TOPSEED DELIVERS
Martin Hewett lived up to his No.1 seeding at the Maidstone & District Table Tennis Association Closed Tournament.
Hewett won the open singles by beating Peter Ives in three hard games, lifting the Brian Fuller Trophy.
Miro Danandzhiev beat Wayne Matthews in four sets in the third-place play-off.
The open singles was the main event on a busy day at the YMCA on Sunday, with 192 games played in eight hours across 12 tables.
Jill Shipton retained her ladies’ singles title with a four-set victory over Anna Vihgoronova, following battles against Julie Parker, Claire Blackman and Brooke Palmer in the group games.
Parker came from 2-1 down to edge Blackman in the ladies’ singles restricted, while Palmer took the plate title on her tournament debut.
The open singles restricted went to Raghu Malhotra, with victory over Paul Godson, while Mark Steeden beat veteran Keith Ball in the open singles intermediate final.
The open singles plate went to Patrick Jeffery after staving off a fightback from fellow youngster Palmer.
There were several surprises in the men’s doubles, culminating in Ives and Peter Davis beating Hewett and Richard Beckham in five.
Steeden and Tim Noble did well to reach the final of the men’s doubles restricted before losing to Dave McAulay and Malhotra.
The men’s doubles plate went to Greg Hackers and Sam Woodcock, fighting back from two sets down against Jack Pavey and John Caplen.
The mixed doubles closed the tournament, with Vihgoronova and Beckham beating Parker and Wayne Matthews in four sets.
The player-of-the-tournament award was won by Danandzhiev and Palmer.
The closest result in the first knockout round of the Allen Cooper team handicap came at New Hythe Lane, where Larkfield B won through against Barming F by one point.
The Barming club will have six teams in the second round with their A,B, C, D, I and K sides all progressing.
Larkfield B will be joined by their C and D sides but Maidstone Working Men’s Club and Kings Hill have just one side through to join two each from Sutton Valence and Coxheath.
Martin Hewett, Richard Beckham and Wayne Matthews registered a 10- 0 win for frontrunners Maidstone A in Kent League Division 1, despite the efforts of a weakened West Kent.
Promotion- chasing Maidstone B drew against West Kent C in Division 2, Petar Tancevski recording two wins.
In the county fixture, Kent 2nds drew to relegate a strong Sussex II squad from Veterans Division 1B, Barming’s Martin Hewett and Working Mens’ Chris Knight
both scored.