NZ Junior and Cadet Open Report

Malcolm Wong flew up to Auckland for the recent KVB Kunlun TTNZ 2012 New Zealand Junior & Cadet Open held April 19-22. He was there as one of the official umpires and I hear it was non-stop at the umpire stand for all umpires involved so thanks to all of them! Following is Malcolm’s report along with photos borrowed from various sources. Local Wellington and Belmont player Thom Nguyen represented New Zealand at this event.

Results and details are on this page on the TTNZ website and on the ITTF website.

Junior Boys Doubles Final (22 April)
Ben Hurr (Umpire) Thom Nguyen (NZL) Daniel Lowe (NZL) Nathan Van Der Heiden (AUS) Dillon Cathcart (AUS) Malcolm Wong (Umpire)
Match won by Cathcart/Van Der Heiden 3-1 (11-5 5-11 11-7 11-7)

NZ Junior and Cadet Open – Cadet Girls Doubles Final (22/04/2012)
Malcolm Wong (Umpire), Ruofei Rao (NZL), Sophia Dong (NZL),
Samantha Ong (MAS), Desiree Hung (HKG), Graham Boyton (Umpire)

This tournament was held at the Auckland Table Tennis Stadium at Newmarket, Auckland. There were 82 participants (46 boys and 36 girls). Most were from New Zealand (37) and Australia (23).Other countries were The Cook Islands (8), Kirabati (3), Hong Kong (2), Malaysia (2), New Caledonia (2) Singapore (2) Norway, Solomon Islands and Thailand.

Only 6 umpires were available for all 4 days, with a few more on Saturday only. This meant the umpires were required for all rounds from 9am and finishing 9pm for the first 3 days. Play on the last day finished at 7pm. So it was a very tiring experience for the umpires. On the first day I umpired 8 team matches. I umpired the finals of the Cadet Boys Teams, Junior Girls Oceania World Championship Qualification, Cadet Girls Doubles, Junior Boys Doubles and the Junior Girls Singles.

Thom Nguyen was Wellington’s sole player at this tournament. He won a Bronze Medal in the Junior Boys Team as a member of New Zealand B (with Daniel Lowe). These two also won the Silver Medal in the Junior Boys Doubles.

-Malcolm Wong

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PS: A great news story on Manawatu umpire Val Scarr is here.

Upcoming Wanganui (19/4) & Marlborough (12-13/5) Opens

 

2012 Wanganui Open

April 28 is the 2012 Wanganui Open, the entry form with details is here.

VENUE: Jubilee Table Tennis Stadium: London Street, Wanganui

Entries close P.M., MONDAY 23rd April 2012 with the Tournament Secretary, Table Tennis Wanganui, PO BOX 29. WAITOTARA 4549. (Phone 06 343 8497 or 06 346 5906) ( e-mail ttw [at] wnet.co.nz)

 

2012 Marlborough Open

May 12/13 is the 2012 Marlborough Open, the entry form with details is here.

To be held at the SIMCOX STADIUM, Batty’s Road, Springlands, Blenheim on Saturday 12th May and Sunday 13th May. Supported by The Redwood Trust.

Entries close on MONDAY 7 May 2012 with Chris Hood, 7 Brian Bary Street, Blenheim 7201. Entry fees with entry please. Maximum family fee of $70.00.  Enquiries: hoodfamily [at] ihug.co.nz  Phone (03) 578 8330 after 6.30pm or 027 782 6098 (anytime).

2012 NZ Veterans Champs – Wellington Results

There were a bunch of players from Wellington competing in the NZ Veterans Tournament – the largest contingent in a long time and it sounds like a good time was held by all!

