News & Views from the Colchester Table Tennis League
with Press Officer Martyn Green

1st March 2010
GREEN & WELHAM FACE TOUGH TITLE DEFENCES

Reigning Men’s and Ladies Colchester and District Table Tennis Singles Champions Greg Green and Sue Welham, both from the St Mary’s club, face stiff competition in defence of their titles at the Rowhedge Village Hall this coming weekend. Last year’s sensational un-seeded win for eighteen-year-old Greg Green sees him one of the top eight seeds, all of which must have their eyes on the trophy. With the highest number of entrants since the championships have been staged at Rowhedge, the top eight will not have to play in the qualifying groups of four, instead being joined in the last sixteen by the eight group winners. Last years beaten finalist Gary Young, also from St Mary’s, is the number one seed and, following his five set win over Green in the recent Chelmsford tournament, must fancy his chances as the pair are scheduled to meet in the Quarter-finals. Number two seed Kevin Gowlett (H20 Rowhedge B) has been the most consistent performer all season but was beaten by both St Mary’s players last week, albeit suffering from a heavy cold. The H20 Rowhedge A pairing of Michael Andrews and Antony Greenwood are seeded three and four and both are former Colchester Junior champions and have the pedigree to make the step up. Someone who no player will wish to come up against is pimpled rubber specialist Richard Goodhand (Gt Horkesley A) who showed excellent form, downing Andrews in last weeks top of the table clash. The man being heavily tipped to win however, is twice former Chelmsford Men’s Singles champion Steve Joslin (H20 Rowhedge A) who has the tournament temperament and has steadily improved since his return to table tennis, playing in his first Colchester championships. Andrew Mudie (H20 Rowhedge B) completes the top eight who on his day will be a handful for anyone also making his Colchester debut. Lurking in the Groups are one or two that could cause upsets especially Clacton Men’s champion Colin Stallwood (Walton A) as well as Ipswich’s Mike Wright (Gt Horkesley A) and Fred Button (H20 Rowhedge C).

Twenty-Two time Ladies Singles champion Sue Welham is seeded straight through to the semi-final and on form should play number one seed Amy Sparkes (Gt Horkesley A) in the final. Sparkes from Ipswich , has had a terrific season in Division One averaging over seventy-six percent as opposed to Welham’s fifty-five percent. Throw into the mix former Clacton and Colchester champions Annabelle Rodriguez and Janet Faiers and Welham will do well to stretch her record breaking run to twenty-three.

In the Men’s Doubles Antony Greenwood and Michael Andrews impressive league form which sees them unbeaten together are the number one seeds with last year’s runner’s-up Kevin Gowlett and Greg Green number two. There are dangerous scratch pairings in Andrew Mudie/Steve Joslin, Richard Goodhand/Mike Wright, John Andrews/Alan Burgess and Gary Young/Fred Button. In the Ladies Doubles Sue Welham and Amy Sparkes should have no problem, being the only two players from Division One. Welham teams up once again with Gary Young in the Mixed Doubles looking for their fourth consecutive win, but will face a tough challenge from Mike Wright/Amy Sparkes, Richard Goodhand /Janet Faiers and youngsters Greg Green and Annabelle Rodriguez.

Mark Smith (H20 Rowhedge C) is favourite to win the Junior event (under 18) with fellow Clacton player James Denyer (Walton E) and Andrew Harvey (H20 Rowhedge I) providing the main competition. In the Cadets (under 15) Denyer is firm favourite, currently topping the averages in Division Three.

In the Veterans 40+ singles Trevor Carter (St Mary’s A) is somewhat surprisingly number one seed in what promises to be one of the most hotly contested events of the weekend. The wily Ken Lewis (Gt Horkesley B) fresh from his defeat of the men’s champion is seeded two but Mike Wright must have more than a good chance if he can get past Martyn Green (St Mary’s A) in the first round! Another mouth watering prospect is the match up of H20 Rowhedge C team mates Fred Button and Phil Smith. John Andrews and Alan Burgess also from H20 Rowhedge as well as Ian Whiteside (Rayne) all have an outstanding chance. Fred Button defends his Veteran’s 50+ title with Carter, and former champions Andrews, Whiteside and Burgess in contention. In the 60+ category holder Alan Burgess will be up against previous winner’s Ken Lewis, Fred Button and Ian Whiteside amongst others.

The Tournament starts with the Handicap, Junior and Veteran’s events on Saturday and the Closed Championships and Divisional Singles on Sunday with the Finals and presentations by the Mayor at 7.00pm on the Sunday evening at the Rowhedge Village Hall. Spectators and former players are welcome to attend, refreshments are provided.