REPORT NEW ZEALAND VETERANS CHAMPIONSHIPS – EASTER 2010
Once again the championships, held from Thursday 1 April through Monday 5 April, have come to an end and a good time was had by all.
The ever popular tournament comprised 149 players, with 36 of them crossing the ditch from Australia. Some went over for the first time; the rest could best be described as ‘table tennis tragics’.
The writer has not missed a tournament since 1999, when the first Trans Tasman Test Match was staged at North Harbour in Auckland on the North Shore.
Once again the City of Sails hosted the tournament which kicked off with the annual Test Match between the host country and Australia on Easter Thursday. First off a couple of general comments.
Those selected to represent Australia are determined by the Order of Merit after the Australian championships the year before. This year it was impossible to persuade Aussie ladies to fly over and represent us on the 60’s table.
For the first time the 65 age group was introduced making it 10 tables all up, with two players on each table. Thus with one table on a forfeit, Australia started at 0-5 and needed 26 rubbers out of the remaining 45 to triumph.
Because of this deficit, the match became most exciting and it was not until the last rubber, the Men’s Doubles on Table 1, that Australia managed to keep its unblemished record with the final score at 26-24, the closest in eleven Tests.
Another observation is that the points system used in New Zealand to determine the seedings is as atrocious as it is in Australia. For instance Jenny Langridge has more points than her hubby Phillip Boyle.
The New Zealand method of accepting Teams also is rather weird. Chip Eade, who represented NZ on the 70 Men’s table in the Test match, was placed in the 65 and 70B teams’ grade events. Yet despite not competing against the players in A grade, finished up with a higher O of M placing in the 65’s (third) above Michael Ede (fourth) and Case de Bondt (fifth) and placed second in the 70′s. Crazy…
There is no doubt that New Zealand had more depth and showed this by winning 21 Singles rubbers to 19 in the Test. However Australia’s experience and tenacity got it over the line by winning 6 Doubles to New Zealand’s 4.
NZ’s women players were dominant in the Test winning 15 Singles rubbers to Australia only 5. The NZ Men on the other hand scored just 5 Singles rubbers to the Aussies 15, a complete reversal in the sexes.
NZ also was dominant in the Team events with 7 wins out of 11 in the different age groups. Only the 60, 65 and 70 Men’s and the 70 Women’s were won by Victorian teams. Victoria came second in the 40 Men’s and 65 Men’s and WA came second in the 50 and 60 Men’s.
Mick Wright and Michael Ede convincingly took care of the 60’s and 65’s Teams. Geoff Nesbitt and Case de Bondt were too strong in the 70’s and Margaret Mulcahy and Prisca Rosario won a close encounter in the Women’s 70’s, thus highlighting Victoria’s outstanding achievement in New Zealand.
Australia is very short of lady players, which shows in the forfeit on the 60’s table in the Test and no Aussie women winning any of the singles titles. I wonder why there are more women in the world than men, yet this is not being represented in our sport. This irregularity can and must be overcome.
Some of the highlights were Mick Wright winning 7 Gold and a Silver, Buddy Reid winning both the 65 and 70 Singles most convincingly in straight games and Geoff Nesbitt was too good for all comers in the 75 age group (three Gold).
Buddy Reid is one veteran who certainly is not on the decline, as one ‘expert’ stated that ‘all veterans have had their day’. He demolished both Mick Wright and Gordon Lee in no uncertain fashion in the finals of the 65’s and 70’s. I have never seen Buddy in such devastating form.
Mick Wright, apart from his only hiccup, a loss to Buddy, is to be commended on his overall play. His singles and doubles play is phenomenal and, he too, is improving with age. He plies his trade with the conventional pimpled rubbers!
Brian Berry’s was in great form winning the 50 Singles. However he was no match in the 40’s against the brilliant ex-Korean ace Jongeub Han losing 6,6,6.
Jeanne Strong is gaining stature as a ladies player each year by defeating Tetyana Sulimova in a fighting come-from-behind 3/2 victory in the quarters of the Women’s 50’s, giving her a well-earned Bronze medal.
