JUNIOR
FINAL
Dean
Clyne of Maccabi, Junior Champion from 2010 faced eight year old Amir Hussain
from Ramsbottom TT Academy. Amir’s Dad, Khamal who is finalist in the doubles
event has taken Amir to China TWICE for specialist coaching in a country that
excels in table tennis and his skills are clear to be seen when you see him
play. The start of the match saw some very fast exchanges and Dean just pipped
Amir eleven nine to take the first game. Amir hit back in the second taking it
in a very tens twelve points to ten. The match continued at a fast pace with
some great hitting by both players but it was Dean who was beginning to take
control of the match and took the next two games at five and seven to make him
Junior Champion for the second time. As a consolation for Amir taking the
runners up prize he also won the division five handicapped event played for at
the Championship’s on the 27th March.
MEN’S SEMI FINALS
In the
first of the semi-finals Graham Jeffries, past three times champion from
Radcliffe CC faced Martin Wyatt of Ramsbottom Town TTC. Left handed Martin
started the match to really dominate Graham in the first two games taking them
seven and seven. It was looking like an early upset of past Champion Graham
going out of the men’s event but in the third game Graham found his rhythm and
comfortably took it eleven two. Graham pressed on in the next two games and won
seven and nine to book a place in the final and looking to increase his tally
of wins to four.
Michael
Moir of Ramsbottom Town TTC took on Mick Dore from Radcliffe CC who was the
losing finalist in 2007 to Michael and has appeared in the semis on two
previous occasions. Despite tremendous defending by Mick it was Michaels ‘fire
power’ on both his back hand and fore hand that was too much for Mick to give
Michael a relatively trouble free passage to the final winning five, six and
nine.
DOUBLES FINAL
Last
minute pairings at the Closed Championships saw David Poytress of Seedfield
Methodists partner Martin Wyatt of Ramsbottom Town TTC. They took on Michael
Moir and Khamal Hussain of Ramsbottom Town TTC who were Champions in 2008 plus
Michael has won five other titles with Mark Ramsbottom plus a further title
with Brian Clements. Khamal won his second title in 2009 with Tim Ternent. There
were ‘cagey’ early exchanges at the start of the first game but it was Michael
and Khamal who settled in to the match the quickest and took the first game
eleven six. The match continued with some very fast points and it was Michael
and Khamal who again were appearing to be the stronger pairing and eased
themselves over the line taking the next two games at six and nine to take the
Doubles title.
OVER 60’s FINAL
Two time
champion Tommy Ryan of SP Carlton took on the 2009 Champion Dennis Collier of
St.Philips. If the first point was anything to go by there was ‘a match’ just
starting. Fantastic defence by Dennis which followed through the match in
contrast to Tommy’s hitting power. The pair couldn’t be separated towards the
end of the first game and it went to fourteen twelve in Dennis’s favour to take
the first game. Tommy hit back, literary in the second game to take it eleven
nine. The tremendous defence skills shown by Dennis was appreciated by the
packed gallery watching the matches especially the continuous praises by each
player for their opponents good winning shots. The next game went to Dennis
eleven eight to edge two one ahead in games. Tommy showed great resilience to
take the match into a deciding game and it was anyone’s call as to who was
going to win. With one point separating each other it was nine all and the
winner was going to be anyone’s guess. Not to be deterred at this close stage
of the match Tommy played the only way he knows and just managed to edge the
next two points to take the title for the third successive year.
MENS SINGLES FINAL
Both
Michael and Graham had one win each previously in the Men’s final. Michael beat
Graham in four games to two in 2005 and Graham beat Michael by the same score
line in 2008. Looking more focused and sounding more vocal than his semi-final
Graham withstood Michael’s tremendous fire power to take a strong hold on the
match by winning the first two games eight and twelve. Was Michael feeling the
pressure of looking for a seventh record equalling win in the men’s final?
Derek Hutchinson won seven finals between 1952 and 1963. Only Steven Scowcroft
came close to seven wins when he won in another record tally of five successive
titles between 1980 and 1985. This was also Michael’s ninth appearance in the
final which is matches by Graham Hoy who won five times in his nine
appearances.
In the
third game Michael seemed to be getting the upper hand when he took an early
seven points to two lead only for Graham to edge back and eventually draw level
at nine points lead. The final is contested over the best of seven games so
Michael could not afford to lose another game and he closed out the game by
winning the next two points. An early
lead in the fourth game six one for Michael saw Graham claw back to seven five
down but Michael came back to take the next four points and tie the match two
games each. Four all in the fifth then Michael took the lead eight six in a
match that has shown all of the skills from both players in the highest quality
play, fantastic touch and played in the best sporting fashion. Michael kept his
lead to win this fifth game eleven seven. In the sixth it was too close to call
who was going to win the game and at one point it
looked very much like it was going to take a seventh and final game to find the
Champion. It was ten all and the tension could be felt in the room. Two great
attaching points from Michael was enough to get him over the finishing line to
get his record equalling seventh title.
