O40 Singles Winner Ian Talbot and Club Singles Winner Lindsay Ward
The 2012 Titan Club Championships was held on two consecutive Sundays (25 November and 2 December), at the Newtown Stadium. Lindsay Ward won the Titan Club Singles for the 8th time when he defeated Depak Patel 3-0 (13-11 11-8 11-8). This reversed the result from their match in the singles group where Depak had won 3-2. Lindsay had a tough semi final match with last years winner, Ian Talbot, where he won 3-2.
The Club Doubles was won for the second time by Depak Patel and Raewyn Young, who defeated Bryan McConnochie and Ian Talbot 3-1 (8-11 13-11 11-6 11-8). Depak and Raewyn had previously won in 2009.
Ian Talbot won the Over 40 Singles when he recovered from 0-2 down to defeat Depak Patel 3-2 (2-11 7-11 11-7 11-7 11-8). Ian had beaten the titleholder, Lindsay Ward, in the semi finals 3-2.
The Club Over 40 Singles was started in 1996. Lindsay Ward has won the most singles (7). The Over 40 Doubles was run for four years but then discontinued. Malcolm Wong and William Yang won for the first 3 years. The winners are listed below.
Doubles Winners Depak Patel and Raewyn Young
Over 40 Singles
2012 Ian Talbot
2011 Lindsay Ward
2010 Lindsay Ward
2009 Lindsay Ward
2008 Lindsay Ward
2007 Lindsay Ward
2006 Ian Talbot
2005 Lindsay Ward
2004 Ian Talbot
2003 Lindsay Ward
2002 William Yang
2001 Nha Nguyen
2000 Geoff Fletcher
1999 William Yang
1998 Nha Nguyen
1997 Malcolm Wong
1996 Malcolm Wong
Over 40 Doubles
2002 Chris Talbot and Ian Talbot
2001 Malcolm Wong and William Yang
2000 Malcolm Wong and William Yang
1999 Malcolm Wong and William Yang
May 15 Premier 1 & 3 grades commence (Tuesdays)
May 16 Premier 2 & 4 grades commence (Wednesdays)
May 30/5 Junior Grade Commences
June 28 – July 16 School holidays (no interclub play, Junior Nationals)
July 17 Premier 1 & 3 grades continue
July 18 Premier 2 & 4 and Junior grades continue
Sept 4 Grade champs for Premier grades (1st vs. 2nd teams in each grade)
Thanks to Malcolm Wong for another player profile! Depak Patel is a Empire Premier 1 player and a ITTF level 1 coach. He was born in the town of Pardi in the state of Gujarat (India). When he was 3 months old the family immigrated to England. After a 3 month journey by ship they settled in Leicester, the largest city in the East Midlands.
Depak played football (left winger) at school from age 10. Among his team mates was Winston White (right winger), who was to play professionally for Leicester and several other clubs (1976-93) making 529 appearances and scoring 61 goals. Playing for a rival school team was Gary Lineker (striker), who went on to played 80 times for England (48 goals). Depak was in the football team that were the Midlands Asian Students 5 a side Champions. He is a supporter of both Leicester City and Chelsea Football Teams.
Depak started playing table tennis at the local youth club at age 13. A teacher at his high school encouraged him to go to a Saturday coaching group. He joined Abbey Table Tennis Club and started off in Division 15 which his team won in his first season (1976). Depak progressed through to Division 4 before he moved to London. There he joined Ashford Table Tennis Club where he played Division 1 in 1988/89 and 1989/90. The Club won the British League (1988/89) with a team full of internationals including the Belgian, Jean-Michael Saive (The future European Men’s Singles Champion in1994 and World Number 1) and New Zealander Peter Jackson. Depak won the National Asian Students Table Tennis Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles in 1981 and 1984.