Two newcomers in the Test for Australia, Jenny Langridge and Roy Newcombe, both on their respective 40’s tables, scored a valuable singles and a doubles win each. Of the Kiwi’s in the Test match, Stuart Armstrong upset Craig Campbell (50’s) and Fleming Alison defeated Ken Cole (65’s) in straight games.
| New Zealand Test Match – North Shore Easter 2010 | ||||||||
| Aus | Aus | NZ | NZ | Doubles | ||||
| Table 1 | Roy Newcombe | 1 | v | Lyndon White | 1 | Aus | ||
| 40M | Steve Mitchell | 0 | Jun Tang | 2 | ||||
| Table 2 | Jenny Langridge | 1 | v | Chris Little | 2 | Aus | ||
| 40W | Bernadette Caldwell | 0 | v | Sabine Westera | 1 | |||
| Table 3 | Brian Berry | 2 | v | Stuart Armstrong | 1 | Aus | ||
| 50M | Craig Campbell | 1 | v | Steven Zhu | 0 | |||
| Table 4 | Jeanne Strong | 0 | v | Tetyana Sulimova | 2 | NZ | ||
| 50W | Jean Pierce | 0 | v | Lersley Gardner | 2 | |||
| Table 5 | Mick Wright | 2 | v | David Scott | 0 | Aus | ||
| 60M | Michael Ede | 2 | v | Robert Dunn | 0 | |||
| Table 6 | forfeit | 2 | NZ | |||||
| 60W | forfeit | 2 | ||||||
| Table 7 | Buddy Reid | 2 | v | Ron Garrett | 0 | Aus | ||
| 65M | Ken Cole | 1 | v | Fleming Alison | 1 | |||
| Table 8 | Margaret Mulcahy | 2 | v | Pauline Bennyworth | 1 | |||
| 65W | Beryl Davies | 0 | v | Ngaire Garrett | 1 | NZ | ||
| Table 9 | Gordon Lee | 2 | v | Nam Hang Lee | 0 | |||
| 70M | Case de Bondt | 2 | v | Chip Eade | 0 | Aus | ||
| Table 10 | Prisca Rosario | 1 | v | Merle Sneddon | 2 | NZ | ||
| 70W | Armida Croccolo | 1 | v | Annice Robottom | 0 | |||
| 19 | 21 | |||||||
| doubles | 7 | doubles | 3 | |||||
| Australia | 26 | N Zealand | 24 | |||||
Over 40 Men Over 40 Women
3 Greg Letts 3 Jenny Langridge
4 Lyndon White 4 Sabine Westenra
5 Stephen Mitchell 5 Bernadette Caldwell
6 Leong Jiang 6 Nita Teoh
7 Jun Tang 7 Mimi Walle
8 Tomasz Koscik 8 Akiko Goto
9 Chris Hibbert 9 Karen Stewart
10 Albert Yee 10 Naomi Ballantyne
3 Peter de Boer 3 Tetyana Sulimova
4 Jack Lin 4 Martina Bohm
5 Murray Hay 5 Jeanne Strong
6 Kevin Fogarty 6 Jean Pierce
7 Ron Leong
8 Chris Nightingale
3 Michael Ede 3 Averil Roberts
4 Ken Cole 4 Val Scarr
5 Stephen Craw 5 Lynley Barker
6 Denis Kalin 6 Jill Murray
7 David Scott 7 Ngaire Garrett
8 Col Gradwell
3 Chip Eade 3 Margaret Mulcahy
4 Ken Cole 4 Ngaire Garrett
5 Case de Bondt 5 Beryl Davies
6 John Te Pania 6 Gladys Halford
7 Jim Jarmin
8 Robert Dunn
3 Geoff Nesbitt 3 Beryl Davies
4 Jim Jarmin 4 Prisca Rosario
5 Eddie Moore
6 Don Redfearn
7 Terry Cockfield
8 Fleming Alison
9 Leo Barnett
10 Richard Ammundsen
3 Eddie Moore
4 Dave Sherman
5 Gerry Doyle
6 Dennis Galvin
7 Leo Barnett
The KNOX Table Tennis newsletter edited by John Mackie had this notice in it which I received yesterday, 10 December 2009:
GORDON HAYMAN
“Unfortunately I need to report that Gordon Hayman is unwell and in Knox Private Hospital recovering from Open Heart Surgery last Thursday. Intensive care for 4 days, No Visitors only family. If you would like to send Gordon a card , send it to the hospital or his home address 182/466 Burwood Highway, Wantirna, 3152. On behalf of the club we sent Gordon some flowers.”
Most of you would have met Gordon as an umpire, but he’s a good player as well. I estimate he is in his late seventies.
He is one of my favourite and most likable umpires (a rare trait for an umpire) and we all wish him a speedy recovery.
See you soon Gordon, as an umpire and a player!
The editor
