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WEST WILTS TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE
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Home Nights venues and Captains
Annual Championships
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Annual Championships Report 2007-2008 LLOYD AT THE DOUBLE A jubilant Trevor Lloyd made it a double on the night when he not only retained the Veterans Singles title but also regained the coveted Mens Singles title at the West Wilts Table Tennis League Championships Finals Night last Saturday. With the finals of the four main age groups to be played, the first match of the evening was the Junior Singles when, in a repeat of last year, Alex Kearney took on Billy Ho. After early mistakes, Kearney regained his composure to win the first leg 11-8. The second leg saw clever blocking and variation of pace give Ho an early advantage, but Kearney soon adjusted to this change in tactics, to claw his way back to success by 11-9. Although a slow start seemed to be a feature of Kearney’s game in the first two legs, the third was the exception when he went into an early lead, but unforced errors allowed Ho to get back and win 11-9. The loss of this leg inspired Kearney into a more composed style and his controlled hard hitting attack saw him through to a comfortable 11-5 win to retain his title. The next game on was the Veterans Singles when holder Trevor Lloyd played team-mate Ricky Jemmott in a battle of the left handers. Lloyd was dominant in the first leg and, with Jemmott unable to control his strong forehand top spin attack, he took it by a comfortable 11-4. The second leg saw Jemmott settle down and his more controlled returns, with an occasional forehand attacking shot, took him into an early lead. However, Lloyd called on all his experience to come back to win by the close margin of 13-11. The third leg was a repeat of the first with Lloyd again dominating with his forehand attack to win 11-5 and so retain his title. In the Over 50’s final, the mixed forehand and backhand attack of Terry Parkins was the determining factor in the first leg and, despite desperate defending by Malcolm Phillips, he took it 11-8. The second leg was a combination of more consistent defending by Phillips and several unforced errors by Parkins in a much closer game, but the result went to Parkins 14-12. Parkins adopted a more adventurous style of play in the third leg, but this was not matched by consistency, and Phillips took advantage to win 11-6. Reverting to his preferred style of play in the fourth leg, Parkins regained his consistency to reverse that score, win the match and thus retain his title. The final match of the evening was the eagerly awaited final of the Mens Singles in a repeat of last year, when Alex Kearney had taken the title from Trevor Lloyd. Each player had already won one final earlier in the evening, so it was a question of who could make it a double. Lloyd showed his determination right from the first point with strong forehand attacking play, which prevented Kearney being able to settle into his game, and he took the first leg 11-8. The second leg followed much the same pattern with Lloyd continuing to unsettle Kearney who, despite several spirited forehand winners, could not pull back the deficit and lost 9-11. The third leg was a much closer contest with both players showing the strength of their attacking play. Kearney was gaining in confidence forcing Lloyd into a more defensive role, but his clever variation of returns and counter attack forced Kearney into several errors, enabling him to take it 13-11 and so regain the title. This gave him the double success on the night to go with the Mens Doubles and Veterans Doubles titles he had won over the Championships weekend. The evening concluded with the presentation of trophies to the winners and runners-up for all events, which were made by League President, Tony Watts, and Life Member, Chick Chandler. Chick had contested the Mens Singles title some 70 years ago for the first of three consecutive years, but each time had been unsuccessful. The Trowbridge Merit Shield, for the best overall performance of the Championships, was awarded to Ray Valovec.
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