Paul Howgate from Leeds was the winner of the first Tees Parky Spin tournament for players with Parkinson’s, which was played at the Ormesby Club on Sunday 19 July.

To win the singles event, Howgate was dominant through the rounds, beating George Chan of Harrogate in the quarter-final, John Hughes also from Harrogate in the semi-final and Steven Somerville from Scotland, all in straight games. Somerville reached the final with a victory over Rob Cook from Leeds.

The early rounds of the singles were played on a group basis with the players qualifying into a knockout competition, with 32 entries.

The second main event was the doubles which was won by John Hughes from Harrogate playing with Rob Cook from Leeds. In the final they won in three straight games against Andrew Cassy from Suffolk and Julie Norris from Ormesby.

The prizes were presented by the mayor of Middlesbrough, Chris Cooke. The tournament attracted players from Scotland and from the rest of England. 

The competition co-incided with the announcement of a partnership between Table Tennis England, Parkinson’s UK and Parkinson’s England Table Tennis (PETT) which is aiming to get more people with Parkinson’s into the sport.

The competition, which also featured on ITV Tyne Tees’ news bulletin on Sunday, was regarded as very successful and this is likely to be the first of many events for people who play table tennis with Parkinson’s.