Wellington Team placings (full results are on the TTNZ site here):

Over 40 Women:
  2nd to Wellington (Sabine Westenra, Raewyn Young)
Over 40 Men’s A Grade:
  4th to Wellington 1 (Depak Patel, Lindsay Ward, Ian Talbot)
  5th to Wellington 2 (Rob Chung, Keith Aldersley, Bryan McConnochie, Paul Solt)
Over 40 Men’s B Grade:
  2nd to Wellington 3 (Martin Young, Harry Chen, John Gan)
Over 50 Men’s A Grade:
  3rd to Wellington 1 (Lindsay Ward, Depak Patel)
  4th to Wellington 3 (Ian Talbot, Chris Talbot)
Over 50 Men’s B Grade:
  1st to Wellington 2 (Bryan McConnochie, John Gan)
  3rd to Wellington 4 (Martin Young, Paul Solt)
Over 65 Men’s A Grade:
  3rd to Wellington (Chris Williams, Bruce Connolly)
Over 70 Men’s B Grade:
  3rd to Wellington (Eddie Moore, Merv Allardyce)
Over 75 Men:
  4th to Wellington (Eddie Moore, Merv Allardyce)

Individual results are available through here, I’ve copied down the Wellington results here:

Over 40 Men’s Singles plate Winner:   John Gan
Over 40 Women’s Singles Runner Up:   Raewyn Young – lost 12-10 in 5th set after being 2-0 sets down
Over 40 Women’s Doubles Winner:   Raewyn Young and Sabine Westenra (beat top seeds 3-0 in final)
Over 40 Mixed Doubles Winner:   Sabine Westenra and Heath Murdoch
Over 50 Men’s Singles plate Winner:   John Gan
Over 50 Men’s Singles plate Runner Up:   Paul Solt
Over 60 Men’s Singles 3rd place:   Bryan McConnochie
Over 65 Men’s singles plate winner:   Bruce Connolly
Over 75 Men’s Singles plate Runner-up:   Mervyn Allardyce

Congratulations to all players attending the National Vets tournament this year.

Here are some photos from Malcolm Wong:

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North Island Individuals @ North Harbour entries close Wednesday 6pm

Note that entries (and payment) for the North Island Individuals to be held at North Harbour 4-6 May close at 6pm on Wednesday 11 April.

The form is on the TTNZ site: here.

Super stars Hui-Ling Vong and Abram Goh in the news

There are a couple of great new articles in the press this week on Hui-Ling Vong and also Abram Goh following their results recent ITTF Hopes event in Auckland.

First is one on Hui-Ling in The Wellingtonian: Hui-ling targets table tennis titles which has a nice photo. One of her goals is to be the best player at her club (Belmont) so watch out Belmont – oh wait, that means becoming the best player in Wellington so watch out everyone!

The other one is in the Hutt News: Belmont youngsters rise to top and talked about Hui-Ling and Abram. The classic quote from Stephen Hirst was: “She looked very annoyed with a bronze,” Hirst says !

Stephen Hirst organised and managed a group of juniors that went to the recent Inaugural TTNZ Hopes and Cadets Trials in Auckland on March 25. Results and pictures (click on the “Images” tab) are here.

New Zealand Masters Games report

This is the report from Malcolm Wong on his recent trip to the NZ Masters Games. Malcolm won 6 medals on his trip this year.

This multi sports event was held in Dunedin (4-12 February 2012). The table tennis (4-7 February) was held at the Edgar Sports Centre in South Dunedin. The Netball was also held there at the same time which made for a very noisy environment.

Malcolm Wong won 3 silver and 3 bronze medals. Silver medals in the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Doubles with Stephen Craw (Christchurch), and in the Over 55 Mixed Doubles with Patricia Swale (Invercargill). Bronze medals were in the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Singles, and the Over 55 Teams with Stephen Craw.

The results are published here.

Malcolm beat NZ Veteran representative Stephen Craw in both the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Singles. He lead Wang Qi 2-1 in the Over 45 Men’s Singles before losing 2-3.

The medals were presented by a different person each day. Leigh Gibbs (Games Ambasssador and former Silver fern player & coach), Audrey Fogarty (widow of Bill Fogarty – 1948 NZ Men’s Singles Champion) and Barrie Kendall (Long time organiser of the masters table tennis in Dunedin).

