Nottingham Junior Rohan Dani was the player of the tournament in the Cleveland 4* Championships at Middlesbrough Sports Village on 3-4 May 2025.
Rohan, currently ranked at number 31 in the England Senior Men’s and number 3 in the Junior’s, defeated three higher ranked senior players to clinch 3 titles.
Top female player Welsh international Lowri Hurd won both the Women’s Singles and the Women’s band 1 Singles.
Cleveland 4* is the first tournament in England to run under Table Tennis England’s new 4* tournament programme.
Photography credit: Brenda Stephenson
Men’s Singles
Seeded only No 6 Nottingham student Rohan Dani was a surprise winner of the Men’s Singles title beating Nigerian international is Ismaila Akindiya by 3 games to 1 in the final and 3rd seed Lancashire’s Toby Ellis a very close 5 game set in the semi-final. Rohan’s best win was in the quarter-finals when he beat the top seed Nottingham’s University Student Xinlian Sun in another 5 games match at 11-9 in the decider.
In the bottom half of the draw 4 seed Ismaila Akindiya beat 8th seed Lin Hanming by 3 games to 1 in the quarter and Felix Thomas of Middlesex in the semi-finals, Ismaila proving too strong winning 3 straight games.
Women’s Singles
Welsh international Lowri Hurd who is currently at Grantham College was the winner of the Women’s Singles beating Norfolk’s Eva Eccles in the final another Welsh player Lilly Walters in the semi-final in straight games Eva Eccles defeated Middlesex’s Lianna Shalni Tousi also in straight games. The final was the closest match of the knockout section. Lowri winning by 3 games to 1.
Under-21 Men’s Singles
Nottingham’s Rohan Dani won the under 21 Men’s Singles after a series of tight matches. In the final he beat the Chinese Nottingham University Student Xinliang Sun 3 games to 1 all 4 games all being close. In the semi-final Rohan beat Felix Thomis of Middlesex by 3 games to 1 whilst Xinliang Sun defeated another Nottingham Student Lin Han Hanming in the other semi.
Womens Singles Under-21
Eva Eccles turn to win a competition came in the Under-21 Women’s Singles, Eva beat Lilly Walters in 3 straight games. In the contest for second place, Lilly beat Middlesex play Lianna Shalni Tousi also in 3 straight games although 2 of those were won with deuce scores.
Mixed Veteran Singles
Scotland’s Niall Cameron the number 1 seed was the winner of the mixed Veteran Singles beating Yorkshire’s Johnny Wooldridge in 3 straight games in the final. Niall had a good match in the semi-final to beat Cleveland’s Michael Young whilst Johnny won in 3 straights in his semi against Jemal Muktar Mohammad of Cleveland.
Mixed Restricted Singles
For players aged over-21 and under-40 was won by the Yorkshire’s ITTF commentator Fraser Riley who won a close final with Northumberland’s Adam Webster.
Fraser won by 3 games to 1. In the semi-final Fraser defeated Awais Muhammed of Warwickshire whilst Adam beat Cameron Sandhu of Yorkshire both in straight games.
Men’s Band 1 Singles
Nottingham’s Rohan Dani was the winner of the Men’s singles band 1. Rohan’s victory over the player who was runner up Lin Hanming was in 4 close game and by 16-14
in the final game Lin also from Nottingham won second place by winning a 5th game match 11-6 in a decider against another Nottingham player Ismaila Akindiya
Men’s Band 2 Singles
The Mens Band 2 Singles was won by Lin Hanming a Chinese player who is currently studying at Nottingham University. It was a round robin group in the deciding match Hanming defeated the Northumberland player Adam Webster. Lin having lost the first 11-9 but won the next 3 games all by close margins.
The battle for second place Adam beat Kent’s Mahmood Kelani by 3 games to 1.
Men’s Band 3 Singles
Cleveland’s Zac Greenhough was the winner of the Men’s Band 3 beating Northumberland’s Adam Webster by 3 games to 1 in the final. To reach the final Zac needed 4 games to beat Yorkshire’s Filip Wojtkowiak in the quarter-finals and Warwickshire Wajid Wafiq by the same score in the semi-final. Adam Webster came through from a 3rd seeded position to reach the final by beating the second seed Mahmood Kelani of Kent in a very close match in the semi-final at 11-8 in the fifth.
Men’s Band 4 Singles
Yorkshire’s Fraser Riley from Halifax who is one of the ITTF’s world championships commentator was the winner of the Band 4 singles. Unseeded Fraser defeated 4th Seed Filip Wojtkowiak of Yorkshire in straight games in the final. Fraser needed 4 games to beat the top seed Wajid Wafiq Warwickshire in the semi-finals but his closest match was in the quarter finals to beat the number 3 seed Cameron Sandhu also of Yorkshire, 11-9 in the 5th. To reach the final Filip beat Fraser Massey of Lancashire in straight games
Men’s Band 5 Singles
The winner of the Men’s Band 5 was Lancashire’s Fraser Massey beating the second seed Stuart Laws of Norfolk 3 straight games in the final. Top seed Bradley King from Northumberland lost in the quarter-finals to Mohammad Yousaf Malhi of Lancashire who in turn was beaten by Fraser by 3 games to 1 in the semi-final. Stuart Laws beat seeded Omar Faruqe Wasi from Northumberland by 3-1 in his semi-final.
