The dominant force in the 2016 Sutton and District Table Tennis League’s Annual Closed Championships were the Pelc brothers. Younger brother Robert, who became 14 years of age only this month, was a surprise semi- finalist in the open singles falling at that stage to his older sibling Richard (18). In the other semi it was a veteran clash as Geoff Grange beat another surprise semi-finalist Michelle McGovern from Ballards. It was Crusaders’ Richard Pelc who went on to become Champion for the first time beating Geoff Grange (Graham Spicer) 12-10, 11-8, 1-11, 11-9.

In the open doubles the Pelc brothers combined but the Crusaders pair fell at the last hurdle in a final that swung back and forth with Andrew Jackson (Rosehill) and Jeremy Wu (Eldon) combining to beat Richard and Robert Pelc 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 5-11, 11-7.    The brothers were to clash again in the Handicap Singles final but this time Robert came out on top by the margin of 49-43.   To cap it all Robert claimed another trophy winning the Division 3 singles beating John Prince (Carshalton LTC) 11-5, 11-7, 13-11.

The Division 2 Singles was won by Paul Rowley (Carshalton LTC) regaining a trophy he won for 3 consecutive years up to 2013. In the final he beat Parth Patel (Rosehill) 11-8. 12-10, 11-5.

The Division 4 Singles was an all Crusaders affair with Daniel Degay beating Ajay Potavadoo 11-7, 11-6, 11-5. Singles runner up Geoff Grange won the Veterans final beating Ian Kelly (Crusaders) 11-4, 11-3, 11-9 whilst the Super veterans final was a tremendous, hard-fought, almost brutal marathon with John Fannin (Graham Spicer) battling back to beat Ajay Shah (Graham Spicer) 4-11, 10-12, 11-8, 13-11, 11-6.

In an all-action Ladies Singles final Michelle McGovern (Ballards) beat Jessica Monis (Rosehill) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4 whilst the Consolation Singles went to Andrew Jackson beating  Vitaly Savenkov (Rosehill) 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7

2015-16 SDTTL Mens Singles Champion
Photo courtesy of Michael Loveder