LINDA YAP STARS IN NATIONAL TITLES

The highly successful 2022 National Veterans Championships were played from 8-15 October in Darwin. This was the first time the National Veterans Championships were held since 2019 and it was fantastic to see the nation’s best Veterans players, from all Australian States and Territories plus NZ, back together again competing for the 57 national titles on offer. Next year’s titles are in Canberra.

Linda came away from the Championships with 1st position in the 2022 National Veterans Order of Merit for Over 60 Women. In the Team Championships, Linda’s Qld Team won the GOLD medal. They were unbeaten thumping the other 5 teams 10-1, 11-0, 10-1, 8-3, 11-0 in their round robin against teams from all over Australia and NZ. Linda won 14 out of 14 in the round robin ie 100%.

Other Sunshine Coast players to feature in the Top 10 2022 National Veterans Order of Merit were Ken Hay (5th in Over 80 Men), Jan Yu (6th in Over 30 Women), and Paul Green (9th in Over 60 Men).

Jerrod Thomson was another star for the Sunshine Coast. Playing for the Queensland Team, he won GOLD with a personal contribution of 77.78% of matches won.

Linda also teamed up with both Paul Green (beaten by the eventual over 60’s winners , W Heginbotham/J Ma (NSW) in the Q-Finals)and Jerrod Thomson (beaten by semi-finalists, C J Campbell/N Tran (WA) in Mixed Doubles.

Other news re Sunshine Coast players:-

· Paul Green’s Qld team won a BRONZE medal in the Over 60’s out of the 11 teams competing.

· David Gillard and Peng Yu competed in the Qld No 2 Team in the Over 50’s Team event

· Alan Bruhn was captain of the Qld Team which was just nudged for the bronze medal in the Over 75 Teams. Alan’s team went down 2-3 to the eventual GOLD medalists, the Presidents Team.

· Ken Hay was captain of the Qld Team which won SILVER out of the 6 teams in the Over 80’s Team Comp.

· Jerrod Thomson made it through the round robin stage of the Over 50 Singles but was beaten by L White from NZ in the KO stage.

· Linda Yap was unbeaten in the round robin stage of the Women’s Over 60 Singles but was beaten in the QF.

· In the Over 75 Singles, both Ken Hay and Alan Bruhn made it through the Round Robin stage but were beaten in the KO stage.

· Ken Hay was about as close as you can get to getting the GOLD in the Over 80 Singles. Ken went through undefeated in the Round Robin. He then won his QF and won his SF. The grand final against I Klaf from Victoria went down to the wire. Ken lost 9-11 in the 5th.

· The Over 50 Mixed doubles was very popular with 34 teams (68 players). There was no round robin. All KO. Linda Yap and Jerrod Thomson made it through to the 3rd round where they met up with C J Campbell/N Tran (WA) who went on to the SF. Paul Green/A Stewart (QLD) had an even tougher draw, going down to the eventual finalists, W Heginbotham/J Ma (NSW), in a close 4 setter in the 3rd round. David Gillard and Lorraine Granger-Brown also put up a strong fight in this event.

· In the Over 70 mixed doubles, Alan Bruhn + E Kalch (NT) were beaten in the semi final by Paul Pinkewich (NSW)/L Baker (SA). Paul Pinkewich has won more Australian Open Singles Titles than any other player. Paul is an icon of Australian table tennis, representing Australia between 1967-1991 where he won a record 200 teams matches for Australia, and claimed 14 international medals, 6 Oceania titles and 24 national titles. Alan‘s team got the BRONZE.

· In the Over 60’s doubles, Paul Green and Max Wellington got the BRONZE.

· In the Over 70’s Doubles, Alan Bruhn and C Gradwell got stuck at the starting post. Once again it was Alan’s nemesis, Paul Pinkewich (partnered by James Wong, a past champion and now professional coach) who won the GOLD.

· In the Over 80’s Mens Doubles, Ken Hay + H Bligh got the SILVER.

· Long time Sunshine Coast players might have recognised Rabi Misra who played in our club at the turn of the century and was our Closed Tournament Singles Champion for 2003. He played in Over 60 and 65 events.

· Unfortunately, Judy Chin and Heather Gillespie who competed as the Qld team in the Over 70’s Team comp, had to pull out after the 2nd rubber of the round robin when Judy aggravated an injury. Judy has won the Over 70 Qld crown in recent years. At least Heather went on to play Over 65 Mixed Doubles and Over70’s Mixed Doubles with Ken Hay.

· My apologies in advance. I know I have missed a number of Sunshine Coast results but there are 57 events. I saw Alan Bruhn with a few medals so I know I have missed one of his events. Let me know.

For more detailed results go to http://nationals.tabletennis.org.au/vets_2022/results.htm

Thanks to David Gillard whose photos from the event follow:-

Alan Bruhn and partner, E Kalch (NT), in the Over 70 Mixed Doubles.

Linda Yap and Paul Green in the Over 60s Mixed Doubles

Heather Gillespie and Ken Hay in the Over 70s Mixed Doubles

Ken Hay - SILVER in the Mens Over 80 teams

Paul Green - BRONZE in the Over 60 Teams

Jerrod Thomson - GOLD in the Over 50s Team

Lorraine Granger-Brown in the Qld B Team for Over 60

Judy Chin (Capt) and Heather Gillespie in the Qld Over 70 Team

Linda Yap in the GOLD winning Over 60 Womens Team. Linda was No 1 in the Order of Merit for the Over 60s. She won 14 out of 14 matches (ie 100%)

Paul Green - BRONZE in the Over 60s Men Team

No you are not seeing double

Jerrod again

Jan Yu was there too

So was Judy. We hope you are better soon.