheduled to commence at 6pm on Sunday and could well produce some intriguing contests providing some top class table tennis action. Spectators admission is free and are welcome throughout the weekend.  

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April 2011.

Brill...iant Kriss Brill

16 year old Kriss Brill has been awarded BTTC 2010 ‘Junior Player of the Year’.

Kriss, who attends the club’s Sparrowhawks coaching sessions held at the Defoe Road dome on Saturday mornings was presented with the award by John Andrews, ETTA Regional Development Manager at the club’s recent AGM. The club coaches, George Earle and Roy Smith nominated Kriss in recognition of his determination,keenness, enthusiasm, and regular attendance at the coaching sessions.

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 APRIL is a HAWK EXPRESS CABS challenge DOUBLE challenge POINTS and DOUBLE BONUS challenge POINTS month !!

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  BTTC Annual General Meeting -  Thursday 28th.April  

@ the Dome commencing 8pm. (including presentation of '2010 Most improved Junior' award, 2010 'Closed' Championships and 2010 BTTC Summer League trophies).

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HAWK EXPRESS CABS Challenge - 'leader board' updated : to include all challenge results received up to and including 31.03.2011.

                                   - 'click' on HECC/information tab for latest 'leader board'.........

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March 2011.

Jake Collins is the new Ipswich Men' Singles champion, but that isn't all ...... !!!!!

                 2011, and already “what a year” for Jake Collins :

In January 2011 Jake won the Britannia East Anglian Top 16 – see report by ‘clicking’ on BTTC Top 16 tab.

In February 2011 Jake won all 5 events he entered in the Suffolk County Championships – scroll down this page for the report.

Top that ......

In March 2011 at the Ipswich & District TT League Championships Jake did indeed do just that......

Over the weekend of 19th.&20th.March,2011 at the prestigious Ipswich Corn Exchange venue, Jake became only the seventh player ever to have won all 4 major titles, winning the Men's Singles, Men's Doubles (with brother Ryan – one of the other six !), and Mixed Doubles (with partner Aimee Sparkes), to add to the Junior Singles title (won previously).

 As if that wasn’t enough, Jake also won the Handicap event, beating BTTC clubmate, young ‘Sparrowhawk’ player, Tom Banham, by the closest of margins. Tom put up a great fight and pushed Jake all the way narrowly losing out 31-30, the closest Jake came to defeat the whole weekend !!

There can be no doubt whatsoever just how much Jake has improved, particularly during this season. In just 3 months, Jake at only 19 years of age has added a list of titles to his previous successes which most players won’t achieve in a lifetime !!

Jake wasn’t the only Britannia player to enjoy success at the weekend......

Up and coming Britannia youngsters Tom Banham and Keiran Bean together won the Junior Doubles title, with Keiran also runner-up in the Junior Boys singles and Tom as already mentioned being runner-up in the handicap singles event. Creditable performances from them both.

Claire Lowe  retained her Ladies singles title, with Aimee Sparkes   again being runner-up.

Aimee did however retain her Ladies Doubles title  [with partner Clair Emmerson]   with Claire Lowe and Sonja Talbot having to settle for runners-up.

Ryan Collins [partnered by Clair Emmerson]   were runners-up in the Mixed Doubles, to the delight of the Lady Mayor.

Nigel Hodder  was runner-up in the Premier Singles, Nick Revell  was division Two runner-up, and Division Three runner-up was Nicola Perrins  .

Retaining his Veteran' title for the sixth time, Andy Warner enjoyed a superb win over Dave Cole, his second win over

Dave on the day whom he also knocked out of the Men's Singles !

Ian Brown    lost to David Halliday in the Super Vet's final, David having fought back from two games down.