Men’s Band 6 Singles
Muhammad Yousaf Malhi of Lancashire won the Band 6 Singles beating the top seed Omar Faruqe Wasi of Northumberland by 3 games to 1 in the final. Muhammad reached the final by beating Theo Spring of Cumbria in straight games in the semi-final whereas Omar reached the final with a 3-1 victory over Abu Sami Osman of Essex by 3-1
Women’s Band 1 Singles
Welsh International from Grantham Lowri Hurd also won the Women’s Band 1 event in a round robin competition Lowri beating Eva Eccles of Norfolk in 3 straight games. Her toughest match was against the player who finished 4th Lianna Shalni Tousi from Middlesex which was a victory for Lowri by 3 games to 1, after a tight 3rd game that she won by 14-12. Eva had some close matches to finish in second position included a 3-1 victory against Aneta Kula from Cheshire and another 4th game set against Ivy Chan from Middlesex.
Women’s Band 2 Singles
Ivy Chan from Middlesex was the winner of the Women’s Band 2 beating Eva Eccles from Norfolk in 3 straight games in the final. Ivy was unbeaten in her 4 matches the closet being against Aneta Kula winning by 11-6 in the decider.
In the battle for second place runner up Eva beat Lianna Shalni Tousi from Middlesex by 3 games to 1.
Women’s Band 3 Singles
Norfolk’s top seed Norfolk’s Kelsey Fordham was the winner of Band 3 Women’s singles beating Cleveland’s Evie Main in 3 straight games in the final. Kelsey’s toughest match was in the semi-final against the second seed Lilly Walters from Wales which was a five game set with Kelsey winning 11-3 in the decider. In the group matches Kelsey was beaten by Mindy Gao at 11-9 in the first game which took Mindy into the top seeded position, but Mindy lost in the semi final to her Ormesby Club team mate Evie Main in 3 straight games taking Evie through to the final to play Kelsey.
Women’s Band 4 Singles
Lilly Walters from Wales was the winner of the Women’s Band 4 beating Kelsey Fordham from Nottingham at 3 games to 1 in the final. Lilly came through in the Semi Final against Cleveland Veteran Pat Clements. Kelsey a close match against Cleveland Prospect Mindy Gao by 3 games to 1 in her semi-final.
Results
Men’s Singles
Semi-Finals Rohan Dani (Ng) bt Toby Ellis (La) -10,10,5,-10,6
Ismaila Akindiya Ng) bt Felix Thomis (Mi) 7,9,10
Final Rohan Dani (Ng) bt Ismaila Akindiya Ng) 6,-5,8,4
Women’s Singles
Semi-Finals Eva Eccles (Nk) bt Lianna Shalni Tousi (Mi) 4,10,9
Lowri Hurd (WAL) bt Lilly Walters (WAL) 3,4,3
Final Lowri Hurd (WAL) bt Eva Eccles (Nk) 7,6,-12,6
Under 21 Men’s Singles Final
Rohan Dani (Ng) bt Xinliang Sun (Ng) -9,7,8,9
Under 21 Women’s Singles Final
Eva Eccles (Nk) bt Lilly Walters (WAL) 7,7,7
Mixed Restricted Singles Final
Fraser Riley (Y) bt Adam Webster (Nd) 13,-8,9,3
Mixed Veteran Singles Final
Niall Cameron (SCO) bt Johnnny Wooldridge (Y) 3,6,5
Men’s Band 1 Singles Final
Rohan Dani (Ng) bt Lin Hanming (Ng) 10,5, -11,14
Men’s Band 2 Singles Final
Lin Hanming (Ng) bt Adam Webster (Nd) -9,7,9,9
Men’s Band 3 Singles Final
Zac Greenhough bt Adam Webster (Nd) 10,6,-9,2
Men’s Band 4 Singles Final
Fraser Riley (Y) bt Filip Wojtkowiak (Y) 7,7,10
Men’s Band 5 Singles Final
Fraser Massey (La) bt Stuart Laws (Nk) 6,6,3
Men’s Band 6 Singles Final
Muhammad Yousaf Malhi (La) bt Omar Faruqe Wasi (Nd) 6,2,-10,5
Women’s Band 1 Singles Final
Lowri Hurd (WAL) bt Eva Eccles (Nk) 4,9,7
Women’s Band 2 Singles Final
Ivy Chan (Mi) bt Eva Eccles (Nk) 7,8,4
Women’s Band 3 Singles Final
Kelsey Fordham (Nk) bt Evie Main (Cv) 5,7,4
Women’s Band 4 Singles Final
Lilly Walters (WAL) bt Kelsey Fordham (Nk) 7,8,-9,6
