Junior / Cadets - Reading Table Tennis

[DaveR]

http://www.sportfocus.com/newsimage/win.JPG

Another great days play at the Junior Cadet Championships in Reading. Sunday saw all the Cadet Events being contested.

http://www.etta.co.uk/NatChamps/JunCadet/2007-8/images/CBS1.jpg

In the Cadet Boys Singles the No 1 and 2 seeds, Gavin Evans and Liam Pitchford, made the final with some ease which was not entirely unexpected.

What followed however was unexpected, as superb play from Liam Pitchford dominated the match against a Gavin Evans who was just not allowed time to play his game. An astounding 3 set to zero win for Liam was entirely deserved as he did not drop a single set in all of the long road to the Championship.

The earlier Semi Finals had seen the battle of the “little ones” go to Liam over Sean Cullen in 3 straight sets while the battle of the “big ones” saw Gavin triumph over Daniel Lowe in 4 sets, Sean and Daniel thus took the Bronze medals

http://www.etta.co.uk/NatChamps/JunCadet/2007-8/images/CGS.jpg

The Cadet Girls Final also was a tussle between 1 and 2 Seeds, Emily Bates and Karina LeFevre. After a close first set Emily dominated taking the Championship in 3 straight sets as Karina just could not absorb the power of shot coming at her from both wings of her opponent.

Losing Semi Finalists were Yolanda King (v Emily) and Natalie Slater (v Karina), both lost in three straight sets and thus took the Bronze Medals


http://www.etta.co.uk/NatChamps/JunCadet/2007-8/images/CBD1.jpg

The Cadet Boys Singles finalists faced each other again in the Cadet Boys Doubles, No 1 seeds Liam Pitchford paired up with Daniel Lowe to take the Gold Medal in a superb contest from No 2 seeds Gavin Evans and his partner Michael Bates in 4 sets.

Earlier in the semi finals Gavin and Michael had to pull out all the stops to resist the challenge of Sean Cullen and Graeme Barella finally triumphing 13-11 in the fifth set.
Liam and Daniel had an easier passage defeating Ping Ho and Lewis Gray in 3 straight sets. Bronze Medals therefore for Sean and Graeme and Ping Ho and Lewis.

http://www.etta.co.uk/NatChamps/JunCadet/2007-8/images/CGD.jpg

The Cadet Girls Doubles was again a contest of the two top seeds, Emily Bates and Lucy Davidson faced Ayonija Sundararajan and Natalie Slater. The number 1 seeds dominated and Emily and Lucy were delighted to take the Gold medal in 3 straight sets.

Earlier in the Semi Finals Emily and Lucy had a straight set victory over Abbie Milwain and Laura Robinson while Ayonija and Natalie won in 4 sets against Rachel Farquhar and Yolanda King. Bronze Medals threrfore for Abbie and Laura and for Rachel and Yolanda.

Two Gold Medals each for the players of the day. Liam gets better all the time and Emily has a power to her game which dominated whoever she played.

For complete results of the Championships click here (http://www.etta.co.uk/NatChamps/JunCadet/2007-8).

Photographs courtesy of David Wearn (dw.photographic@virgin.net (dw.photographic@virgin.net))


News Item Photo - Double Gold Medal Winners Liam Pitchford and Emily Bates

Photo 1 - Liam Pitchford
Photo 2 - Emily Bates
Photo 3 - Liam Pitchford and Daniel Lowe
Photo 4 - Emily Bates and Lucy Davidson



ETTA Article By Malcolm Macfarlane

[Michael Hahn]

Liam did exceptioanlly well to beat Gavin 3-0
he has caught up to him over the last couple of seasons and i don't think anyone- even Gavin realised how much

but the glue testing was a big problem
3 people who hav used the Joola X Glue which is meant to be VC free were disqualified and now have 3 month bans

however when Emma Vickers' bat tested positive she wasn't disqualified and she went on to win!

[Belisar]

Was there any word as to why they tested positive ? Or do we know if there is to be any investigation ?

Had they used a VOC glue before at some point and not aired their bat properly ?

And how come Emma Vickers was not disqualified ?

[Tinykin]

As far as I know, all the disqualifications were reversed when it was realised that the Joola rubbers were failing. I think it was a common-sense decision on the part of the officials.
I am sure the ETTA will issue a statement, hopefully sometime soon.
Maybe JOOLA should also say something since their equipment was blamed for causing the problem.
But this does raise questions about the testing process as I can see loads of players being innocently caught up in this. After all how many players have seen that article about airing the bat etc?

[Belisar]

If the organisors thought on their feet and did not disqualify people as the Joola gear was to blame then good for them.

It does however leave questions such as:-

was anyone actually cheating and has therefore got away with it ?
how effective is the bat testing equipment ?
how has equipment that is supposed to replace VOC glue but fails the tests got onto the market ?
does the ETTA report this kind of stuff to any ITTF committee where experience can be shared and some kind of records kept (i.e. if someone in France and Germany has the same issue at least Joola will know there is a serious issue and not a one off occurence) ?

