Table Tennis Wales website

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Monday 23 November 2009

North Wales Visit

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to visit Bangor University [to agree a partnership on sports science support] and the ever progressing Denbigh club. Always good to get to North Wales to help out. More ideas and details to follow....

Irish Visit

Four Irish players stayed over at WIS for a weekend of practice and Test matches with some of our Welsh squad memebers. Steve Jenkins, Patrick Thomas, Nick Brown, Cameron Thomas, Charlotte Carey, Chloe Thomas, Nicole Hall, Jac Jenkins and the Ferndale TTk project all benefited from their practice.

Thanks Ireland.....

Greenhouse Wales Open

Good to see a fantastic tournament on Saturday @ Tonypandy. Jack Parry and Nicole Hall were winners for Tonyrefail in the U15 category. In the U13 category Ryan Oyler and Laura Edwards were champions.

Great competition....

Paddy wins all 4

Patrick Thomas won 4 out of 4 in his Belgian league matches on Saturday night!!!
That takes him to 7 from a possible 8 wins for the season....

Cippenham Team Event

Chloe Thomas and Lewis Williams lost in the final of the Cippenham Team event last weekend.

British League Preview

DRUMCHAPEL GLASGOW LOOKING TO EXTEND THEIR LEAD

The second weekend of British League Premier Division action takes place at
the BATTS Team Peniel Table Tennis Club, The Norman Booth Centre, Eldersfield,
Mullbery Green, Old Harlow, Essex, CM17 0EY next weekend (Saturday/Sunday 28/29
November 2009) commencing at 11.00 am on the Saturday and at 10.00 am on the
Sunday. Admission is free and you can expect to see some eagerly contested
play.

Leaders and reigning Champions Drumchapel Glasgow I who totally dominated the
first weekend’s play are certainly the team to beat and it is difficult to see
their all-star team of Welsh no. two Ryan Jenkins, Scottish no. two - newcomer
Qian Hai Song, England no. ten Terry Young and Welsh no. three Stephen Jenkins
failing to dominate again. Their Saturday morning game against Westfield I and
their Sunday morning game against BATTS Team Peniel are two to watch out for.

Surprise package Westfield I who are second with seven points hope that they
can field the same four players as last weekend. England no. seven Damien
Nicholls, Niall Cameron and Richard Andrews all won five singles out of eight
last time, whilst England no. 21 Shaun Marples won four of his eight singles.

BATTS Team Peniel I will be hopeful that they can improve on their third place
and the selection of England no. one Cadet Zac Zilesnick represents an
investment in the future. The silky smooth all-action top-spinner is always
exciting to watch, and he should relish the opportunity to play at this level.
Zac will be joined by four very experienced hands - Wang Zheng, John Holland,
Ritchie Venner and Clive Carthy. Ritchie will presumably hope that he won’t
have to extend too much time discussing his recent impressive showing on BBC’s
“Mastermind”.

The glory days of DHS Greenhouse Progress are almost definitely behind them,
if only temporarily but they still have a talented team at their disposal. Led
by England no. seventeen Garth Kinlocke with backing from Irish international
Jason Sugrue and Da Qing Tong as well as up-and-coming England no. twelve
Junior Daniel Basterfield (a real TTK success story) they will hope to improve
on their fourth place. They will certainly be keen to win both of their Sunday
matches, against lower placed teams Sycamore and Derwent.

Sycamore however, have a trump card up their sleeve ( a real “Ace of Hearts” )
in the flamboyant and entertaining Scottish no. one Gavin Rumgay and if he can
win his eight games you expect them to do well. His team-mates - Kevin Dolder,
Sam Perry, Jason Ramage, Danny Lowe and Sean Cullen are an exciting blend of
experience and youthful promise and you can certainly expect England no. five
Junior Danny Lowe and England no. seven Junior Sean Cullen to feature strongly.
Both Cullen (ranked no. 71 nationally as a Senior) and Lowe (ranked no. 73) are
seemingly well under-rated and they will look as this weekend as a chance to
address this matter.

Ormesby I will be looking to do better than last time. Led by England no.
eight David Meads with backing from England no. 13 Michael Marsden, Welsh
no. five Patrick Thomas, England no. 39 Nigel Eckersley and England no. 58
Andy Wilson they will be helpful of doing well against Derwent, BATTS Team
Peniel and Ellenborough. However, they will be without their best player from
the first weekend of matches - Justin Ma.

Ellenborough, who finished a superb second last year are a little off the
pace this time. They hope to field a team with a distinctly cosmopolitan feel
to it - new England no. one Veteran - Lorestas Trumpauskas, John Nilsson,
Thomas Bennborn and Abdul Wuraola. Expect ace Swedish defender Bennborn and
England no. two Veteran Wuraola to score well in the numbers three and four
positions.

Promoted Derwent have it all to do if they are to avoid relegation. Taking the
opportunity to field an all-local team rather than reinforce by bringing in a
top-class no. one is certainly commendable, although it is doubtful that their
side of Simon Noutch, Matthew Dodds, Stephen Horsfield and Richard Smith will
be able to stave off relegation. No doubt they will be out to prove me wrong !.
Their Sunday morning clash with Ellenborough will certainly be a “six-pointer”.

Thursday 19 November 2009

Naomi Owen - wins Bristol GP

The Women’s Open went exactly to seeding with Naomi Owen S1 and Egle Adomelyte S2 contesting the final. Naomi had a fairly comfortable ride to the last match terminating all her challengers that included Claire Nelson, Emma Vickers and Amanda Mogey to reach the expected final. Whilst in the bottom half of the draw Adomelyte had to be at her very best to get past a determined Sarra Wang coming through 12-10 in the fifth end. Her semi final opponent Natalie Slater (who had good wins against Melissa Wright and Chloe Thomas) had no answers to the hard hitting style of Adomelyte at the last four stage.

