THERE were 65 players in the mix for the South Devon and Torbay Table Tennis League’s annual end-of-season tournament held at the Torbay Leisure Centre, reports Tony Halse.

14 different events took place on the day with half of the finals being held back to be played at the showcase Finals and Awards night held at Stover School two days later.

The first competitions to be completed were the U13 and U11 events. A fine entry of 20 youngsters took part, including an enthusiastic team from Sherwell Valley Primary School.

All participants received a league medal, with trophies being awarded to the U13 winner Noah Gage and the U11 winner Blake Bellham.

A strong competitive field of 31 players entered the men’s singles event.

The eight group winners being Kevin Nicholls, Colin Butterworth, Paul Davey, Dan Webster-Hall, Aarish Maharjan, Chris Harper, Terry Parkins and Mark Burridge.

On to the semi-finals which were both won 3-1, Kevin Nicholls beating Paul Davey and Aarish Maharjan defeating Mark Burridge. This left Kevin Nicholls and Aarish Maharjan to compete for the Burton Cup at Stover School.

Jackie Whitehorn and Sonja Ryland both progressed to the ladies’ singles final without dropping a game.

A very competitive veterans’ event took centre stage next, some familiar names making it through as group winners, Kevin Nicholls, Stephen Hugh, Paul Davey, Chris Harper, Jim McIvor and Terry Parkins.

Kevin Nicholls defeated Stephen Hugh 3-0 in one semi-final while the other semi was an epic encounter between Paul Davey and Terry Parkins, Terry eventually winning 14-12, 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7.

Played to a conclusion, Joseph Edwards was unbeaten as he took the junior boys’ title with Gustaw Adamczak runner-up.

There were some terrific confrontations in the men’s doubles event. Mark Burridge and Paul Davey beat Dan Webster-Hall and Chris Garner 3-1, while Aarish Maharjan and Chris Harper squeezed through 15-13 in the fifth against Kevin Nicholls and Jim McIvor, to reach the final at Stover.

The ladies’ doubles event, also played to a conclusion, was won by Sonja Ryland and Jackie Whitehorn who defeated Maria Dillon and Angelina Yang in the final.

On finals night, Sonja (with Kevin Nicholls) and Jackie (with Paul Davey) will compete for the mixed doubles title having seen off Nick Shipley & Angelina Yang and Eve James & Chris Garner respectively, in the semis.

The super veterans (over 60) will also be played out at Stover and will be between Jim McIvor, who defeated Terry Parkins 12-10 in the fifth, and Mick Mercer who had a more comfortable 3-0 victory over Martin Dilkes.

On to the divisional events, with Division Four having a strange outcome as the two group winners Albie Andrews and Lewis Lavery were beaten in the semi-finals by Gustaw Adamczak and Sacha Edwards. Gustaw went on to defeat Sacha in the final 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8.

Peter Moretta won the Division Three event, overcoming Chris Garner 11-6, 4-11, 11-5, 11-5.

The second division, with a large top-quality entry, saw some excellent encounters, Mitch Nash losing out to Colin Butterworth in one semi-final while Mitch Bellham defeated David Davies in the other.

An excellent day of top-quality table tennis successfully completed at the Torbay Leisure Centre as the action moves on to Stover School for the finals and the presentation of all the awards for the local league’s table tennis season.