Mark claims singles title

Abigail and Rebekah Griffith with their father Dave

MARK Ramsbottom won his first ever Open singles title in the Oldham Closed Table Tennis Tournament held at the Radclyffe Sports Centre.

He defeated the much-fancied Huddersfield-based Darren Lindley in the quarter-finals, followed by a 13-11 fifth game nerve-jangling decider over team-mate Mike Moir in the semis.

The other half of the draw saw Paul Cicchelli beat holder and No1 seed Darryl Meredith in four games to progress to the final.

The Ciccelli-Ramsbottom final certainly did not disappoint with numerous high quality rallies. The attacks of Ramsbottom combined with the excellent defence from Cicchelli resulted in another game five decider in favour of Mark 11-9.

The doubles trophy will feature new names after Paul Cicchelli and Darren Lindley edged current holder Darryl Meredith and Ian McClean in four games.

The Veterans event produced some fine matches, including a superb win for Stuart Meredith over Mark Ramsbottom in the semi-final and Andy Jackson saving match points from Tony Bates in the other semi. The final saw a straight-set victory for Jackson.

The juniors are beginning to show some promise and this was reflected in the win for Andrew Tarpey over club-mate Paul King. Andrew deserved his success after beating favourite Nathan Buckley in the semis and cooly despatching King in a straight-set final.

Divisional Handicap results: Div 1 - Khamal Hussain beat Graham Young; Div 2 - Harry Ross beat Neil Coppard; Div 3 - Ian Cockcroft beat Laurence Hanna; Div 4 - Alex Leach beat John Moran.

League results:

Division 1: Hollinwood A 7, Grotton A 3; OTTC A 6, Werneth B 4; Rosehill A 6, Honeywell A 4; BAE B 3, BAE A 7.

Division 2: Hollinwood C 10, Werneth D 0; Honeywell B 7, Pennine 3; Honeywell C 4, Uppermill A 6; Failsworth A 2, Coldhurst A 8; Unison A 4, Hyde YM B 6; Werneth C 7, Hollinwood D 3; Grotton B 4, Hollinwood E 6.

Division 3: Coldhurst C 3, Owls A 7; Coldhurst B 7, Unison B 3; Failsworth B 1, Droylsden A 9; Unison C 3, Honeywell D 7; Deaf Club A 3, Gilders Tackle 7; Uppermill B 7, Coldhurst D 3.

Division 4: Werneth E 4, Owls B 6; Our Lady’s 1, Deaf Club B 9; St Saviours 5, Unison D 5; Honeywell E 9, OTTC B 1; Werneth F 6, Coldhurst E 4.


OLDHAM Table Tennis Club sisters Abigail and Rebekah Griffith (see picture) both won their respective competitions at the Greater Manchester Schools table tennis tournament. Abigail won the girls under-11 event while Rebekah won the girls under-16 as fellow Oldham TTC team-mate Olenka Ostrowsky-Jervis finished runner-up.

There was also success for the club in the boys competitions as Josh Bolt won the under-16 tournament and James Chappell came runner-up in the boys under-11 event.

All of the winners and runners-up from the competition will now represent their respective schools in the English Schools Finals which take place in Doncaster on April 25. If any of the players are successful in Doncaster they could represent the England school team.