Depak also played cricket. He played for the Universal Cricket Club at 14 in the same team was his older brother. Depak was in the team that won the Leicester Liger Festival of Cricket Tournament (1976). His team included 4 Indian test players including Dilip Doshi who was a friend of his older brother in India. The other Indian test players were Ashok Mankad, Brijesh Patel and Madan Lal. The trophy was presented by Mushtaq Mohammad, the former Pakistan Cricket Captain. Depak’s best season was in 1990 for the Sunbury Village Cricket Club where he took the most wickets (75), had the most 5 wicket bags and had the most ‘Man of the Match’ awards during the season. Depak scored his only century (107 n.o.) when he carried the bat through out the innings for the Papatoetoe Cricket Club Presidents team (2000)
Depak moved to New Zealand in 1991 and has lived in Wellington and Auckland. Currently Depak plays and coaches at the Empire Club. He has won the Titan Club Singles twice (2007 & 2008) and the Empire Club Singles on 3 occasions (2004, 2009 & 2010). Depak was in the Wellington O45 Team that won the NZ Teams twice (2006 with Bryan McConnochie) and (2008 with Chris Talbot & Lindsay Ward). Depak was selected for the NZ Veterans team in the test against Australia (2007). He was the Captain of the NZ Over 50 Men’s Team at the Australian Veterans Tournament (2010). He has won 78 tournament titles including the North Island Over 40 Men’s Singles (2009). Depak said his best tournament wins were against Craig Dye and Thomas Samuelson. He is still very keen about playing table tennis and practises up to 4 times a week.
Hi folks, after the usual late rush of entries and fiddling to get seedings near-enough, here are the actual draws for Summer Interclub from Wednesday February 29 through April 4. Thanks to Bruce for getting it all together.
Grades A and B are split into two sections with a playoff between them on the last night. Grade C has a 1v2, 3v4, 5v6 playoff on that last night.
Thanks again to Malcolm for his latest player profile, this time on local celeb Lindsay Ward!
Lindsay Ward in the early 70s
Lindsay Ward in 2011
Lindsay first played Wellington A Grade interclub in 1972. Almost 40 years ago! He was also a former Wellington Regional 1 tennis interclub player for more than a decade. Lindsay is the only person to win both NZ Veterans Tennis and Table Tennis Titles. In his school days he was a fast sprinter and represented his primary and secondary school in athletics. His speed helped him in his rugby and he was a winger in the Wellington Intermediate Schools Team that won the Southern North Island Tournament (1968) where he scored 2 tries in the final. Today Lindsay is also a keen cyclist.
Lindsay first played tennis at age 10 and was a Wellington Primary Schools Representative. He won the Wellington Boys Under 15 Singles (1969). Lindsay was the Club Singles Champion at Vogelmorn (4) Miramar (2) and Wellington (5). He played Regional 1 tennis for Miramar and Wellington. In a Dominion Post story he was nick-named The Surgeon for the way he dissected his opponents. In 2000 Lindsay won the NZ Veterans Tennis Over 45 Men’s Singles, the Over 45 Men’s Doubles with Terry Poynter, and Over 40 Mixed Doubles with Robyn Flynn.
Lindsay first played interclub table tennis in 1969 for Kilbirnie RSA. By 1972 he was playing in their A Grade team with Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust and Boris Halama. He won the Wellington Secondary Schools Table Tennis Boys Singles and Doubles title and was a Wellington Junior Representative that year. In 1973 his Kilbirnie RSA team won the A Grade title (Gerald Bell Memorial Cup). Lindsay was ranked number 1 (Wellington Junior Boys) and Number 10 (Wellington Men’s) and won the Under 18 Boy’s Singles and U21 Men’s Singles at both the Wellington Regionals and Wellington Open Tournaments. When the Kilbirnie RSA folded up, the players formed Kilbirnie United. Kilbirnie United (Lindsay with Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust and Warren Mak) won the Wellington A Grade Competition in 1974.
1979
In 1976 Lindsay joined the Titan Club and has represents them in interclub ever since. In 1978 the Titan team (Lindsay Ward, Adrian Lust and Warren Mak) reached the final of the Rothmans National Club Competition in Auckland where they lost 4-7 to Manurewa. The Titan Team (Lindsay with Warren Mak, Adrian Lust and Nha Nguyen) won the A Grade in 1980. Lindsay was a member of the Titan team that won the Wellington Premier 1 competition for 5 consecutive years 2002-2006. Robert Chung was the only other player in the team for all 5 years. Other players included Jie Zhang, Harry Singh, Nha Nguyen and Catherine Zhou. Lindsay has also won the Titan Club Singles 7 times ( 2001-2002, 2004-2006, 2009-2010).
In the top grade Lindsay has won more than 1,000 matches. He has been the top Wellington player in the averages 18 times. Since the Premiers Grades began in 1981 Lindsay has maintained an overall average of over 83%. His best year was 2008 where he won 36 out of 37 matches played (97.30%) but was surprisingly only ranked 7th on the Wellington Men’s list. He is the only person playing Premier 1 in the first year of the competition (1981) still playing in the grade today.
