7th October By Geoff Ware - ETTA Grand Prix Press Officer
Egle Adomelyte and Matt Ware, who both play for the Greenhouse Progress Club in London, were a double seaside sensation. They won the Women’s and Men’s Open titles at last weekend’s Clare Pengelly Memorial Open, a Satellite Grand Prix event, held at the Torbay Leisure Centre in Paignton, Devon.
For Egle, it was her second successive title win in the Women’s Open, taking the winner's cheque, in a three straight sets final win over Sanja Clements from Dorset.
Matt Ware can also be pleased with his first ever title win in a senior Men’s Open Grand Prix, after a thrilling five set final against Damien Nicholls, and then following up with “Double Happiness” by securing the Junior Boys' event over Chris Smith in the final match. The Women’s Open winner Adomelyte was never really extended on her route to the title. Following her group match wins she defeated Chloe Thomas, and Liz May, to set up her final match with Clements. Sanja also had a relatively easy passage through to the final, recording wins over Vicky Smith and Taylor Williams. Whereas the Men’s Open title was always in the balance! Matt Ware was made to work very hard for his title and huge winner's cheque, with a fight right to the end against Darren Reed in the quarter-final, with Reed looking the likely winner in the last set leading 6-4. Ware then produced some short touch play returns of serve to level the score and from there on after some superb rallies from both players, Ware held a narrow points advantage to win the last end. A straight sets win over Richard Marshall in the semi-final set up a final confrontation with Nicholls. Nicholls also had his work cut out to make the final. In the group stages Damien was put under extreme pressure by Nick Brown and Jogenes Senorin both taking him to five sets. Then later in the quarter-final, Nicholls had another fight on his hands against Tom Cutler, followed by a workmanlike effort to repel the strong challenge from Adam Proszko, who had a fantastic day, earlier on Saturday. Damien weathered the storm, to set up his final match with Ware. It was a repeat of their thrilling match at the final of the Uk School Games, with a different ending with Ware getting his head in front in the fifth end. Other events on the Sunday included the Veteran Men’s competition with some top quality matches to be savoured. The eventual title winner Paul Whiting had to be in fine form to repel the strong challenges from Dave Randall and his last opponent John Dennison. Earlier, Dennison had to endure a titanic semi-final encounter against Kevin Buddell that went right to the wire, with John just nicking it in a nail biting fifth end, with some wonderful exchanges, and crowd pleasing moments. Whiting tookthe trophy after losing the first end to Dennison, then coming back strongly to win the next three sets. The Veteran Women’s trophy went to the in form pen holder, Sanja Clements after a round robin competition that included seven competitors. It was particularly pleasing to witness the much improved Taylor Williams coming through a tough Junior Girls' event to lift the trophy. Williams had to play magnificently to clinch a win against her club mate Chloe Thomas, and then have to play her best ever table tennis to just outpoint Vicky Smith in a close final. Vicky was also playing some great table tennis to make the final, after coming through against Stephanie Francis, another star of the future. Saturday’s banded competitions were also very closely contested. Star performance of the day went to the superb skills of Polish player Adam Proszko, by winning both the Men’s Band 1 and 2events. His style of play is particularly pleasing to the eye with a mixture of cleverly placed defensive shots coupled with strong attacking opportunist play. His band one semi final match against the dynamic Patrick Thomas was a revelation to witness. Thomas threw everything barr the kitchen sink at Proszko, however the ultra cool Polish man came through in five tight sets. He then ran out a comfortable winner against Tom Cutler in the final, also taking the Men’s Band 2, and another winners weekend hotel break, against Richard Marshall, in a three close sets final. Local Devon player, Mike Hugh, had several five set marathons on his pathway to securing the Men’s Band 3 title. Roger Hookey, David Adamson and finalist Joe