Westfield Cadet 1 Star Report 

U11 Girls

A closely contested group of 4 girls saw Denise Payet Middlesex take the title. The only player to really test Denise was Bhavika Mistry from the home club of Westfield, taking Denise all the way to five games. However Denise was just too strong coming home 11-6 in the final set. Holly Bilsborrow finished in second place.

U11 Boys

12 boys took part and the final was between Sam Wilson of Middlesex and Ethan Walsh of Hertfordshire. Both players had reasonably smooth passages to the final, Sam coming through in 4 games against Thomas Ford and Ethan getting the better of James Smith in three straight. So to the final and although there was some very good rallies Ethan was never able to take control of any of the legs and Sam came home with a 3 nil victory.

U13 Girls

The U13 girls saw the introduction of Amy Humphreys to the event (a fast close to the table top spinner). This would prove to be a very good day for Amy and she got things started with a 4 sets victory in the final against Eda Emel Aydin. Both players had smooth passages to the final, neither dropping a game - Amy beating Denise Payet and Eda getting the better of Holly Bilsborrow. Although Eda took the first game of the final 11-9 she just couldn't keep it going and lost the match deuce in the 4^th.

U13 Boys

This event was set to be closely fought out, with a number of players all capable of winning, but it was Nathan Butler of Cliffedale Chandlers (Lincolnshire) who proved to be the in-form player dispatching the number one seed Oliver Gunns at the quarter final stage 3-0. The top half of the draw also saw Ben Tombs of Northants and Sam Wilson play out and excellent 5 set match with Sam getting over the finishing line, 14-12 in the final set. In the bottom half of the draw, the impressive Alex Savva beat local Westfield favourite Alex Ramsden. Another player who was quietly going about his work was Omar Khassal. He first dispatched Ethan Walsh and then beat Alex Savva in a great match. In one semi-final, Nathan had proved too strong for Sam Wilson (3-0) and looked like there was no stopping him. However Omar had other ideas and the final saw 3 very tight sets with Omar coming out on top and taking the title.

Cadet Girls

The final of the Cadet girls was a re-run of the U13 girls final. Could Eda get the better of Amy? This competition saw a few upsets along the way, first Jessica Easter of Cliffedale Chandlers got the better of Jasmine Chan in her group. Then the in form Eda beat number 1 seed Nicole Bird of Westfield. So the number 1 and 2 seed (Amy Humphreys) would meet early. It would prove to be a very close match, Amy making the early running, Nicole always playing catch up. Could Nicole prevail in the final set? It was a close start as both players reached the 4 all mark, but Amy took the next point to lead 5-4 and then looked full of confidence. With some excellent forehand attacks she ran out an 11-4 winner. The other semi-final saw Jessica test Eda, however Eda was just too strong and came out a 4 set winner. So to the final, this time a much closer event however it would be Amy who would take her second title of the day 11-7 in the 5^th.

Cadet Boys

The biggest entry of the day saw 28 players contesting the final event. The groups saw some very tight matches, the knock out rounds saw successful players on the day falter. The semis saw two club mates meet in Charlie Austen and Gabriel Achampong. Charlie playing some very strong table tennis took this in 4 games. The second semi saw Jake Westwood of Staffordshire win 3-0 over Alex Ramsden. The last final of the day who would be crowned champion? Charlie took the first 11-9, Jake replied in the 2^nd 7-11. One game all who would win? 3^rd set another close start but something seemed different about Charlie's play - the forehand had really clicked into gear and by winning the 3^rd and taking an unassailable lead in the 4^th it was Charlie's title.

A big thanks to everyone who entered and to the band of Westfield volunteers who helped put the event on. We look forward to seeing you all at Westfield again soon.

Denise Payet - U11 Girls Winner

Holly Bilsborrow - U11 Girls Runner-up

 Sam Wilson - U11 Boys Winner

Ethan Walsh - U11 Boys Runner-up

Amy Humphreys - U13 & Cadet Girls Winner

Eda Emel Aydin - U13 & Cadet Girl Runner-up

Omar Khassal - U13 Boys Winner

Nathan Butler - U13 Boys Runner-up

Charlie Austen - Cadet Boys Winner

Jake Westwood - Cadet Boys Runner-up

Grantham 2* Report

There was success for Westfield TTC at the Grantham 2* on the 25^th September 2010. Alex Ramsden after a slow start went on to win the U11 boys singles and Bhavika Mistry won the U11 girl singles.

