Bath Table Tennis League Closed Championship Week
18th-21st February 2019
Closed Singles – Monday 18th February
The Closed Singles competition is the most eagerly anticipated competition for the elite players in the three Bath leagues. There were three competitors from Division Two, a handful from Division One and the rest of the 16 were made up from the Premier League.
The group stages were seeded and there was a shock in a strong Group B as Alan Papier went through at the expense of Ali Pearson. Martin Le Butt defied the odds to reach the finals after defeating Phil Marshall and Josh Kashdan, both in five sets.
On the other side of the draw former winner Gary Baldwin advanced to the finals. He was made to work against George Pickering and then narrowly edged his Chippenham team mate Terry Parkins in the semi finals.
Martin battled well in the final, forcing the game into a fourth set, but ultimately Gary proved too strong and won.
There was also a Plate competition for the bottom two players in the group games. Paul Redman came out on top against teenager Leon Kashdan Brown, again in four sets in another all Premier final.
Veteran Singles – Wednesday 20th February
The Veteran competition is for competitors over 40 years old and is keenly contested each year. There were two groups of five with the top four going through.
Gary Baldwin came out on top of this competition again with a 3-0 win over another Chippenham team mate in Scott Cooper.
Gary overcame Division One opponents in Martin Moore and Andrew Steady in his path to the final. Scott came through in straight sets against Division Two’s Ricardo Perpetua and the Shield winner Paul Redman.
Handicap Singles – Thursday 21st February
Always the best attended event is the Handicap competition. This is where real upsets can happen as Division Two players will start with a large point’s advantage, in a first to two set 21 point game, against high ranked opposition.
It was a youthful final played a high tempo with Division One’s George Pickering coming up against former winner Josh Kashdan. George won the first set against his Premiership opponent, starting 4-0 up.
However Josh won the next set to set up a tense final game as he showed his experience to claim the trophy again.
