The Halton Table Tennis League held its Finals Night and presentation of trophies in the company of the Mayor of Halton Councillor Ged Philbin (president), Mayoress Rosalin Wong and Karen Tonge MBE (chairman) from the Halton Table Tennis League.
The two semi-finals of the Men’s Singles were hotly contested with Malcolm McEvoy beating Ryan Lunn 3-1 in the opening match (9, 8, -6, 6) while under-15 Harry Watson beat Ryan’s older brother Michael Lunn also in four sets (8, 6, -10, 9).
The Kevin Higgins Memorial Trophy Hard Bat saw Jordan Abbott the comfortable winner over Tim Vaughan, who was in his first season in Halton.
Next up was the Handicap Singles with Harry Watson in his second match of the night taking on under-13 Liam Bibby. Harry started 0-14 down, playing to 27, and Liam won the first 27-23 and held his nerve to win 27-17 to take the title in two straight games.
The Ladies’ Singles saw under-18 Robyn Cosgrove, ranked 28 in England juniors, beat Niamh Scarborough, ranked 9 in under-12s 3-0 (6, 5, 4). This was followed by the Mixed Doubles with Harry and Robyn combining to beat Ryan and Niamh 3-0 (8, 13, 9).
In the Open Doubles final, Mal McEvoy & his son Daniel lost to the Lunn brothers Michael and Ryan in five games (-8, 7, 7, -3, 7).
In the Junior final, Harry Watson, last year’s runner-up, again returned to the table to take on Matthew McCarthy, who had been patiently waiting all night. Harry played a powerful game to win 3-0 (3, 6, 8).
The last match was the Men’s Singles final with Harry Watson causing a sensation winning the title this year over Mal McEvoy, who had won more than 30 times and hadn’t lost since 2009. Harry won in four sets, with Mal taking the first game 7, Harry in a close game took the second game 9, Mal shot in to a 7-3 lead in the third, only for Harry to claw back the score with a very mature performance to take it 14-12; then in the fourth Harry used his services and tactics to take the game and title 11-9 (7, -9, 12, 9).
The Mayor of Halton then spoke of the various events he had attended and the popularity of table tennis in Halton and links with the schools. He then presented trophies starting with Division One Winners: Fords A; Runner-up: Widnes RUC ‘A’
Division Two Winners: Widnes RUC ‘B’; Runner-up: Eli Lilly; Division One Singles Winner: Mal McEvoy (Fords); Runner-up: Tim Vaughan (Halton).
Special Awards were made for the first time to mark Jordan McGarry’s first division record, winning most matches with 34 out of 39 and in the second division to Jordan Abbott, having won 47 out of 48 matches.
Other awards and winners:
Team Handicap Winners: Widnes RU A; Runner-up: Daresbury C
Stan Woodward Trophy (for most promising player): Anais O’Connor (Halton)
Women’s Singles Winner: Robyn Cosgrove (Halton); Runner-up: Niamh Scarborough (Halton)
Veterans Singles Winner Mal McEvoy (Fords); Runner-up Tim Vaughan (Halton)
Junior Winner (U18): Harry Watson (Halton); Runner-up: Matt McCarthy (Halton)
Cadet Winner (U15): Harry Watson (Halton); Runner-up: Liam Bibby (Halton)
Under-13 Winner: Liam Bibby (Halton); Runner-up: Ruby Bennett (Halton)
Under-11 Boys’ Winner: Riely O’Brien (Halton); Runner-up: Louis Cheung-Turner (Halton)
Under 11 Girls’ Winner: Jessica Cheshire (Halton); Runner-up: Maddy Lyons (Halton)
Consolation Winner: Luke Houghton (Halton); Runner-up: India Smith (Halton)
Daniel Hard Bat Doubles Winners: Matthew McCarthy and Tim Vaughan (Halton); Runners-up: Jordan Abbott Widnes B and James Grindley (Halton)
Kevin Higgins Memorial Trophy Hard Bat Winner: Jordan Abbott (Widnes B); Runner-up: Tim Vaughan (Halton)
Handicap Singles Winner: Liam Bibby (Halton); Runner-up Harry Watson (Halton)
Mixed Doubles Winners: Harry Watson and Robyn Cosgrove (Halton); Runners-up: Ryan Lunn and Niamh Scarborough
Open Doubles Winners: Ryan and Michael Lunn (Halton); Runner-up: Mal and Daniel McEvoy (Fords)
Men’s Singles Winner: Harry Watson (Halton); Runner-up: Mal McEvoy (Fords)