In 1982, L/R: Lindsay Ward, Peter Miller, Ann Gyongyos, Kay Kelly,
Adrian Lust, Dianne Ord, Lloyd Richards, Robert Kerr
Lindsay was first selected in the Wellington Men’s Team (with Lloyd Richards and Ron Foster) for the NZ Teams Tournament in 1976. He last played for the top Wellington Men’s Team at this tournament in 2005 and would still be a contender for this team if available. Lindsay was a member of the Wellington Over 45 Men’s Team that won the NZ O45 Teams in 2004 (with Bryan McConnochie and Chris Talbot) and 2008 (with Chris Talbot and Depak Patel).
Lindsay was the Wellington number one ranked Man 17 times during the period 1978-2005. He has won the Men’s Singles at the Wellington Open 7 times over 28 years (1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2006) and was a losing semi finalist this year. He has also won the Men’s Singles at the Hutt Valley Open, Kapiti Open, Wairarapa Open and the Manawatu Open. In 1978 he reached the semi finals of the NZ Men’s Singles and was ranked number 9 in NZ that year. At the NZ Open Lindsay won the Over 45 Men’s Singles twice (2001 and 2008) and the Over 45 Men’s Doubles with Ian Talbot (2003). He was selected in the Over 50 NZ Men’s team in the test against Australia (2008).
This year Lindsay won the Over 50 Men’s Singles at the North Island Tournament for the third year in a row. He won the Over 30 and Over 50 Singles at the Wellington Open. Lindsay lost a close match with Craig Dye in the NZ Men’s Over 30 Singles final. He still has many years of table tennis ahead of him!
Lindsay made it to the semi-final of this year’s Wellington Open:
Lindsay is currently 51st on the TTNZ Men’s open Ratings list (the 3rd placed Wellingtonian there).
(Thanks to the TTNZ Archives for the older photos and Win for the video.)
I have sad news to report with a notice (attached) of the passing of Jack Blackmore, a stalwart club administrator for many years including with the Wellington association, and was still active even being the recent over-80s winner at the Titan club champs this year. I knew Jack in the mid 90′s and he was dedicated to Titan and the association, and contributed for as long as he could – even on the table winning the over 80 singles at the Titan club champs recently.
A service for Jack will be held at the Barnabas Church, 106a Mana Esplanade, Plimmerton on Wednesday 11am. Several from Titan are coming and I will come too. The notice includes: “In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart Foundation of NZ, PO Box 5357, Wellington 6145 would be appreciated.”
Jack with Reg Seddon 1997
BLACKMORE, John Desmond (Jack). – 13.01.1930 – 16.12.2011.
Suddenly at home. Dearly loved husband of Elizabeth and loved father and father in law to Don and Jill, Susan and Stu, Graham and Nicky, and Lynda and Andy. Treasured Grandad of Emma, Steven, Matthew, Amy, Ryan, Joshua, Dion, Melissa, Zak and Chad. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart Foundation of NZ, PO Box 5357, Wellington 6145 would be appreciated. Messages to the ‘Blackmore Family’ may be sent to PO Box 13-546, Wellington. A service for Jack will be held at the Barnabas Church, 106a Mana Esplanade, Plimmerton on Wednesday, 21st December 2011 at 11am followed by a private cremation.
Ninness Funeral home (04) 237 4174
Ian Talbot won his first Titan Club Singles Title when he beat the defending champion Lindsay Ward in the final 4-3 (2-11 9-11 13-11 8-11 11-8 11-7 11-8) After being down 1-3 Ian became more relaxed and adopted a more aggressive approach as he sensed that Lindsay’s attack was waning. Ian’s previous best result was runner up to Depak Patel in 2007. Ian has won the Titan Doubles on 4 occasions (2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007) and the Over 40 Singles twice (2004 & 2006).
Ian had been a leading Wellington junior and he won the Wellington Primary Schools Boy’s Singles (1966), the Wellington Secondary Schools Junior Boy’s Singles (1967) and the Hutt Valley Open Under 18 Boy’s Singles (1971). He stopped playing in 1975 and did not resume playing again until 1995. Recent successes include winning the Wellington Open Over 40 Singles the last 2 years.