Alex started off the U11 competition by coming through his group winning both matches by scores of 3-0 and 3-1. Alex went on to beat Harry Fang from TTK Greenhouse by 3 sets to 0 in the semi final and then Joseph Clark from Northfield TTC in Cleveland  3-0 in the final. Alex also reached the U13 quarter final losing out in a close 3-1 score to Billy Forster from Cleveland.

Bhavika Mistry who is only 9 years of age, picked up her first 2* win by beating 4 other U11 girl players in a round robin group. These players were from as far a field as Cleveland and provided some good match opportunities, which are often hard to come by in the younger age groups. Bhavika started well with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Helen Turley from Grantham and then went on to close out her second game also by a 3-1 margin. The next game was much tighter and after going 2-0 up, the Cleveland player pulled it back to 2-2 after Bhavika let her serves become a bit to loose. Bhavika managed to correct this and build a comfortable lead in the last set to close out the set and match with some quick reactions and strong backhand play. Bhavika then kept her composure in the last match to seal the title by winning 3-0 against runner up Aimee Smith.

Bhavika then went on to the U13 event and finished second in her group, taking her through to a quarter final match against Grace Potter who is ranked at number 17 in the U13 girls in England. Bhavika played excellently to take Grace to 9 in the fifth game, which really could have gone either way.

Westfield 1 Star report

Sunday 6^th June saw the second Westfield 1star take place at Westfield table tennis club Wellingborough.

An early start was the order of the day with Junior Banded competitions starting at 08.45. Both the Banded Junior Girls and Boys were keenly contested events with some very close matches right through to the final.

The first final of the day the Junior Girls Banded saw number one seed and Westfield club player  Nicole Bird (Northants) take on number 2 seed Hannah Noutch (Lincs). If previous encounters were to go by this would be a close match and so it proved. Hannah raced off to a 2-0 lead but Nicole brought it back to 2-2. In the final set Hannah managed to gain control back and took the game 3-2. In the Junior Boys banded competition the very impressive Jamie Molloy (Yorkshire) had made it through to his first final of the day, where he would take on Westfield player Sam Wildman (Northants). All of the home crowd were hoping for a Westfield victory but unfortunately it wasn't to be as Jamie’s strong forehand proved just too sharp for Sam (3-0).  

The next event on was the Cadet Singles and making their way to the final of the Girls event was Nicole Bird (Northants) and Hannah Noutch (Lincs), so a repeat of the Junior Banded event. This time it was Nicole who came out on top gaining revenge for her earlier defeat. This was to be Westfield's first title of the day. In the Cadet Boys, Jamie Molloy made it through to his second final of the day where he took on London Academy player Lorand Ghashi. Jamie was once again in dominant form with a 3-0 victory.

Play continued with the Under 11 Boys which was strongly contested. Alex Ramsden (Northants) took on Anthony Close (Herts) in the final, which proved to be an excellent match going the full distance - Anthony coming out on top 3-2.

In The U13 Boys two London Academy players made it to the final, Zachary Bull and Gabriel Achampong. The lower ranked Gabriel came through this final to win 3-1. In the U13 Girls event Nicole Bird made it through to her third final of the day where she took on Greta Pocaite (Cambs). Nicole took her second title of the day with a closely contested win.

Last events of the day were the Junior Singles. In the Junior Girls final the surprise package was Bethany Tyler (Northants) who first knocked out Nicole Bird and then carried her form into the final where she beat Greta Pocaite in an excellent match deuce in the 5^th. The Junior Boys singles saw Jamie Molloy making his third final of the day where he took on Joe Lindsay (Northants). Again Jamie proved just too strong coming through with a convincing 3-0 victory.

Well done to all players involved throughout the day, it was a good atmosphere with some excellent play. Many thanks also go to our band of volunteers, without whom, none of the above could have taken place.

Alex Green.

Alex Ramsden (above)

 Anthony Close (above)

 Bethany Tyler (above)

Gabriel Achampong (above)

Greta Pocaite (above)

Hannah Noutch (above)

Jamie Molloy (above)

Joe Lindsay (above)

Lorand Ghasi (above)

Nicole Bird (above)

Zachery Bull (above)

U11-14 National Championships Report

Four Westfield players took the long drive up to Doncaster on the bank holiday weekend in May to take on the best in the country for their respective age groups. These players included Miles Chan who was competing in the U13 and U14 singles and U14 doubles; Nicole Bird was also in the U13 and U14 singles; Alex Ramsden was competing in the U11 and U12 singles and Bhavika Mistry was competing in the U11 singles.