Higgs all took Hugh the full distance, making him a worthy champion. The Men’s Band 4 star player was Lloyd Gregory, enjoying a good day’s performance to take the Holiday Weekend from finalist Adam Ratajczak in four sets. The largest entries were in Men’s Band 5 and 6, with over 50 competitors in each event. Another young player with an outstanding future in the sport is Da Shuai Zhang, from the Horsham club and coached superbly by Rory Scott. Zhang had a phenomenal day by winning both the Men’s Band 5 and 6 competitions. He had to win a total of fourteen matches to secure his two much deserved titles. His final opponents were Ethan Davies in Band 5 and Stephen Foster in Band 6, both losing to Zhang in straight sets. Capping a great weekend to add to her Veteran Women’s title and losing finalist's cheque in the Women’s Open, Sanja Clements was victorious in the Women’s Band 1 event. Sanja took the title at the expense of Emma Rose in the final match after a good win over Sally Smith at the semi-final stage. The Women’s Band 2 tournament prize headed along the coast to Dorset in the hands of Joy Whitehorn. Joy, a recent silver medal winner in the UK School Games team event, played very well to drop only one set in the knockout rounds, that against Chloe Thomas, in taking the title against Rachel Trevorrow in the final. Rachel later in the day continued in sparkling form to be crowned Women’s Band 3 winner. After enduring close matches on the way against Chloe Thomas and Stephanie Francis, she followed up with a last match win over Dawn Sagoo in straight sets, to earn herself a nice holiday hotel weekend break. Each year a special cup is awarded to a local Devon junior player for his or her achievements nationally, but more importantly for sportsmanship and conduct. This year the trophy was presented to Richard Marshall. The Clare Pengelly Memorial Open continues to be a wonderful tournament to commemorate her name, but also to raise money for a deserving cause, with proceeds going directly to the Children’s Hospice, South West. Huge events like this don’t just happen! They are the end product of many weeks of hard work, planning and organising mainly from the dedicated Pengelly family, to whom we owe 14 marvellous tournaments. The two-day table tennis competition ran like clockwork, and enormous thanks must go to everyone involved. Right through from the mascots, and table marshals, to the ever enthusiastic and loyal ETTA umpires. The Referee, Alan Duke and his deputy Brenda Baldwin, the many helpers from the Brixham Table Tennis Club, and last but certainly not least, the competitors who continue to support this annual and permanent event. Results as follows: Men’s Open Matt Ware (Ha) bt. Damien Nicholls (Sp) 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6. Women’s Open Egle Adomelyte (Mi) bt. Sanja Clements (Do) 11-3, 11-9, 12-10. Men’s Band 1 Adam Proszko (Ha) bt. Tom Cutler (Mi) 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 Women’s Band 1 Sanja Clements (Do) bt. Emma Rose (Av) 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7 Men’s Band 2 Adam Proszko (Ha) bt. Richard Marshall (Dv) 13-11, 11-8, 15-13 Women’s Band 2 Joy Whitehorn (Do) bt. Rachel Trevorrow (Co) 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 Men’s Band 3 Mike Hugh (Dv) bt. Joe Higgs (Wo) 15-13, 10-12, 3-11, 11-7, 11-7 Women’s Band 3 Rachel Trevorrow (Co) bt. Dawn Sagoo (Wa) 11-3, 12-10, 11-8 Men’s Band 4 Lloyd Gregory (Av) bt. Adam Ratajczak (Av) 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 Men’s Band 5 Da Shuai Zhang (Sx) bt. Ethan Davies (Wal) 11-7, 11-1, 11-5 Men’s Band 6 Da Shuai Zhang (Sx) bt. Stephen Foster (Do) 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 Veteran Men Paul Whiting (Dv) bt. John Dennison (E) 9-11, 11-2, 11-8, 12-10 Veteran Women Winner Sanja Clements (Do) Junior Boys' Singles Matt Ware (Ha) bt. Chris Smith (Dv) 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 Junior Girls' Singles Taylor Williams (Wal) bt. Vicky Smith (Dv) 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-8
Images:
1. Egley Adomylte (Winner of the Women's Open) with Matt Ware (winner of the Men's Open) together with Rachel Pengelly.
2. Egley Adomylte and Sanja Clements, Winner and runner up in Womens Open.
3. Richard Marshall,recipient of the Clare Pengelly Cup, with Sarah and Rachel.
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