In the Club Doubles Depak Patel/Elias Villanueva beat Keith Aldersley/Paul Brown 3-1 Lindsay Ward retained his Over 40 Singles when he beat Bryan McConnochie 4-3 (11-9 9-11 9-11 11-9 9-11 12-10 11-5). Bryan held 2 match points at 10-8 in the 6th game when Lindsay called a time out. Lindsay then slowed the game down and won the next 4 points to take the game and then ran away with the 7th game to take the match. Jack Blackmore won the Over 80 Singles beating Norman Bishop 3-1 (12-10 11-6 7-11 11-5).
Ian Talbot, Lindsay Ward, Depak Patel and Malcolm Wong – all Titan Club Singles Champions
The Titan Club Championships were only started in 1994. Lindsay Ward has won the most singles (7). Ian Talbot and Malcolm Wong share the most doubles wins (4). The Club Singles and Doubles winner are listed below:
Singles Doubles
1994 Nha Nguyen Not held
1995 Malcolm Wong Win Nguyen & Jake Yang
1996 Nha Nguyen Danny Lam & Jake Yang
1997 Nha Nguyen Matthew Hobbs & Malcolm Wong
1998 Win Nguyen Malcolm Wong & William Yang
1999 Win Nguyen Malcolm Wong & William Yang
2000 Win Nguyen Nha Nguyen & Win Nguyen
2001 Lindsay Ward Malcolm Wong & William Yang
2002 Lindsay Ward Philip McConnochie & Jens Schuering
2003 Catherine Zhou Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2004 Lindsay Ward Bryan McConnochie & Ian Talbot
2005 Lindsay Ward Robert Chung & Bryan McConnochie
2006 Lindsay Ward Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2007 Depak Patel Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2008 Depak Patel Nha Nguyen & Lindsay Ward
2009 Lindsay Ward Depak Patel & Raewyn Young
2010 Lindsay Ward Nha Nguyen & Lindsay Ward
2011 Ian Talbot Depak Patel & Elias Villanueva
As an overview on what table tennis is on and when during the summer period here is some information. (If you have any info to add please comment or let me know.)
Summer Interclub
Summer interclub (team competition, a bit more casual than the main winter interclub season) is broken into two distinct (unrelated) phases, first the Composite Interclub (see here and here). Second the ‘pre-season’ (late summer) summer interclub round with a format to be determined. For more details watch this blog or keep in contact through your club.
Your club
Some clubs remain open with a small break, others close for a summer break. Consider visiting a different club every now and again – chances are you’ll play people you’ve never played before.
Waterloo: starts again early March (probably the first week).
Onslow: starts again late March.
Tawa: will start up again at Tawa Intermediate School probably on Thursday, 5 April 2012.
Titan: open through the summer except for 4 weeks off from mid December. Key hire for the Newtown stadium is available too, contact Table Tennis Wellington.
Belmont: running until the 25th of November and is starting up again in the middle of March.
Karori: finishes November 21, starting again late February or early March, to be determined.
Empire: The the last Monday night is Dec 12, the last midweek – Tuesday Dec 20 then opening casually from Jan 17 (officially Feb 2), and the last Junior club is Friday Nov 11. Opening dates for Mondays & Fridays to be determined.
Moonshine & Victoria University: – refer to club contact information here.
For more details or for other clubs refer to the club contact information here.
Exercise
Summer is a good time to start and get into a regular fitness pattern, if you find one that fits your schedule and you can enjoy it, then you’ll be more likely to keep it up through the whole year (um, this is do as I say, not as I do). I remember talking to a veteran player who noted that he would tend to win more often as the winter wore on, as other people got less fit! A fair-weather runner like myself will be one of his easy victims come Composite Interclub…
Elite squad coach Stephen Hirst recommends: “… it is always good in the off season to build your base fitness, i.e. lots and lots of cardio, skipping, running running and more running. As you get about 2 months out before the season starts I liked to taper off the running and start to replace that with more speed work like shuttle runs between two cones 20 metres apart. Start introducing more strength stuff with weights like squats for your quads. My favourite was jumping over a wooden bench traditionally found in schools 3 x 1 minute, it really kills you but gets you very explosive for the start of the season. Also continue this exercise throughout the season… This is all I used to do and can highly recommend it.”
My tip: paint the fence – if it worked for The Karate Kid it will work for you.
At least get out there and mow the lawn…
Helping
There are probably a hundred unpaid volunteers of some kind that help run and facilitate table tennis in the Wellington region. If you’re not already one of this bunch, think of something you enjoy doing that could contribute in any way. Put your name forward!
