VETTS Super 60s – Team Competition Jan 2024
By ATTC Webmaster on Feb 04, 2024 with Comments 0
Ashford’s men’s Over 60s team recently participated in the Veterens English Table Tennis Society’s Super 60s Team Competition.
This national event took place over the weekend of 13/14 January 2024 at the Meres Leisure Centre in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Competing in Division 2 of four six-team divisions, Ashford travelled to Grantham with a good deal of optimism having strengthened last year’s team. New club member, Percy Collino (fresh from his Eastern Masters triumph) and Rupert Bole joined existing team members, Farhat “Raz” Rasul and Michael Silver.
The competition format involves three players from each team playing two matches each against each of the opposing teams in the division. Matches are played over the weekend with three on Saturday and two on Sunday.
Saturday 13th January
The team kicked off proceedings with a game against TERE – comprising veteran legend Joey Kennedy, Simon Heaps (a highly world ranked “para” player) and Essex player, John Poysden.
All matches were highly competitive with Ashford emerging as 4-2 winners with two notable wins for Rupert and Percy against Joey Kennedy.
Our next opponents were Bribar comprising John Payne, Bribar owner Barry Chapman, and Dave “Geezer” Bowles. We were pleased to record another 4-2 victory with Percy recording a satisfying win against John Payne and a general good all round team effort.
The evening’s match against Yorkshire outfit, tog 24, promised to be challenging given that they had, like us, won both their previous matches. However, another great team performance saw Ashford whitewash their opponents 6-0, no mean feat given that tog 24 were fielding a multiple European Vetts medalist (Ray Hurst) and experienced Yorkshire County players.
Sunday 14th January
Fortified by dinner for the second night running in our favourite Thai restaurant, the team entered the critical final day with cautious optimism.
Our first match was to be against Dorset Plus One, the bottom team in the division “boasting” former Ashford player, Steve Davis. Our final match promised to be a winner-takes-all show down with the only other unbeaten team, Potters Resorts.
With Dorset dispatched fairly comfortably 6-0, the team knew they had been guaranteed promotion to the Premier Division irrespective of the result versus Potters, even if the team were determined to end the weekend on a victorious note by achieving a clean sweep.
Things didn’t quite go to plan when Rupert lost 3-2 in the first match to multiple age group national champion, Keith Williams – despite winning the 2nd and 3rd games to 3 and 4 respectively with some scintillating table tennis.
Following that loss, the tide turned in Ashford’s favour with all the next five matches won. Percy avenged Rupert’s loss against Williams, Michael Silver and Percy both beat the highly rated, Clive Carthy, (in Michael’s case 15-13 in the 5th) and Michael and Rupert both beat Swedish looper, Mats Olsson.
So a highly enjoyable weekend was topped off with a noteworthy win against the division’s top ranked team, Potters Resorts.
Division Winners
It’s worth noting that, unlike all of the other teams competing in the four divisions, Ashford remains the only team made up of players who all actually play and practise together at the same club.
The mutual support offered by each of the team members and the camaraderie shown throughout the weekend was a testament to that club nexus.
Finally, special mention must be made of Percy. Playing at No. 1 in each of the 5 matches played, he recorded a perfect 10/10 wins against the respective number 1 & 2s of each of the division’s teams. A truly fantastic performance from the new, if not necessarily young, man!
Full Match Details
Please visit the VETTS website for full match details.
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