The main event of the Ilford League tournament was the Open Singles, which was well supported with 43 entries, with a strong field of top players including Ngoma, Zurowski, Hajdrych, Carthy, Liddle, Corbin, Matos and Szadkowska.

In the final, Clive Carthy, only seeded 7 beat Roland Zaunmayr, seeded 13, 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-8).

On his way to the final, Carthy had defeated Darek Zurowski, who was aiming to equal Brian Brumwell’s record of five consecutive wins. Zaunmayr played brilliantly up until the final, beating number 4 seed Euan Liddle, Essex Veteran champion Peter Radford and number one seed Didier Ngoma in the semi-final.

One match in the Handicap Singles had everyone in the hall stop to watch as teenager Kleber Silva (handicap 13) met Darek Zurowski (minus 5). Each game was up to 33 points, best of three, with players being handicapped according to ability.

The players traded forehand and backhand shots and although Zurowski pulled back twenty points in the first game, he conceded early so he could save himself for the next game. In the second game, Zurowski won 33-31, scoring 38 points to Silva’s 18. However, an exhausted Zurowski was unable to win the deciding game and Silva went through to the next round.

Other results:

Open Doubles:

D. Zurowski & Klaudia Szadkowska beat Maciej Nakielski & Gavin West 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-8)

Veterans Singles: Peter Radford beat Paul Martindill 3-1 (11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5)

Veterans Doubles: Phil Walker & Paul Martindill beat Sal Ahmed & Ray Brown 3-1 (11-7, 8-11, 15-13, 11-2)

Handicap Singles: Ambar Rai beat Richard Feder 33-25, 26-33, 33-23

Division 2&3 Singles: Armagan Huseyin beat Cecil Almeida 3-2 (11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-3, 11-3)

Division 3 Singles: Richard Feder beat David Adeleye 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-9)