So as expected the Women’s final had some spectacular hard hitting rallies from both these accomplished young Women however it was the more consistent Naomi Owen who came through 3-1 to pick up a well earned cheque for £175.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Welsh Rankings

The new Welsh Rankings are up on the TTAW website
www.ttaw.co.uk/ranking

Check them out and see where you are!

Patrick Thomas

Patrick will be going to Belgium on Saturday to play a match for his Belgian Club, Diest. Good Luck Paddy.....

Lee Morgan

Well Done Lee for reaching the semi finals of the band 4 and winning the band 5 at the Bristol GP last weekend

Sunday 15 November 2009

Sponsored Fancy Dress

On the 22nd December the TTAW are holding a sponsored Christmas fancy dress table tennis event at WIS.
The event will raise money for essential equipment and kit to enhance the training sessions.

From there we shall head over to 'Winter Wonderland' in the capital for ice-skating and food to celebrate the success we have had this season so far and for the year ahead us.

Sponsored forms are on their way. Do your best:

ITTF 'Young Hopes' identification scheme

It all started in 2009.
Over a period of three years 2009-2011, Tamasu / Butterfly will invest 5,000 000 Japanese Yen/ year (approx US
50,000 ) to support the identification, selection and operation of a World Team composed by 11-12 year old talents from all over the globe.
The successful candidates will be given first class coaching, extensive training opportunities and the possibility to compete at targeted
events in the new ITTF HOPES category.
We are now opening a worldwide search for suitable, promising young players to join the 2010 ITTF World Hopes Team. Nominations will be
widely accepted from all interested parties such as individual coaches, clubs, local associations and national associations.
In the final selection process, all the involved National Associations will be asked to confirm the availability and to secure proper management
of the selected athlete. The ITTF Education and Training Department will also work very closely with the identified coaches, offering a once in
a lifetime opportunity to attend ITTF Hopes events and to get first class guidance for future adventures in the program.

ITTF WORLD HOPES TEAM “TRYOUT CAMPS”
• “Tryout Camps” scheduled in connection to specific ITTF Junior Circuit events allows the ITTF WHT coaching staff to evaluate nominated
candidates in person prior to the final selection. There is no specific funding provided towards these camps. We recommend participation
for evaluation purposes only.
• The following „Tryout Camps” [self-funded by candidates] are already existing World Junior Circuit training camps held prior to the World
Junior Circuit event.
• Candidates should participate in both the World Junior Circuit training camp and World Junior Circuit event. Entries are the responsibility
of each individual through their National Federation. Prospectus and details can be seen in the Global Junior-Junior Circuit section of the
ITTF Website. A “Hopes” singles event for players born on or after 1st Jan 1998 will be held at each of these events in addition to the
normal Junior Circuit events www.ittf.com/competitions/competition.asp?category=wjc
• ASIA – Bahrain-Training Camp - (dates to be confirmed), Junior Circuit (1-5 Feb)
• AFRICA – Egypt-Training Camp - (6-8 Feb), Junior Circuit (9-13 Feb)
• EUROPE – Sweden-Training Camp - (dates to be confirmed), Junior Circuit (24-28 Feb)
• OCEANIA - New Zealand-Training Camp - (1-3 Apr), Junior Circuit (6-9 Apr)
• AMERICAS – Venezuela-Training Camp - (16-18 Apr), Junior Circuit (19-23 Apr)

UKCC level 1 and 2 courses

Please visit www.ttaw.co.uk/coaching to sign up for the UKCC level 1 and 2 courses.

Places are filling up so download a form and send it off with the payment required. All the information you need is there but if you require more help then please feel free to contact me:
coaching@ttaw.co.uk

Recent Team Selections

The selection comittee are happy to announce the following selections:

Stockton junior 4*

Boys – Matt Lancey, Dan O’Connell, Josh Jenkins & Lewis Williams
Girls – Charlotte Carey, Chloe Thomas, Angharad Phillips & Megan Phillips

Portugal Junior Open
Boys – Patrick Thomas, Dan O’Connell & Lewis Williams
Girls – Megan Phillips, Chloe Thomas, Charlotte Carey and Angharad Phillips

Polish Open
Adam Robertson & Naomi Owen

Finland Open
Ryan Jenkins & Naomi Owen


To follow soon: West of Scotland Open; Test match vs Dublin, Ireland; East Midlands Junior.....

Bristol GP

Charlotte Carey won the band 2 at the Britol GP beating Annabelle Morle 3-2. There was a fantastic entry from Welsh players

Players on show - Steve Jenkins, Steve Gertsen, Patrick Thomas, Nick Brown, Lee Morgan, Lewis Williams, Charlotte Carey, Ceri James, Scott, Dean & Lauren Cundy, Josh Jenkins, Sean & Matt Lancey, Tim Evans, Paul Karabardak, Simon Oyler, Jack Parry , Nicole Hall, Carys Webster, Sadie Edwards, Dan O Connell, Natasha Rees, Ashley Stavrakis, Chloe Thomas, Angharad & Megan Phillips and Jac Jenkins.

Saturday 14 November 2009

Belgium League

Patrick Thomas has just returned from a 5 day camp in Diest. He was also successful in winning 3 out of 4 singles in the 2nd national league!!!

Friday 13 November 2009

Namur Open

Congratulations to Charlotte Carey for winning the Gold in Namur

Full report on www.ttaw.co.uk