With the exception of Miles Chan who qualified for the National Championships from his national ranking position, all the other players had to finish in the top 4 in the East Midlands Regional qualification event two months ago.

So to the competition; the older age groups were up first with Miles Chan and Nicole Bird competing in the U14 singles. Miles did well to win his group and Nicole finished in her seeded second position in her group. In the following round both players had solid wins, Miles beat Daniel Wright from Middlesex 3-1 and Nicole Bird beat Nicole Ferreira, who had beaten England U13 number two Chrissie Slot in the group stage. That was to be both players last win in this event however, Miles losing out to a higher seeded player in the last 16 and Nicole doing likewise in the last 8.

The U14 doubles was next up for Miles, playing with Northants colleague and U13 rival Sam Mabey. Both players played out of their skin to reach the final without dropping an end, they continued with their fine display of attacking skills to take a brilliant final 3-1 against the number 1 seeds from Peniel Academy. A first national title for Miles Chan, well done!!

The next event up was the U13 singles, which was Miles and Nicole’s main age group. Miles playing as the number 4 seed, duly won his group and moved into the knockout stage. Nicole on the other side of the hall had an excellent win in her group beating England U13 number 6 to top her group.

Miles then had a bye in the first round, followed by a comfortable win against Daniel Wright in the next round. Nicole unfortunately lost out in 5 close sets to Samantha Lai from Middlesex in the first round after the group stages.

Miles followed this up with a 3-2 quarter final win over Ronan Kelly from Derbyshire, Miles was playing some of the best table tennis of his season in the first two ends and went 2-0 up. However, a slight lapse in concentration showed how table tennis can turn round so quickly with Ronan taking the next 2 ends. Miles upped the tempo in the 5^th end to take him into the semi final with a 3-2 win.

Miles got off to a brilliant start in his semi final against number 1 seed Helshan Weerashinge from Sussex, going 1-0 up with an 11-9 first end win. Unfortunately Miles was not able to maintain his attacking play in the next 3 ends and went down by 3 games to 1. Helshan went on to win the event beating Northamptonshire’s Sam Mabey in the final 3-0.

On the Sunday the younger players were in action. Alex Ramsden was up first in the U12 singles and despite a tough group managed to come through on count back. This took Alex into the next round with a winnable last 32 match, Alex took a 2-0 lead but then similar to Miles in the earlier match  took his foot off the pedal and stopped attacking. As a result Daniel Clark got back into the match and took it by 3 games to 2.

The U11 boys and girls singles was the last event of the weekend, with both  Alex Ramsden and Bhavika Mistry playing in this age group, with 1 year and 2 years left in the age group after this year respectively. Alex Ramsden, seeded second in his group had two comfortable wins and a loss to the seeded player in the group.

Bhavika had been battling hard at the other end of the hall to narrowly lose out in her first group match 3-1, she then lost 3-0 to number 1 seed for the event Abigail Griffiths who was 3 years Bhavika’s senior. The opponent Bhavika had not played yet went on to beat the player Bhavika lost to in the first match 3-2. This meant if Bhavika won her last match 3-0 she would go through but anything less than that she would lose out. Bhavika duly delivered an excellent performance to win her match 3-0 and take her through to the last 16.

Alex Ramsden had a tough last 32 match against Jonathon Abbot who was just ranked below him. Alex played some of his best table tennis of the day to win 3-0 and take him into the last 16. Bhavika had a difficult match and just lost out 3-0 to Denise Payet from Middlesex, however two ends were lost to 9 and 8 so it was a tight match.

In Alex’s last 16 match he faced number 3 seed Tom Jarvis. Alex acquitted himself well in all 3 ends but just made 2 or 3 too many unforced errors in each end to lose out 3-0. These were both excellent performances from Bhavika and Alex as they both have years left in this age category. Alex is currently ranked at number 14 in England for U11’s but all of the players above him are too old next year. This means Alex is an excellent position with some hard work and training to compete well next year in the competition.

Over the weekend there were 2 medals for Miles Chan, a gold and a bronze; with Nicole reaching the last 8 and Bhavika and Alex reaching the last 16 in England, so overall a successful competition for Westfield players. Let’s hope for even better performances next year and even more players competing in the event.

On top of this, another success for a Westfield player with Chris Doran moving up to his highest ever England senior ranking at number 3. Chris has only just turned 19 years old so this is an excellent achievement with only world number 90 Paul Drinkhall and Liam Picthford that remain above Chris. Chris will be hoping for selection for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in September. Tim Yarnall remains the second Westfield player to be ranked inside the top 10 in England Senior men’s list, ranked at number 9.