Barella Spins to Victory
There was a large entry from the North East region for this year’s Sunderland & District Table Tennis Association closed championships held at Sandhill Sports Centre, Grindon.
The Open Singles event was a keenly contested affair, and the closest quarter-final saw last year’s finalist Anthony Barella staring at a premature exit as, already two games down, he trailed Steven Penman 3-8 in the third end. Barella showed fighting spirit to save that game, only to find himself 6-9 down in the fourth. He tenaciously strove to inject some extra venom into his forehand topspins and this did the trick.
Having saved the match twice, Barella took the deciding end by the scruff of the neck, his spin proving too much for Penman to handle, and the epic comeback was completed, 11-7. That set up a semi-final match against Andrew Wilkinson, and whilst Barella took the first end 11-9, Wilkinson managed to gradually power his way to the final 11-6, 11-8, 11-6.
Graeme Barella earned his berth in the final by seeing off the challenge of Peter Smallcombe in straight ends.
The grand final was nip and tuck in the first, but Barella battled to a 10-8 lead before fizzing a superb topspin shot past Wilkinson's despairing dive to take the game.
There was a scare for Barella in the second as a tweaked back muscle forced him to economise his movements. Although restricted, he stayed resolutely focussed to nick the second end 11-9 with the help of another searing topspin.
In the third end, a pattern continued that saw the two players standing toe-to-toe trading forehand hooks. In these exchanges, Barella’s shots always carried the extra zip to generate severe angles, forcing Wilkinson wide and crashing into the barriers.
An 11-6 score sealed a straight-game triumph, and Graeme Barella had defeated the holder to become the new Open Singles championtitle in straight ends.
The Ladies Singles final featured the previous year’s participants, Lynne Herrington and Charlotte Weatherby. Intermittently, Weatherby’s superior mobility and spinny, well-directed loops caused her more-experienced opponent problems, but Herrington’s consistent blocks and punches saw her over the line 11-7, 11-7, 11-8.
There was Open Doubles joy for the Barella brothers as they defeated Smallcombe and Wilkinson 11-8 in a five-end rollercoaster. Graeme looked on course to complete a clean sweep when he and Shirley Gelder went into a 2-0 lead in the Mixed Doubles final against Keith and Charlotte Weatherby. However, the Weatherbys proved resilient and fought back to take the title 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.
Elsewhere, Adam Webster lifted both the Cadet and Junior Boys Singles titles with straight-game wins over Troy Maddison and Max Duffin, and Patrick Nicholson raced to the Under-13 Singles title against Eathan Brown.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Andrew Wilkinson had the satisfaction of taking the Veterans crown with a three-game win over Keith Weatherby, and the Over-60s final resulted in a straight-end victory for James Scope over Allan Thompson.