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Club Championship Report

10/4/2016

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Ladywood saw the Club Championships take place on Saturday 9th April 2016 and the format of last year was repeated with the Tournament run on a handicap basis but this year with the addition of a ballot doubles. 

In the first Group stages, the tone for the event was set as number 1 seed Colin Green played against young Louis Myatt - Louis playing off +7 held a 20-0 advantage in a race to 24 - no real surprise then as he comfortably won in straight sets with Colin immediately questioning the handicapping Committee of Tom and Brian!! He scrambled through the group, however, with a mammoth comeback win against Katie Mackay.

The main casualties of the first round were Iain Johnstone (-8) who lost to Hannah McDonell and Louis McLeod, whilst pre tournament favourite (well in his own mind if no-one else's) Phil Daly failed to get out of his group as Greig McDonell and Stewart Hennessey progressed. 

The last 16 threw up some interesting ties - there were screams of horror from table 1’s match between Louis Myatt and Abby Wighton - but before anyone jumps to conclusions they didn’t come from Louis this time - Abby couldn’t believe it as she crashed out in straight sets - who made up these handicaps she was heard to mutter! Last year’s final was repeated at the last 16 stage as Greig took on John Bald - John Bald - did he really win it last year!!! The tables were turned this year however as Greig overcame a 0-15 deficit to win in four ends. Pre-tournament favourite Sean Lennon (another +7 shark) took care of Colin to progress to the quarter finals whilst Louis McLeod continued his good comeback from his ankle break disposing of Tony Brentnall in straight sets. 

There was a pattern emerging as all of the Division 4 youngsters progressed at the expense of lower handicapped opponents. Also through to the quarter finals went Millie Bennett and Luke Hennessey with the oldies all struggling.

The 1st Quarter final saw Luke take on Sean - a three point start for Sean wasn’t quite enough although he will be ruing some missed opportunities as he fell to Luke’s more consistent style. 

Quarter final number 2 saw Greig take on Louis Myatt and even Greig’s efforts to put the 12 year old off were in vain as Louis marched on in three straight sets. Also progressing to the semis were Millie and Louis McLeod. 

So the four semi-finalists had a combined age of  52 - that’s not even half of Brian’s age!!

In the first semi Luke faced Louis McLeod and Louis looked like he might spring a surprise but just fell short losing out in 4 ends.

In the other semi-final Louis Myatt took on Millie who must have started favourite after the confidence of a straight sets victory in the league the previous week. In front of a large crowd, Millie’s nerves seemed to got the better of her - from 9-5 down in the first, Louis never looked back as he won in straight sets. 

So the final that no one wanted to see - oops I mean the final everyone wanted to see!!! Louis v Luke - team mates from Division 4 - Luke giving a 3 point advantage to Louis and still simmering after a defeat to Louis earlier in the year in the Edinburgh Championships at RHS. He put that defeat behind him as his consistency again came to the fore in a somewhat anti-climatic final where neither player played their best. Whilst Louis had a chance in the 3rd end, Luke never really looked in trouble as he comfortably won in 3 ends - Well done Luke.

The losers in the first group stages played off in groups in the consolation Singles Event and a hard fought competition ensued. Phil’s tactics of not getting out of the initial group stages paid dividend as he reached the final where he faced Craig Johnson (yet another Division 4 shark on +7)!! In the final, Craig couldn’t quite get to grips with Phil’s left handed style as Phil ended the day as he had promised with a tournament win!!!

The Ballot Doubles threw up some interesting pairings - progressing through the groups and then the knockout stages to the final were Iain Johnstone (trying to make up for his dismal showing in the singles) paired with Stewart Hennessey and his hard bat against Colin Green and Mark Mackay (a newbie to the Club). The final was an entertaining and tight affair which went the distance - Iain and Stewart held their nerve for an 11-8 win in the deciding set - well done to yet another Hennessey!! 

No player of the week award this week but our Player of the tournament award goes to a young lad who has done terrifically well in fighting his way back from a horrendous injury half way through the season - it was great to see Louis McLeod back and to make the semi finals was a fantastic achievement - Well done Louis! 


