The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Daniel Dorey gained revenge for last year’s defeat in the final of the Paddy Palgrave Hard Bat competition by winning this season’s Spalding Table Tennis League tournament.
Dorey defeated Sasha Martin in a repeat of last year’s final after battling through a group stage and then three knockout rounds.
Twenty-five players gathered for the event which uses old bats with just a thin piece of pimpled rubber on each side.
Each game was just two ends of normal play with three points awarded for a win in the group stage and one point for a draw.
Before the event the entrants were drawn into four groups with two seeded players in each.
In Group A, league number one Martin was top seed and went through with 13 points from four wins and a draw.
He was joined in the draw by Guntars Briedes, seeded six, with 11 points from three wins and two draws.
Phil Coote, fourth seed, took his allotted place at the top of Group B, also on 13 points, while seventh seed Piotr Olstowska just pipped Reece Kerry by a point to second place.
In Group C, the third seed fell by the wayside and Keith Davey, seeded five, headed the table on 13 points with Jeremy Hitcham getting into the knock-outs with 11 points.
Finally, in Group D, which had seven players, Dorey bucked his eighth seeding to go through on a perfect score of 18 points, ahead of second seed John Gilbert who had five wins and a draw.
In the quarter finals, Martin beat Gilbert 11-5, 11-7 and Coote defeated Hitcham 11-2, 11-5 to set up one semi-final.
In the other half, Davey and Olstowska had a titanic battle with Davey going through after tying 13-15, 15-13 and winning the tie-break of alternate serves 6-4.
Dorey also went through on a tie-break against Briedes 3-11, 11-2, 2-0.
Martin then needed a tie-break to get past Coote after two tight ends which ended 12-10, 10-12, 2-0 while Dorey overcame Davey 3-11, 6-11.
Martin took the first end of the final 11-7, but Dorey fought back to level up on 11-8. The resulting tie-break needed eight points and Dorey scored five to gain revenge for last year’s defeat.