Ngaire Garrett caused the biggest upset when she beat the former NZ Women’s Singles Champion Yvonne Fogarty in the semi finals of the Over 55 Women Singles.

Thanks to the organisers, Stephen Burgess, Graeme Clent and Barrie Kendall for their work in running the tournament.

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PS: In 2013 the NZ Masters Games will be in Wanganui Feb 1-10, 2013.

TTNZ Rankings (& Summer Composite Round 1)

On the TTNZ site the 2011 Rankings are available, click here. The (W)’s in there are:

OPEN MEN
8. Thom Nguyen (W)

OPEN WOMEN
7. Sabine Westenra (W)

U18
3. Thom Nguyen (W)

U15 Girls
9. Angela Chapman (W)

Congratulations to Thom, Sabine, & Angela!

Summer Composite Round 1 had a few upsets on the night which augers well for an interesting series! The pdf with the team & individual stats is here: 2011 Composite Interclub 1109-Rd 1

Nationals – More Results

Here is a results highlight from team managers Steve Hirst & Gabrielle Telfer.

On that men’s doubles win (Thom Nguyen & Hayden Tapp) you should check out this article by Thom on the Belmont Table Tennis Club site.

Sabine Westenra won the Over 30’s Women’s Singles!

Lindsay Ward was runner-up in the Over 30 Mens Singles (Depak Patel won bronze as losing semi-finalist).

Sabine Westenra and Heath Murdoch won the Over 30’s Mixed Doubles.

Runners up were Stephen Hirst and Heath Murdoch in the Over 30’s Men’s Doubles.

Under 21 Men’s Singles Thom Nguyen was runner up to Phillip Xiao.

C Grade Men’s Doubles runners up, Jeffrey Chin and Delano Lam.

Under 21 Mixed Doubles, Thom Nguyen and Jennifer Tseng (Auckland) were runners up.

B Grade women’s Doubles runners up, Lisa Yue and Natalie Paterson (Manawatu).

Teams Events

Wellington Women Catherine Zhou, Sabina Westenra and Lisa Yue came 2nd.

Wellington Men’s Team 2 of Bryan and Phillip McConnochie, Depak Patel and Paul Solt came 2nd in
the Men’s B Grade.

Sabine Westenra was awarded the Veteran of the Year by TTNZ

There is also some great pics of Wellington players on Matt Hetherington’s Blog which can be found
here.

The Barna Cup for Sportsmanship, etiquette and general behaviour was awarded to Team 3 Robbie
Chung, Kai Xu, Jeffrey Chin and Delano Lam which was judged by an independent panel of students.

The Womens Team narrowly missed out by half a point in the women’s equivalent.

More general results are found on the TTNZ site (click under Events).

See here for a nice slideshow from the Nationals!

Nationals – Gold! (Tapp/Nguyen)

Check out Matt Heatherington’s excellent blog for news and pictures on the Nationals, to quote:
“It was a great day of table tennis today in Palmerston North, especially for Wellington coach Stephen Hirst who was overwhelmed when a gold medal opportunity game Wellington’s way. An incredible feat of team work and great skill shown by the combination of Thom Nguyen and Hayden Tapp who defied all odds to win gold in the Open Mens Doubles.” [click for more...]

Gold medal for Hayden Tapp & Thom Nguyen in the men’s doubles!

Some good earlier teams results too (for details see here):

Women’s Wellington – 2nd (Catherine Zhou, Sabine Westenra, Lisa Yue)
Men’s Wellington 1 – 8th in A Grade (Thom Nguyen, Hayden Tapp, Callum Rusbridge, Andrew Rieper)
Men’s Wellington 2 – 2nd in B Grade (Bryan McConnochie, Depak Patel, Phillip McConnochie, Paul Solt)
Men’s Wellington 3 – 3rd in B Grade (Robert Chung, Jeffrey Chin, Delano Lam, Kai Xu)
Men’s Wellington 4 – 6th in B Grade (Chris Williams, Craig Gear, Brendyn Shaw)

Got any pictures or more links? Let me know or post as comments here.