Naphong Boonyaprapa, Sophie Barlow and Josh Harland were double winners as Bishop Auckland Table Tennis Club held their final 2-star of the season, with players from all over the north east and as far away as Nottinghamshire and Hampshire competing.
The first event to finish was the under-11 boys’ singles, in which Nottinghamshire’s Boonyaprapa justified his top seeding by taking home the title, beating Hull’s Lloyd Leigh-Smith who had knocked out Bishop’s Luca Pontone in the semi-finals. The Plate was won by Thomas Rayner beating Bishop Auckland’s Cameron Gowland in the final.
The boys’ under-13 event saw a cracking final between Joe Cope from Northfield club and Boonyaprapa. The match swung one way then the other before Naphong took the fifth set and his second title. The plate event was won by Leigh-Smith, beating Cumbria’s Matt Rigg in the final. Rigg had earlier knocked out Bishops’ Conor Elston in the semis.
The under-13 girls saw an all-Cleveland final, with Barlow picking up her first title of the day by beating Charlotte McCarty. The plate saw another Cleveland girl, Madeline Dunn, triumph over Georgina Peart from Durham in the final.
Barlow took home her second title of the day by winning the cadet girls’ event as, in an all Swerve final, she beat club-mate Holly Williams. Peart and McCarty were the beaten semi-finalists. The plate was won by Amy Webster, beating Bishop Auckland’s Emma Smith in the final.
The cadet boys’ event saw the battle of the top two seeds – Cleveland’s Josh Harland and Hampshire’s Ben Cawston. In a top-class final, second seed Harland came out on top with a 3-2 win. The plate was won by James Neal from Cumbria, seeing off Sonny Alder in the final, with Bishops players Matt Oldfield and Jack Jacomb just losing out in the semi-finals.
Holly Williams made up for losing in the cadet final by winning the junior girls’ event, with Amy Webster losing in the final. Bishops girls Erin Harrison and Emma Smith reached the plate final, with Harrison coming out the winner.
Harland and Cawston again squared up in the final of the junior boys. Harland, this time the No 1 seed and favourite ran away with the final taking his second title with a 3-0 victory, with Boonyaprapa and Arran Kent losing semi-finalists.
The plate final was an all Bishop Auckland affair between Zak Hutchinson and Carl Draper. Hutchinson, keen to make up for a bad show in the groups, played some of his best table tennis to reach the final with some ease before being pushed in the final by club-mate Draper, who had also reached the final without dropping a set. However, Hutchinson was not to be outdone and took home the win.
A big thanks to trophy sponsors Trimmers hair designs in Bishop Auckland – and Ian from the company who presented the awards – plus Bribar Table Tennis and Bishop Barrington School.
Matthew Porter, BATTC (12th May 2014)