The Knock-Out Cup competitions traditionally bring the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Season to a conclusion and this year the honours were spread around with Danbury B winning the Open event and Galleywood taking both the Veterans and Mixed competitions.
Chelmsford C were winners of the largest of the competitions – the Handicap KO Cup, while Hatfield Peverel A won the Division Two Down event and Danbury B are this year’s Division Four Down Champions. OCs are this year’s Junior Knock Out Cup winners.
Danbury B (Gary Young, Peter Mynard and Chris Buer) were 5-2 winners over Danbury A in the Open Cup final. Buer won both of his singles the hard way, beating beat Ken Sheard 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-2) and Ian Whiteside also in five (11-13, 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8). Mynard sealed the victory for Danbury B by getting the better of Sheard 3-0 (11-9, 12- 10, 11-4).
Galleywood (Peter Radford, Lucy Wang and Reuben Okai) ran out 5-1 winners against Hatfield Peverel in the Veterans’ Cup final. John Gagg made his mark with a very hard fought 3-2 (11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 13-15, 11-9) victory against Okai but he in turn tasted defeat against Wang and her 3-1 (5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6) win sealed the Galleywood victory. Lucy had also overcome a first game setback to get the better of Gary Ward 3-1 (11-13, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6).
Galleywood (Peter Radford, Steve Kerns and Lucy Wang) also annexed the Mixed Knock Out Cup, beating OCs 5-0 in the Final. Rob Burton had his chances against Kerns before succumbing 3-0 (8-11, 13-15, 9-11) and Sue Hickman gave Wang plenty of problems before Lucy sealed her 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-8) victory but Galleywood eventually ran out 5-0 winners.
Chelmsford C ran out 5-2 winners over OCS A in the Handicap Cup final. Paul Nicol (two wins), Victor Chan (two wins) and Bob Francis (one win) all played a part in this success. Daniel Berry picked up the two wins for the losing OCs team.
Hatfield Peverel are this year’s Division Two Down champions. Gary Ward, Peter Brownlow and John Gagg ran out 5-2 winners against Galleywood. Ward and Gagg were narrow 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10) winners over Bryn Thomas and Colin Blore in the opening doubles and they retained that early advantage. Gagg played his part by getting the better of Blore 3-2 (8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9) after a really hard-fought encounter.
Danbury B always had the edge in the Division Four Down Cup final and Dave Goody, Rob Kneale and Dave Powell were 5-0 winners against Chelmsford A. Goody and Powell sealed the victory with a 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9 success against Jarek Pietraszuk and John Barrett in the middle doubles encounter.
OCs (Daniel Berry, Tanishq Kotwal and Tejas Kotwal) were convincing 5-0 winners against Chelmsford in the Junior Cup final. Daniel, Tanishq and Tejas all impressed with their 3-0 singles wins but the opening doubles proved a different story and Daniel and Tejas had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Connor Payne and Jamie Penkman 3-2 (10-12, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4).
In the League action Galleywood B climbed into third place in Division Two by beating Elmtree Excalibur B 9-1. James Hicks (83%) and Gray Brignall (65%), who have both had good seasons, were both undefeated and with gaps likely to appear in the first division next year they may well have earned themselves a place in Division One next season. Hicks completed his hat-trick and rounded up the season’s action with a 3-2 (12-10, 10-12, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5) victory over Richard Storey.
In the first division, a two-man Bocking side consolidated second position by beating Danbury B 6-4. David Cole won his three singles for Bocking whilst Graham Briggs showed up well for Danbury by defeating Alan Burgess in five (7- 11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8).
Chelmsford C’s bid to finish second in the third division fell apart when they were well beaten 7-3 by OCs E. Ashton Parker and David Porter were both undefeated for Old Chelmsfordians. The Chelmsford trio of Jarek Pietraszuk, Paul Nicol and Victor Chan all won once.