DaveR
04-08-2008, 11:44 PM
The Open Singles ran more or less to form, number one seed Darek Zurowski beat number three seed Didier Ngoma in a final that was a fantastic advert for table tennis.
The late withdrawal of the second seed Euan Liddle left the way clear for Ngoma to proceed to the final. He had to work hard to beat unseeded Rohit Kumar in the quarter final 9-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8 and then beat Gavin West in four sets in the semi final.
Meanwhile, Zurowski had an easy path into the semi-final, where he met Essex Veteran champion Peter Radford. Zurowski won the first two sets 12-10, 11-8, then lost the third 9-11. However, he stepped up a gear in the fourth to win 11-2 and book his place in the final.
The final was an attacking spectacular from the very first point scored. Ngoma used his forehand loop to good effect whereas Zurowski used a counter-attacking forehand smash, or a backhand punch stroke to narrowly win the first set 11-9. In the second, Zurowski raced into an 8-4 lead only for Ngoma to recover to 9-9. At this point, Ngoma tried to play a winning shot in response to Zurowski’s serve and reprimanded himself when he lost the point. He lost the following point to lose the set 9-11.
The tactics now changed as Zurowski had a 2-set lead and Ngoma was fighting to stay in the match and therefore took a few risks to win points. It wasn’t to be and Zurowski won the third set 11-6 to become Ilford Champion.
The Handicap singles was another fantastic event, it was the best of three games up to 33 points, with each player starting with his allocated handicap. Having come through the group stages, Darek Zurowski, on a handicap of zero had to play in a semi-final group of three players who were on 15 points and 27 points respectively. The group finished with each player having won one match 2-0, so progression to the final was determined by number of points scored, which put Zurowski through.
In the final he met a junior, Alex Donkor, who had also progressed from the semi-final after each player had won one match. Alex was on 23 points, so had to win each game by scoring ten points to Darek’s 33. What a final it was; Alex attacked from the start and Darek had to use all his experience to earn all his points as he won the first game 33-29. Alex took the second game 33-28 and at this point Darek looked exhausted. He had won 352 points in his five matches so far and as he towelled-down prior to the final game, he seemed mentally tired. However, when the final game began, he played like a true champion, winning 33-29.
Other results:
Veterans Singles: Peter Radford bt. John Tendler 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3.
Veterans Doubles: Paul Pells/Russell Stone bt. Ray Brown/Steve Codrington 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 12-10.
Open Doubles: Euan Liddle/Matt Spero bt. Rohit Kumar/Mostafa Heikal 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7
Div 2&3 Singles: Paul Pells bt. Russell Stone 11-5, 1-11, 11-4, 12-10.
Div 3 Singles: David Evans bt. Andy Home 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9
Player of the tournament: Darek Zurowski
Article by Ray Brown
The late withdrawal of the second seed Euan Liddle left the way clear for Ngoma to proceed to the final. He had to work hard to beat unseeded Rohit Kumar in the quarter final 9-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8 and then beat Gavin West in four sets in the semi final.
Meanwhile, Zurowski had an easy path into the semi-final, where he met Essex Veteran champion Peter Radford. Zurowski won the first two sets 12-10, 11-8, then lost the third 9-11. However, he stepped up a gear in the fourth to win 11-2 and book his place in the final.
The final was an attacking spectacular from the very first point scored. Ngoma used his forehand loop to good effect whereas Zurowski used a counter-attacking forehand smash, or a backhand punch stroke to narrowly win the first set 11-9. In the second, Zurowski raced into an 8-4 lead only for Ngoma to recover to 9-9. At this point, Ngoma tried to play a winning shot in response to Zurowski’s serve and reprimanded himself when he lost the point. He lost the following point to lose the set 9-11.
The tactics now changed as Zurowski had a 2-set lead and Ngoma was fighting to stay in the match and therefore took a few risks to win points. It wasn’t to be and Zurowski won the third set 11-6 to become Ilford Champion.
The Handicap singles was another fantastic event, it was the best of three games up to 33 points, with each player starting with his allocated handicap. Having come through the group stages, Darek Zurowski, on a handicap of zero had to play in a semi-final group of three players who were on 15 points and 27 points respectively. The group finished with each player having won one match 2-0, so progression to the final was determined by number of points scored, which put Zurowski through.
In the final he met a junior, Alex Donkor, who had also progressed from the semi-final after each player had won one match. Alex was on 23 points, so had to win each game by scoring ten points to Darek’s 33. What a final it was; Alex attacked from the start and Darek had to use all his experience to earn all his points as he won the first game 33-29. Alex took the second game 33-28 and at this point Darek looked exhausted. He had won 352 points in his five matches so far and as he towelled-down prior to the final game, he seemed mentally tired. However, when the final game began, he played like a true champion, winning 33-29.
Other results:
Veterans Singles: Peter Radford bt. John Tendler 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3.
Veterans Doubles: Paul Pells/Russell Stone bt. Ray Brown/Steve Codrington 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 12-10.
Open Doubles: Euan Liddle/Matt Spero bt. Rohit Kumar/Mostafa Heikal 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7
Div 2&3 Singles: Paul Pells bt. Russell Stone 11-5, 1-11, 11-4, 12-10.
Div 3 Singles: David Evans bt. Andy Home 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9
Player of the tournament: Darek Zurowski
Article by Ray Brown