English Table Tennis Association

DHS London Progress's resident Chinese Superstar Hong Ming Zhang never broke sweat on his way to collecting the Men’s Open winner’s cheque for £300 at the Tees Sport Butterfly Blackpool Grand Prix.

Zhang was never extended on his way to the title, and dropped only one set all day, that to Kevin Dolder in the semi final. Dolder enjoyed some superb wins against Italian Fabio Mantegazza and Paul Mcreery, to reach the semi final. Zhang had earlier been much too strong for Matt Ware in the last eight stage, (Ware just had a great win over Mike Marsden). Zhang then awaited the tournament pre favourite Darius Knight in the final.

Darius was made to work really hard for his place in the final. Right from the start of the event, Knight was taken to the wire in the group stage by the talented Scottish youngster Richard Main, with Darius coming through 11-9 in the fifth end. He then powered past Ben Barlow and Craig Howieson. Knight’s semi-final opponent was Damien Nicholls, who had played exceptionally well to reach this stage enjoying good performances over Stephen Denny and Stewart Crawford. Damien took Darius to five ends, however the number one seeded Knight went away in the final end.

So it was as expected in the final, with Darius taking on the Chinese hotshot. Hong Ming Zhang was never really threatened by Knight, and ran out a comfortable three straight sets winner.

The Women’s Open competition was thrown wide open with the late withdrawal of the top three seeds. The pre tournament favourite, Shu Ying Xu and her Peniel best friend Meihan Liu were unable to travel up from London due to the bad weather and train cancellations. Lindsey Reynolds also had to withdraw due to personal reasons which left a headache for Referee, Dave Cochrane to unravel! He soon shuffled the groups round and with no hold ups we were back on track.

Karen Shepherd assumed the role of top seed, however lost to England Cadet International Natalie Slater in the group stage. Natalie then proceeded right through to the final with some strong performances over Roz Carpenter, Liz May and Stephanie Donnelly to await the outcome and her final opponent from the bottom half of the draw.

Caroline Hallows now seeded at two, was having to pull out all the stops to make her path clear to the final. Her first opponent

Scotland

’s Julie Lawrence, made Caroline fight all the way in the first round going down 8-11 in the fifth end after a remarkable see-saw match. Hallows then brushed past Italian Nadine Scarizuola, to face the in-form Mary Fuller in the semi’s. Mary had earlier fought off the challenge of Hannah Hicks, and fancied her chances against Caroline. It was a great match with both Girls going for everything. Hallows eventually came through in the tightest of five sets, and took her place against Natalie Slater in the final.

The Under 21 Men’s and Women’s Singles were soon under way. Following the group stages, Damien Nicholls, so often a winner in the Under 21 Men’s event was making stealthy progress through to yet another final. Disposing of Scott Barton, Mathew Dodds and then having to find his best form, after going two sets to love down against

Ireland

’s Peter Graham, managed to come through in the fifth end. Meanwhile, in the other half of the draw, David Mcbeath was producing some controlled yet aggressive play to reach the final, with victories over Andrew Wilson and Adam Feargrieve. Matt Ware was his semi- final opponent. Ware was also firing on all cylinders to eliminate Jonathan Crawford and Paul Mcreery, to then face his Hampshire team mate Mcbeath. David found top form just when he needed it, to gain an unexpected straight sets win over Ware.

In the final, Damien Nicholls proved just too strong for David Mcbeath taking the Under 21 Men’s title in four sets.

The under 21 Women’s event went to Hannah Hicks, with a straight sets win over Scotland’s Natasha Milliken, in the final. Hannah played superbly throughout this competition, coming through against another Scottish competitor, Corrina Whittaker, followed up with a semi final defeat of Ireland’s Claire Nelson.

Natasha Milliken had also played extremely well to get the better of Stephanie Donnelly, and Mary Fuller, to reach the final stage.

The Veteran Men’s Tournament went to Darren Mcvitie. Darren had his work cut out in the semi final with a tough 5 setter against Richard Lightower, to meet Julien Gittens in the final. Julian too, had to work very hard chopping his way to victories over Andy Packford and Chris Ford, to get the chance to play Mcvitie in the final. Darren Mcvitie ran out a comfortable winner in a three straight sets, final.

The Restricted Men’s title went to top seed Stephen Denny, with a four sets triumph over 2^nd seed, Daniel Welsh at the final stage.

The Tees Sport Player of the Weekend award and a voucher for £50 went to twelve year old Sam Walker from Worksop, for his fantastic achievements in Men’s Band five and six, after competing in his first ever Butterfly Grand Prix.

Tournaments such as the Blackpool Grand Prix event could not be successfully staged without the very hard work from many individuals, including the Organising Committee, the loyal team of Blackpool Volunteers, led by Martin Ireland, and of course, the ETTA umpires. A special mention of thanks to Dave Cochrane on his first referee’s appointment.

Images:
1 Hong Ming Zhang winner mens open with Darius Knight runner up.
2 Caroline Hallows (left) winner womens open with Natalie Slater runner up.
3 Damien Nicholls (right) winner of U21 mens David Mcbeath (left) runner up.
4 Hannah Hicks (right) winner U21 womens with left Natasha Milliken runner up.
5 Darren Mcvitie (right) winner vets men with (left) Julian Gittens runner up.