A great day was had by all and to end we all pass on our thanks to Tom and Brian for the work done in the run up to the event (well apart from their handicapping decisions!!) and to Katharine and Tom for their excellent running of the top table on the day. 


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Week 27 Report

3/4/2016

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So here we are - we've reached the end of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League (well apart from the play-offs). In fairness the table tennis has taken a bit of a back seat as a result of all the controversies flying around - but it's the table tennis we're interested in and in particular Greig, Iain and Abby's efforts to reach the Handicap Cup Final.

West Lothian 8 of Ralph Taylor, Tommy Hamill and Roz Beck were the opponents. Greig started off -11, Iain -8 and Abby -1. Tommy was +5, Roz +6 and Ralph +7. Watching Ralph and Tommy warm up alarm bells were already ringing and that question that's often asked at Cup matches was thrown out there - "+7 - You're having a laugh - who decided that??"

First up was Greig against Tommy - 0-16 to 22 - When Greig lost the first end 22-16 having served two faults and missed 3 forehands he changed ends confident that he could turn the match around - eh well that confidence quickly disappeared as he lost the next two without much of a fight. +7 man was next up against Iain - 0-15 to 19 - when Ralph hit two backhand winners and Iain made two errors the first end was over in rapid fashion - 19-1 to Ralph! You're having a laugh was said by Iain again - whilst slightly better in ends 2 & 3, Iain also went down without much of a whimper! Never mind though our ace card Abby would get us out of trouble against Roz - 0-7 to 12. Greig and Iain watched in some disbelief as Roz just couldn't be passed by Abby resulting in another straightforward 3 end win for West Lothian - 3-0 down and it had hardly reached 7.30pm - an early night and some extra drinking time for Iain was at least on the cards.

Match 4 pitted Greig against Ralph - 0-18 to 22. When Greig won the first end it was looking good but in end 2 Ralph won 3 of the first 7 points to go 21-4 up - Greig's infamous positivity (sort of) then saw him decide to try and gee himself on by reminding Ralph after each point won how many more he needed to catch him - 17, 16 ,15 .......... all the way down to 4 when even the onlooking Penicuik contingent believed he was going to do it - oops 17-22 loss! The next two ends were shared and in the deciding fifth Greig reverted to type by doggedly pushing and just not making mistakes - at last Penicuik were on the board and there was still belief that the match could be turned around. 

Abby up next against Tommy 0-6 to 12 and the match turned in the first end when Abby caught her opponent at 10-10. As often happens in these types of games the player who has come back then seems to relax thinking the work is done and lo and behold before she knew it she had lost 14-12 - Confidence dented Abby lost the next two ends as well.

Iain then showed Abby how it should have been done as he came back from a 0-14 deficit to win in three straight ends against Roz - 4-2 and still thoughts of a great comeback.

Match 7 saw Abby take on Ralph - 0-8 to 12 - a topsy turvy match and it looked all over when Ralph had match points in end 4 only to be clawed back by Abby to take it in to a deciding 5th end - Alas, Ralph played positively and Abby was never in it. So no glory this year for Penicuik - but we'll be back fighting next season.

In the league, it was a good job Team 4 had already secured a play off-spot from Division 2 as they fell to their second loss in a fortnight as they went down 7-3 to LBPTT. A play-off against Corstorphine awaits with one thing being sure - they'll need to play better than the last couple of weeks to stand any chance of gaining promotion to Division 1.

And so to player of the Week - not many to choose from at all this week - we were going to give it to Greig just for the entertainment he provided but this week the award goes to someone who didn't actually play  but came along to support the Club at Murrayfield in their semi-final. He even gave some good advice, not good enough obviously, but still good!! He's also due an award for being our most improved player this year - not in terms of table tennis but in terms of his attitude to others!! Without lifting a bat our winner this week is Mr Bailey (aka Mr "I'm nicer than James Wighton").

Finally our controversy of the week section - Let's face it there's probably enough going on with talk of SGMs, teams forfeiting matches, rule infractions etc. that we have little to add  - other than who gave Ralph a +7 handicap!!



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