WDTTL
WTTL
Neville Hall - the end of an era
I have to report the sad passing of another Wandsworth League legend – Neville Hall. Neville who had been battling cancer for a long time, contributed so much to table tennis in South London through his work for York Gardens and the hugely successful Fusion Table Tennis Centre. Neville was an extremely talented player with a very high standard of play who could compete against anyone and held the respect of his peers for his abilities on the table. He ran the inter-league teams very successfully for many years for Wandsworth and was the winning team captain for York Gardens A dominating the league for many years. To his family and all his friends (of which there are many) we send our deepest condolences, Neville old friend, you will be greatly missed.
Summer League starts in June!
The Wandsworth Table Tennis League is branching out with their first Summer League starting in June. The league will basically be free to Wandsworth clubs and played on a similar basis to the winter league but with a few changes. Firstly there is flexibility to play either best of 3 or best of 5 along as both sides agree to prior to commencement of play. The matches will be played over 10 sets as in the winter but every set is worth 1 point. 8 teams have signed up for the league which will run from June – August and it is hoped that there will be a tournament held in the last week of the league.
The 8 teams are: York Gardens A captained by Joe Leone, York Gardens B captained by Waqar Hussain, York Gardens C captained by Mark Lewis, York Gardens D captained by Isma’il Miller. Red Spiders captained by Linford Akoto (home venue York Gardens) St Pauls A captained by Rob Barr, Loopers captained by John Llewellyn (home venue St Pauls) and Wilton captained by Erik Jeanpierre.
Get Table
Tennis England registered ready for the new season
The Wandsworth League committee has taken the decision to go in line with a lot of other leagues such Thames Valley and the Central League and only accept players who are registered with Table Tennis England (TTE). This means the league could then make use of the free “tabletennis365” website and also make use of their national ranking system. Currently the membership costs £14 for adults and £7 for juniors (under 18s). CLICK HERE TO REGISTER WITH TTE CLICK HERE TO RENEW TTE MEMBERSHIP
The Wandsworth League is on YouTube!
You can now see some Wandsworth League matches on YouTube, simply go on YouTube and search “Wandsworth Table Tennis”. If any of you have matches you have recorded and want to get them uploaded get in touch with me. The video below sees Paul Rowley in against Yaser Ahmed in the recent Chairman’s Cup Final. Click here to watch the video on YouTube Click here to email me.
Marathon man leads St Pauls “A” to victory in the Chairman’s Cup
St Pauls “A” were victorious in the Chairman’s Cup
final beating York Gardens “B” 5-2. For St Pauls their team captain Rob Barr
led them to victory winning 2 of his own matches which was a good preparation
for Sunday as he ran in the London
Marathon, to support the National Gallery’s “Coming Home” project (see below).
Paul Rowley was also in good form winning 2 matches and Simon Kempton won
1. For York Gardens Waqar Hussain was
the star as usual winning his two matches including a thriller 5 setter 11-10
over Paul Rowley, Yaser Ahmed was very unlucky in his match against Rob Barr
also going down in 5 sets which could well have proved crucial to overall
result. Linford Akoto played well but couldn’t quite get his rhythm going on
his dangerous spinney forehand topspin and lost out in his matches. It was the
first time the Chairman’s Cup has been played with individual ratings on the 11
up points system with “sudden death” at 10 all, but the format seemed to go
down well. Click here for Cup competitions
Rob Barr successfully completed running in the
London Marathon in support of the National Portrait Gallery’s “Coming
Home” project. The National
Portrait Gallery has been collecting portraits of men and women who have made a
significant contribution to British life and history since 1856. “Coming
Home” will enable portraits to return to a number of places in the UK
giving visitors the opportunity to rediscover their local heroes and connect to
a bigger national history. Click here to support Rob Barr in the London Marathon
Andy Sanders is the new League Champion
The annual Wandsworth & District Table Tennis League championships took place at York Gardens over 3 days with Andy Sanders (pictured above on left next to Waqar Hussain) emerging as the new League champion. 3 events were held starting with the Ratings singles (a handicap event) with 30 players taking which was a record for the event in this format. There were some surprises along way with the highest rated player Cain Fagan losing out in a fascinating semi-final to Waqar Hussain. In the other semi-final Andy Sanders beat Linford Akoto. Andy maintained his form in the final to beat Waqar Hussain 3 games to 1. In the Open singles Andy again came up trumps beating favourite Cain Fagan over 5 demanding sets. In the Open Doubles Andy Sanders and Doug Taucher retained their title beating Cain Fagan and Joe Leone 11-6, in the 3rd set. The Veterans singles saw Waqar Hussain avenge his defeats by Andy beating him in the semi-finals. In the final he beat Rob Campbell in straight sets. For Full RESULTS CLICK HERE
WDTTL Closed Championships 2018 Roll of Honour
Open Singles Winner: Andy Sanders
Open Doubles Winners: Doug Taucher/Andy Sanders
Veteran Singles Winner: Waqar Hussain
Ratings Singles Winner: Andy Sanders