There is probably a table tennis table at one of your friend’s houses – go there and play and give them a lesson. Nothing will give you more pleasure. Just don’t forget to bring your own bat otherwise you’ll be battling to a 15-all deuce in the 3rd set against their 11 year old son because trying to topspin using their pimple-out no-sponge half-torn up left-in-the-sun fly-swatter only leaves you looping directly into the carpet at your feet.
The ulterior motive is that you could have some more people to bring along to your club. Lend them your real bat or a spare and open their eyes to what it is all about.
Summer project?
You might not have space for a table-tennis table in your own house but…
make a mini table tennis table… then become the best in the world.
Congratulations to the winning teams, some close results on the Finals night:
Senior grades:
Premier 1: Belmont Bananas (Callum Rusbridge, Thom Nguyen, Hayden Tapp) 6-3 winners over Titan
Premier 2: Empire Dangerous (Chris Williams, Bruce Connolly, Uy Tang) – a nail-biting 6-5 win over the Waterloo Wizards
Premier 3: Karori Kometz (Darrin Carmichael, Ben Westenra, Reg Fuez) 6-4 over Empire Xiong, reversing an in-season loss to Empire Xiong.
Malcolm writes in with another player profile, this time Bryan McConnochie…
Bryan is a left hand attacking player, still playing Premier 1 interclub table tennis at the age of 62. In his younger days he played representative rugby for 4 provinces over 21 years (1968-1989): South Canterbury, Canterbury, Wairarapa-Bush and Horowhenua. Bryan started off as an open side flanker and ending up as a tight head prop. One of his highlights was playing wing and marking the great All Black, Bryan Williams, when Wairarapa-Bush played the All Blacks during the 1972 internal tour.
Bryan and his son Phillip have always played interclub together and have won several Men’s Open Doubles titles. The Wairarapa, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay Men’s Doubles, and the North Island Men’s B Grade (twice) and Over 30 title.
In 1998 Bryan partnered by Joan Munn (Victoria, Australia) upset the 3rd, 2nd and 1st seeds to win the New Zealand Veterans Over 40 Mixed Doubles. He has won 9 individual veterans titles at the New Zealand Open. This included the Over 55 Men’s Single (2006). Bryan has represented New Zealand in the veterans test against Australia.
This venue was situated in a south Melbourne suburb next to a lake in Albert Park, where the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is held every year.
Over 300 participants from around Australia and New Zealand took part, covering ages 40 to over 80. New Zealand had its biggest team ever with 30 players making the trip over the Tasman.
Four players from Table Tennis Wellington took part in the championships. The Over 50 Mens A team consisted of Depak Patel (captain) and Ian Talbot (both Empire) and Bryan McConnochie from Titan/Kapiti. Raewyn Young (Empire) was the captain of the Over 40 Womens team. The other team members were Joanna Ma (Otago) and Akiko Goto (Canterbury).
Over 40 Womens Teams results:
vs Victoria B
won 11-0
vs Queensland B
won 10-1
vs Northern Territory
won 10-1
vs Western Australia
won 10-1
vs Queensland
won 6-5
vs New South Wales B
won 10-1
vs Presidents
won 8-3
vs New South Wales
won 6-5
vs Victoria
won 6-5
In the final against Victoria, Akiko played the final match against Vicki Carruthers (a very experienced player), who had already lost to Raewyn and Joanna. Akiko was not expected to win but showed great determination to fight back from 2 sets down to win 11-13, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8. The NZ team erupted with delight when the last point was won – a truly memorable experience. This team was the first from NZ to win a gold medal in a team event since this tournament commenced 27 years ago.
Raewyn won 70% of her matches and was placed 9th and Joanna was placed 2nd on the Merit List.
Over 50 Mens Teams results:
vs Queensland B
won 8-3
vs ACT B
won 10-1
vs Northern Territory
won 6-5 Bryan won the last match 3-0
vs Victoria
lost 2-9
vs New South Wales
lost 0-11 Was a tough day at the office! Bryan got a set of Paul Pinkevic
vs Tasmania
won 7-4
vs New South Wales B
won 11-0
vs Queensland
lost 3-8 Ian defaulted 2 matches due to injury
Depak won 58% of his matches with Bryan winning 50% and Ian 46%. The team finished a creditable 6th out of 14 teams.
