Last weekend saw the Burnham & District Table Tennis Annual Closed Championships where we were able to sort out the wheat from the chaff and crown the various discipline, divisional and age group champions. 

In the events that were finalised over the weekend’s play there were three players that shone the brightest each taking two titles – Arron Chandler, Peter Harverson and the ever young John Poysden (pictured above).

John Poysden was totally dominant in the Super Vets categories where he won both the Over-60s and Over-70s Singles. In the Over-60s, Poysden beat Eric Green in the final to retain his trophy, whilst in the Over-70s Poysden was deemed a youngster and a new kid on the block. He quickly earned the respect of his elders as he rampaged through the field defeating Hamish Innes in straight sets in the final. 

Innes had come through a very tricky semi-final to meet Poysden in the glory match – eventually winning 11-9 in the deciding leg against a hard-working Dick Wyman, the now ousted holder of the trophy.

Innes was not overly disappointed at his loss in the Over-70s final as he had already secured a phenomenal win in the Dan Richardson Trophy for players from Division 2 and down. A really tough field to crack. Innes upset the seeding as far back as the group stages where he beat Graham Briggs to reverse the seeding order. This led to Briggs meeting and defeating top seed Colin Napper early in the knockout stages. 

Innes had a hard road to the final with victories over Pat White, holder Adi Kamma, and then Briggs (again) in the final. The Final itself was immense – one of the best for years – with Briggs throwing everything he had at the stoic defence of Innes. But the Innes wall held stern and the game went back and forth with Briggs levelling at 2-2. 

The final leg was more of the same with Briggs attacking at full pelt but the legs and lungs of Innes held good and his control and calmness just got the better of the more ebullient Briggs. A worthy final in honour of our departed friend Dan Richardson, and a very worthy winner. 

Peter Harverson is one of the most improved players on the circuit this year, and it was no surprise when he took the Junior Singles title without dropping a set, with Oscar Wyman pipping Luca Riedling for the runner-up spot. 

Harverson continued his good form into the Handicap Singles where he came through several rounds including a tricky win over Arron Chandler before meeting Colin Napper in a semi-final that went to a deciding leg before Harverson won out 21-17 against the defensive king. 

His opponent in the final was Eamonn Hall who had come through a remarkable 55-minute three-legged semi-final battle with Harry Sawford. Hall, Harverson, and Sawford all come from the Woodham B stable and it is no wonder they have made it to the Team Handicap final this year. The final was another long and tough battle with Hall taking the first leg before Harverson got his loopy lefty forehands going. Harverson’s forehand loops gave him the edge and despite lots of long rallies he eventually took the deciding leg 21-16 for his second title of the day.

The Mixed Open Singles is a randomly drawn event for all players except the top 12 ranked players at the tournament. Another bumper field this year saw lots of preliminary round ties before we got to the last 16 knockout phase. 

Despite lots of tough matches there were no real big shocks up to the semi-finals where Arron Chandler got the better of Eric Green and then Harry Sawford got one over on Charles Sweeny. So, a young and athletic final was on the cards. 

Actually, it was a bit more cagey as both players went looking for the right shots to hit – and on the day Chandler’s hit rate and accuracy was enough to get past the extensive reach of Sawford who was playing in his first Burnham final.  

In the final event of the day Chandler took to the hard bat discipline like an otter to water. In the quarter-final he ousted team-mate Dan Anderson for a semi-final match-up with hardbat specialist Eric Green. On the other side of the draw Dan Young had made it through for a semi with Ian Wall.  A high-quality final four in this one. 

Both semis kicked off together and in the opening legs both games went to a sudden death winner takes all golden point at 14-14. Coming from behind Chandler took the opener against Green, and Young nicked it against Wall. 

Both Chandler and Young went on to win tight second legs to set up an all-action final. The final saw Young more defensive than expected and Chandler quickly took the opening leg 15-8, before a more accurate Young hit back to square the final with a second leg 15-13 score. 

The deciding leg was tight with the lead being shared with Young looking the most likely to succeed as he led in the final stages. That was until Chandler gave up the ghost and forced Young into some unnecessary attacking shots that didn’t quite land and Chandler took the final few points for a 15-13 final leg victory. Two in the bag for Chandler!

In the Fambridge Trophy event, Woodham’s Simon Thomas was looking to recover the trophy he last won in 1998. Despite reaching the final he couldn’t get the better of the hard-hitting and deserved winner Neil Thompson who won in four sets for his fist Burnham title.

On Sunday the Ladies’ Doubles proved a popular event that saw the amazing Shirley Carroll pick up her 17th winners medal in this event as her and partner Dawn Baldry went undefeated in the round robin schedule. Carroll first won this event in 1976 – 50 years ago – a truly amazing feat. Runners-up were Sue Body and Debbie O’Neill from Mapledene TTC.

In the Veterans’ Doubles (over 40s) Kevin Read and Duncan Taylor maintained their stranglehold on this event with another masterful display of doubles. On the way to the final they had to overcome the in-form duo of the weekend in the guise of David and Simon Jacob. 

Their opponents in the final were Steve Muth and George Reeves who themselves had upset the apple cart when they just about knocked out Keith Adams and Eric Green after a ding dong of a post deuce final set. 

The final was pretty close in the first two legs despite Read and Taylor taking both with Reeves hitting some cracking forehands. Alas the third, and as it turns out final leg, just got away from Muth and Reeves and Read and Taylor were able to maintain this crown they have held for so long.

The only other final of the weekend was The Consolation Plate final for all players knocked out in the group stages of the main singles events. This one produced another set of semi-finals featuring three Woodham players. In the first semi, Dan Piggott outplayed Dan Anderson to reach the final, and in the all-Woodham semi-final Peter Harverson was up against Eamonn Hall again. Another close one but again Harverson was too strong on the day as he came through in four sets. 

The final was a proper rollercoaster with Harverson taking legs one and four with Piggott taking the middle two for a final leg winner takes all finale. Throughout this match both players had been back from the table swapping long hard-hitting rallies and the final leg was no different with Piggott just doing enough to take home his plate of bacon.

A huge nod of thanks and appreciation for the chief organiser of the event Tim Huxtable for a smooth and fun tournament.