The Finals Night of the annual Danbury Table Tennis Club Tournament gave us some great sport and plenty of emotion as the winners of the key events were finally crowned.
The first final of the evening, the Restricted Singles, was played out between Scott Perry and Tim Pulham – players in great form but of very different styles. The first two legs were very close as the gladiators sized each other up, and they took one a piece. The third leg saw Perry increase his attacking prowess and he soon amassed a sizeable lead landing him with multiple game points – but this did not deter the more steady Pulham who just plugged away with accurate and determined backhand pushes to somehow secure a deuce from the jaws of defeat and then went on to secure the leg 14-12.
In those final points Perry picked up an injury as he crashed to the floor and in the fourth leg he wasn’t moving as freely as before and Pulham was able to control the leg comfortably and close out the event with a 3-1 final victory to add his name to the illustrious list of previous winners.
Alan Scammell has been the unexpected star of the tournament this year with some inspired play reaching two finals and a quarter-final place in the main Singles event. So with that pedigree Scammell and partner Ian Wall went into the Drawn Doubles final as favourites against the scratch pairing of Dan Anderson & Graham Briggs.
Anderson & Briggs had come through the previous three rounds quite comfortably and had developed a good understanding of each other with Briggs as the attacker and Anderson as the wall of defiance – but would there be any chinks in this armour against such a strong pair. As expected the Wall/Scammell steam train set off at full blast as they took a very strong lead in the opening set with Scammell disrupting the opposition at every opportunity. As we ventured towards the climax of the opening leg the wheels came off for Wall & Scammell as Briggs & Anderson fought back and amazingly took the opening set 11-9.
The order of play in the second leg favoured the Briggs/Anderson duo and they quickly took a 2-0 lead. The third leg saw a repeat of leg 1 where the Scammell/Wall pairing took an early lead and looked destined to claw their way back into the reckoning when, again in a repeat of the rollercoaster first leg, they were unable to get over the line despite a healthy lead and Briggs & Anderson were able to blast their way to completing a very unusual straight legs victory for the Doubles crown.
The Hardbat Singles event has become a popular addition to the Danbury Tournament, although it has been dominated by two players from its inception. So it was no surprise to see these two players in this year’s final – a repeat of many other finals in recent years. Bruce Kettle has won this event for the previous three years and is our dominant player with phenomenal attacking flair in this format. His opponent was Eric Green who last won the event in 2022, but has been a regular finalist ever since.
Green is a much more defence minded player and can retrieve lost causes from the most difficult places so every opponent has to work their socks off to win any points against him. The final played out much as expected style wise with Kettle attacking from the get-go and Green retrieving everything – a great spectacle for the expectant crowd. Kettle got into an early rhythm and was able to dominant play in the opening leg wearing down his opponent with series of forehand and backhand smashes until Green could either not reach the final smash or was forced into an attacking shot on the stretch that invariably did not connect.
After taking the first leg and building up a commanding lead in the second the hardbat trophy looked destined for a quick return to its ancestral home at the Kettle Ranch but just as Kettle reached match point the Green attack found some accuracy and all of a sudden the game wasn’t as done as the crowd thought as Green rattled off seven points on the bounce including several attacking winners to find himself within one point of Kettle at 13-14.
In hardbat format if you get to 14-14 there is no deuce, it is a straightforward one-point game so by now the crowd were eager for that scenario but alas the winning streak came to an end and Kettle masterfully managed his composure and finally secured his match point and the Trophy after eight long attempts. An intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable final from two of the county’s best hardbat players and a very worthy four-time winner.
In the main Singles Event, Daniel Young came through the semi-final against three-time previous winner Tony Forster. Forster was an unexpected but very welcome guest at the semi-final stage having overcome the seeded Sam Lowman in earlier rounds. On the night a rather nervy Forster was unable to make any headway into the game as Young started out firing with both his forehand and backhand barrels and the game never really got going as Young progressed into the final.
The second semi saw the elder Gary Young against Ian Wall fresh from his wedding weekend. As with the first semi, Young came out firing on all cylinders and Wall was unable to cope with the onslaught. Young took the first two sets relatively comfortably and it wasn’t until the third leg that Wall provided any modicum of combativeness. This made for a much longer and closer game where Wall was very much ‘in the game’ right until they dying points where Young completed his own straight sets victory 11-9 for a place against his son in the final.
So to the Father versus Son, right handed vs left handed, attack vs control final – with Mrs Young stating neutrality before the match! This was the final the crowd wanted and a difficult one to call as they obviously know each other’s game inside out.
Daniel Young has won multiple county titles this year and probably went into the final as favourite, but Gary has been playing exceptionally well of late and looked very determined to re-establish the Young Household bragging rights.
The first leg was tight with both players seeking out the opponent’s weaknesses. Gary was just that bit more accurate as Daniel wasted several opportunities and Gary took the opening leg. This only spurred on Daniel and he took the next two legs with a much improved accuracy rate and by slowing the his returns down so as not to give Gary many counter-hitting opportunities that he thrives off.
Gary adjusted his tactics in the fourth leg and this paid dividends as he led the whole way and found himself with several game points that would thrust us into a climatic deciding leg. But Daniel likes nothing more than a target to chase and he wasn’t done in this leg as he went all out for winners and from the jaws of adversity he smashed his way to five or six winners on the bounce and amazingly took the fourth leg 12-10 and bagged the title for the second time.
Club President Norman Smith presented two other trophies on the night – The Danbury Village Hall Cup went to Scott Perry as the most improved player in the club over the season, and tournament organiser Dan Anderson was presented with the Elizabeth Trophy for his contribution to the club over many years.