As a wrap-up, all results and the team finals results are at “2010 Winter Interclub Results” (in a nutshell, congratulations Waterloo Wasps/Prem 1, Waterloo Wizards/Prem 2, and Karori Kometz/Prem 3!). We also had the Prem 2 and Prem grade champs (singles and doubles) with these results:
Prem 3 Singles Elias Villanueva bt Luke Falvey
Prem 3 Doubles Elias Villanueva/Vladimir Vysotskiy 1st, Jack Ho/Luke Falvey 2nd , Maggie Dyer/Margaret Cloughley 3rd in a round-robin where there had to be a count back on points, to separate the three combinations, after they all won one contest in five sets!
Prem 2 Singles Tai Zhu bt Matthew Hobbs
Prem 2 Doubles Tai Zhu/Graham Sole bt Tristian Alay-ay/Hayden Kirkbeck.
Here are some pictures from the Prem 2 night after I brought my camera down (must do more often…):
… is a question I get every now and again and it’s not an easy question to answer! It’s on Alexandra Rd, Newtown, Wellington but oddly there are no street numbers associated with the various facilities on that end of Alexandra Rd and, with all the plant growth over the years, you can’t see the name signs on the building itself driving by any more.
How would you best concisely describe how to get there? I normally would say “turn up Alexandra Rd from Constable St, the stadium will be on the left shortly after the tennis, running,and croquet clubs with a parking lot above it.” let me know if you have a better one!
**NB: If walking or biking from the city, Mein St is a more direct access and has a path at the end leading up to the southern (rear) of the stadium (the door is on the Northern side).
Meanwhile, seek the green arrow here! To the right of the arrow is a carpark (obscured in the shadow here) and that is the best landmark along with the carpark on the other side of the road too.
Congratulations to all interclub players, a great season all-round with some close results in the end leaving some results in the balance until the last night! Thanks to Stephen, Diane, Bruce, & Paul for their hard work in keeping the wheels rolling and the results posted.
Tuesday Sep 14: Premier 1, 2 and 3 Team Finals:
Prem 3 Final: Karori Kometz (winners of Series 2 round robin) v Empire Tsunami (on equal points with Empire Tornado but make the final on a count back by one game!).
Prem 2 Final: Waterloo Wizards (winners of Series 1 & Series 2 round robin) v Karori/Titan
Prem 1 Final: Waterloo Wasps (winners of Series 1 & Series 2 round robin) v Titan/Kapiti
Premier 2 & 3 Grade Championships:
Tuesday Sep 21, Premier 3 grade champs – open to all Premier 3 players (except the three main players in Empire Advancers promoted from Premier 3 to Premier 2 for Series 2).
Wednesday Sep 22 Premier 2 grade champs – open to all Premier 2 & 3 players (except the two players promoted from Premier 2 to Premier 1 for Series 2).
The Empire Table Tennis Stadium opens at 6:30pm in each case, matches start 7pm.
I talked to Malcolm Wong following the recent 2010 Junior Open: ”I became a provincial umpire in 2000 as I felt I should know the rules of the sport I played. Umpiring at the NZ World Junior Circuit Tournament in Wellington (2003) encouraged me to go further in umpiring. I umpired the world men’s number 1, Ma Long, at this tournament.”
In 2004 Malcolm became a National Umpire, a National Referee in 2007, and then passed the International Umpires exam in 2008. Last year he umpired at the French Junior Open and the Commonwealth Championships. After attended and passing an exam at a Racket Control Seminar (5 April) in Auckland he can now be appointed to be Chief Racket Controller at ITTF Tournaments.
On umpiring at the recent NZ Junior Open (6-9 April) in Auckland: ”The first three days I was umpiring twelve hours each day, including 21 matches on day one. A lack of umpires meant I was umpiring virtually every round!
“Umpiring requires a good knowledge of the rules, the ability to concentrate during matches and apply the rules in an impartial manner.” – If you are interested in learning more about Table Tennis umpiring, Malcolm would love to hear from you!
NZ Junior Open 2010 – Cadet Girls Singles Final (9April). Richard Ammundsen (Assistant Umpire) Wong Chung Wan (Hong Kong) Lily Phan (Australia) Malcolm Wong (Umpire).
Racket Control Seminar: Paul Jackson, Steve Reilly (Fiji) Malcolm Wong, Fanny Ho (Australia) Piet van Egmond (Course Instructor – Netherlands) Tomoko Fukudo (Japan) Bryan Yan Jennifer Tang, Daniel Fan