I also wonder about a 3 month ban. If someone was cheating and got caught, giving them a 3 month ban in from May is not going to be much of a punishment unless they play summer events.

Other threads have said how difficult this was going to be to manage and I guess we are seeing the proof here. I look forward to some kind of ETTA feedback but I am guessing there is not an awful lot they can say.

[Tinykin]

I don't like the word cheating in this situation. Remember that the regulation is there ostensibly to protect players from the harmful effects of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). It is not a ban on speed gluing as such. It was quite obvious that the bats in question were not speed glued and that the players were not trying to gain an advantage. They were innocently caught up in a situation not of their making. I think that’s why the disqualifications were reversed even though the bats did fail the VOC test.
I doubt if any player had used speed glue.
This whole thing is a muddle and I hope the ETTA will stand up to the ITTF on this one and defend their players.
Reason; by their actions on Saturday, the ETTA has set a precedent by demonstrating that they will not blindly follow the ITTF regulations if it unfairly penalises their players.:thumbsup:

[Belisar]

I am not implying that anyone knowingly broke the rules. Remember my initial comment was to say that if the ETTA worked out that some faulty gear was to blame and reversed their initial decision then good for them.

However, my concerns and questions remain. There are likely to be other instances like this going forwards and it is going to be hard for the ETTA to know how to deal with them. Bat testing is there to try to prevent anyone using a banned substance (else why do it) but deciding who is an innocent party (and being able to act appropriately) is not going to be easy 100% of the time.

I acknowledge the reasons why the ban on VOC glue was introduced. Sadly it seems to me that using speed glue gives an advantage even with all the new gear out at the moment. If someone therefore knowingly uses it and does so to gain an advantage then I am not sure what else to call it.

I am not one of those who blindly moans about the ETTA. In fact in this case I am not doing so at all, as I fully acknowledge this is a tough one for them to deal with.

I do however think there has been a lack of information and advice published about this. Back in January a couple of suppliers I spoke to were still using VOC glue to make up bats and most juniors and coaches I speak to now do not know about making sure you "air" your bats properly.

Hopefully with the "off season" approaching (such as it is now) there will be time to draw breath and get some sensible advice published (do's and don'ts kind of thing).

Let's also hope someone has let Joola know if their product has had an effect they were not expecting.

[damn turned into an essay - apologies]

[HarryBelafonte]

:taz:ye na what!!!!!! as they say up here,

there s poor liam pitchard,lashing potentially our best prospect for years g evans, 3.0 ,what a performance.
We seen liam recently in the national premier league and was mightly impressed,he has a slightly unorthadox game,very good to watch and won both last games on to gain points for his team,showing a lot a bottle...
BUT all we get is rubbers glue,,blah blah bloody blah....
can some one please sort it out

now if possible,the game has been in turmoil for years,rubber,sponge,stamping,twiddling, colour ,serve,ball,
come on ,,,,,,what a joke...:tomato::resent:

[Mr Wilko]

as i have said we will get this problem where players are getting disqualified as the rules are not clear enough!!!!!!

the ETTA & ITTF are making it so difficult for the players just to make it better for TV viewers!!! its gona be very interesting when people stop playing as they cant be chewed!!!!!

WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!!

[Tinykin]

The Cadet/Junior Nationals had a few records broken, I think.

IIRC:

1. This is the first time that Gavin has lost to an English player in his age group or below in a national tournament. He almost made it to the juniors with this great record intact.
2. Also I have a feeling that this is the first year that neither Paul nor Gavin won a National singles title.

Perhaps things are a changing?

One for you, Wilko and other older ones; How does the domestic cadet/junior record of Paul/Darius/Gavin compare with players like yourself, Carl Prean, Terry Young etc

[Belisar]

Been reading the FTT thing that gets posted around and spoken to someone who was at this event.

They both seem to think that one players bat failed the bat tester and he was disqualified and not re-instated.

At least 6 others were re-instated despite their bats having failed as well. No one seems to know why the rule for one was not applied uniformly to all. I am told one parent ranted at Alex Murdoch claiming players were getting treated differently dependent on their ranking.

I gather there have been similar issues at other European events in terms of Joola materials failing the tester kits.

Sadly this is not as straightforward as we would like. Let's hope equipment and tester kits improve in terms of quality over the summer.

[Tinykin]

What is the FTT thing?

[Belisar]

FTT - Free Table Tennis is that "newsletter" that gets posted around electronically. It tends to be quite negative in that it often just moans about the ETTA and the various people who work on it.

However there are some interesting things in it sometimes. For instance I was not aware of the motion to make it compulsory for leagues to purchase the ETTA preferred insurance (compulsory in that either you buy it or you lose your voting rights).

It had a report on this event which was a bit critical looking at things such as they scheduled for only 1 to get through the groups despite the entry forms saying 2 would get through (I think they did allow 2 through once they realised). But it also commented on the bat testing situation.

[Tinykin]

Aaah so, OK.