Series 2

Created by Graham Trimming

an accredited ETTA EXCELLENCE PremierClub

Gehlot wins the battle but Wright wins the war!

The senior and veterans events of the 2009-10 Cippenham Series concluded over the weekend. There was a small entry for this event, played out of season after having been re-arranged from February. Nevertheless, two good days table tennis was enjoyed by those that participated and everyone got plenty of matches.

Hari Gehlot, from nearby Reading, was the star of the weekend. He won both the Veteran Men’s Singles on Saturday and the Men’s Singles senior competition on Sunday. Those points meant that he became the overall Cippenham Series champion in the veterans but could not quite overtake Neil Wright in the senior competition.

The veterans’ event was played as a group of eight. Gehlot went through the entire event unbeaten but a tie-break was needed to decide the next four places as each won four and lost three matches. In the end Steve Kerns emerged in second place with Ramesh Gehlot third, Dave Randall fourth and Keith Falconer fifth. The women’s event was won by Janice Lee who, as a result, won all three tournaments and the top Series prize.

En route to his Men’s Singles title, Hari Gehlot won all five matches in his group and then beat Simon Dilkes in the semi-final. Dilkes had overcome Cippenham’s Rajan Waterman in the quarter-final. Neil Wright also won all his group encounters, including a tight match against another Cippenham player, Rafique Sarhadi, in which all four games were decided by two points. Rafique, after finishing third in the group, was eliminated by young Welsh star Lewis Williams in the quarter-final before Williams was dismissed by Neil Wright in the semi.

Final places in the overall Series were:

Men’s Singles: 1. Neil Wright (WAL); 2. Hari Gehlot (Bk); 3. Jogenes Senorin (Mi)

Women’s Singles: 1. Julie Furber (WAL); 2. Claire Ford (WAL)

Veteran Men’s Singles: 1. Hari Gehlot (Bk); 2. Steve Kerns (E); 3. Paul Martindill (E)

Veteran Women’s Singles: 1. Janice Lee (Sy); 2. Diane Melville (Mi)

The tournament was organised by and refereed by Steve Smith.

Link to results of open tournaments