DARENTH TABLE TENNIS CLUB
DAN WINS HIS FIRST EVENT
Five members from Darenth TTC took part in the last London Junior Table Tennis Scheme SE Region Zone of the season held at Kemnal Technology College. They were Dan Blackburn, Jamie Dunleavy, Sean O'Mahony, Raj Patel and Meg Sullivan. The latter four were placed in the Under 18 Class with Blackburn going into the Under 13 Novices event.
Group 1 was very strong comprising the Kent Under 18 No. 2 Richard Carden (Wyvern), Jason Do (Geoffrey Chaucer), Matt Clark (Kemnal), Jamiyu Mogaji (Geoffrey Chaucer) and Raj Patel. This was the toughest competition Patel has yet been in. Understandably he lost in straight games to Carden and Do but was encouraged by taking a game from Mogaji. He had an excellent result in beating Clark in straight games and finished third in the group on count back.
Jamie Dunleavy went into Group 2 which also contained Claire Harvey (Meopham), Ryan Hutchinson (Geoffrey Chaucer), James Meyers (Kemnal) and Jonathan Bryce (Kemnal). Dunleavy would normally expect to be fighting for top spot here but he wasn't 100% after a nasty dose of flu and he tired quickly. He still had wins over Meyers and Bryce but a disappointing loss to Hutchinson put him into third place.
Meg Sullivan was placed in Group 3 with John Bakki and Martin Miranda from Geoffrey Chaucer, Ewen Stevenson (South Croydon) and Dan Powley (Leigh). This was fairly tough opposition for Sullivan. She had hoped for a couple of wins here but they didn't materialize. Her best effort came in extending Powley to four and almost to a deciding game. She finished fifth.
Sean O'Mahony had Josh Ewurum and Andy Chen from Geoffrey Chaucer, Daniel Chen (Kemnal) and Ling-Ling Go (Meopham) to contend with in Group 4. After a slightly shaky start O'Mahony came up with four wins to his credit. He had to adapt quickly to beat Chen but had enough skill to pull off a win in five and finish top of the group.
Dan Blackburn went into Group 1 in the Under 13 event with three from Kemnal, Freddie Hopkins, Toby Bartram and Tony Cupac plus three from Amherst, Joe Lynch, Josh Searby and Oliver Cheary. He had a string of good wins but lost to the very steady Lynch who has had some League experience to call on.
The afternoon groups were of four players, the No. 1s being grouped together and so forth.
O'Mahony went in Group 1 with Carden, Harvey and Stevenson. He did well to beat Stevenson in the fifth, predictably lost to Carden but what happens when he and Harvey meet, as they have done so often, is always in the balance and usually goes the distance. This time it was Harvey's turn to win, in five, which put O'Mahony into a very creditable third place.
Dunleavy and Patel went into Group 3 with Powley and Andy Chen. Dunleavy had wins over Patel and Chen but lost to Powley in five when the legs wouldn't respond to commands any more. Patel improved as the day progressed but lack of competitive play cost him sets to more experienced campaigners.
Sullivan went to Group 5 with Go (Meopham) and two Kemnal lads, Clark and Bryce. She had wins over all three to her credit and thus finished top of the group.
Blackburn went into Group 1 with Byron, Searby and Smith. He had to work hard for his win over his fellow left-handers, Byron, but at 2-0 up over Smith suddenly found his opponent had turned into a brick wall, making some amazing returns to claim the next three. Blackburn and Searby thus finished equal first but as Blackburn had won their encounter in the morning, he took priority.
Final positions:
Under 18: 3rd Sean O'Mahony, 10th Jamie Dunleavy, 12th Raj Patel, 17th Meg Sullivan.
Under 13: 1st Dan Blackburn