                 I&DTTL 2011 Championships results [BTTC members names highlighted] :

Event

Winner

Runner up

Mens singles

Jake Collins

Neil Charles

Ladies singles

Claire Lowe

Aimee Sparkes

Mens Doubles

Jake Collins / Ryan Collins

Neil Charles / Paul Davison


Ladies Doubles

Aimee Sparkes / Clare Emmerson

Sonja Talbot/ Claire Lowe

Mixed Doubles

Jake Collins / Aimee Sparkes

Ryan Collins / Clare Emmerson


Veterans Singles

Andrew Warner

Dave Cole

Super Veterans

Dave Halliday

Ian Brown

Restricted

Elliot Branton

Stuart Wadsworth

Junior Boys

Elliot Branton

Kieran Bean

Cadet Boys

Eddie Griffiths

Jared Bones

Under 13s Mixed

Natalie Wills

Jared Bones

Junior Doubles

Kieran Bean / Tom Banham

Eddie Griffiths / Jared Bones

Handicap Singles

Jake Collins

Tom Banham

Premier

Gary Bloomfield

Nigel Hodder

Div.One

Stuart Wadsworth

Paul Cannon


Div.Two

Mike Emmerson

Nick Revell

Div.Three

Michael Williams

Nicola Perrins

No fewer than 9 of the 17 titles 'up for grabs' were won by Britannia members,

                                                                                                              with 9 other Britannia members runners-up !!

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Natalie Wills (Britannia Sparrowhawks) wins U13 title.

         

IDTTL Championships U13 Report. Mar 2011.

The IDTTL U13 Championships took place at Kesgrave Sports Hall on Friday 11th March 2011.

A total of 12 players from Kesgrave TT Club, Kesgrave High School and Britannia TT club entered, playing in four groups of three, the top two from each group going through to make up the eight players in the quarter finals.

The group matches, playing best of 3 games, saw Peter Farthing topping Group 1 with Fionnoan Orrey second.

In Group 2 Jared Bones piped Adam Firth for first place.

Group 3 Jack Nicholls finished top and Sam Byford second, Sam just scrapping past Thomas Clarke after tying on games won.

Group 4 results put Natalie Wills in first place, closely followed by Jonathan Coleman

The Quarter finals played as best of five, matched up Natalie Wills against Adam Firth, Natalie moving into the Semi with a strong performance. Perhaps game of the Quarters was Fionnian's game against Jack. Jack mixing in good top spin drives with his around defence, a style of game not usually seen by many of the entrants and successfully employed against Fionnian. Another tight game was seen between Peter and Jonathan with some excellent topspin forehand rallies away from the table, Peter winning by three games to one. The last Quarter final match secured a win for Jared over Sam.

In the first Semi final Natalie powered though Jack's defence to secure a place in the Final, and Jared overcame came last years finalist Peter.

The final was played out in front of a avid crowd, all Kesgrave club members stopping to watch. A strong start by Jared set him up to take the first game and establish a strong lead in the second, some good strong forehands out wide reaping their reward. Anyone who has watched Natalie will know that nothing fazes her, and with good controlled play she worked her way back into the game and eventually won the second. Confidence up Natalie began to exert her game and Jared found himself on the end of some blistering forehand drives and counter hits. With it Natalie went on the win the third and forth games, winning the U13 Championship 3-1 in games.

Thanks go to all players and adults who helped with the umpiring. All players should be proud of the level of play and sporting spirit displayed.

It is hoped trophy winners will able to attend the finals night of the main Championships to receive their trophies.

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Haul of trophies for Britannia players :

A number of Britannia players entered the Colchester & District TT League championships which took place at the Rowhedge TT club last weekend [5th.&6th.March,2011.] and between them came away with a significant haul of trophies.

Aimee Sparkes, won THREE titles, Ladies Singles, Ladies Doubles[with Janet Faires] and Mixed Doubles [with Michael Wright].

Nigel Hodder, won TWO titles, Veterans 40+ and 50+.

There were also runners-up trophies for Andy Warner, runner-up in the Men's singles, Gary Young, runner-up in the Mixed doubles[with Sue Welham], and Ken Lewis, runner-up in the Veterans 60+.