Sunday’s 19th annual edition of the Cippenham Team 2* Open once again proved to be very popular, with entries closing approximately three weeks before the official closing date.
Devised by Cippenham Table Tennis Club, this competition allows for teams of two rather than individual players and features a progressive knockout format after the preliminary round groups that produces a final ranking of all 24 teams.
All the favored teams from the eight groups won their sections and these teams then played each other to secure a place in the quarter-finals. The four losers of these matches then had to play a winner from a similar play-off, subject to the teams that finished second in the preliminary round groups.
Only the “Equipment Junkies”, namely Kevin Fang and Quentin Kwan, lost the potential for a place in the top eight when they were defeated by “Chaos & Giggles” in the form of Steve Joel and Kinga Oryl, with the latter team thus joining the originally sought-after other seven teams in the quarter-finals.
With Chris Doran, ranked ninth on the England men’s list, leading a team called “Toddies 44’s”, their total ranking points generated a high starting bill. However, the format of the competition requires both players to contribute to a team victory during the progressive knockout rounds and with Matthew Horrocks not quite managing to do this, eighth place was all that could be achieved.
The place at the top of the draw was consequently taken by “Only came to Sling!”, apparently a phrase used by Lee Phillips and Scott Cooper in the Bristol table tennis scene. They defeated “Chaos & Giggles” to secure a place in the semi-finals, but then found eventual runners-up “RA+NM”, Rayan Ansari and Marcel Ndongala, too hot to handle. That pair had also ended the prospects of last year’s winners Kidlington TTC, albeit with a change in personnel a round earlier.
In the bottom half of the draw, the “Perfect Match” of Mircea Neagu and Ewelina Sychta, the 2024 champions, made good progress against “Toddies” and “Hanging by a thread” in the form of Kyle Murphy and Anatol Gasiowrovski, to reach the final.
“Perfect Match” won the perfect match 2-0 in the final against “RA+NM”. Neagu overshadowed Ansari 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 before Sychta secured the title by beating Ndongala 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10.
Doran and Sychta were the only undefeated players throughout the day, while Neagu, against Doran, Ndongala, in the final against Sychta, and Gasiowrovski, also against Sychta, all lost just once.
The tournament was organized as a companion event to the Senior British Clubs League weekend by Graham Trimming and refereed by Ken Phillips, deputizing for Sue Hayes.
Results
- Perfect match: Mircea Neagu & Ewelina Sychta
- RA+MN: Raddal Nedlace & Marcell
- Hanging by a Thread: Kyle Murphy & Anatol Gasiowrovski
- Just Came to Swing!: Lee Phillips & Scott Cooper
- Hutsmen Bromance: Mark Collins & Dan Pound
- Chaos and giggles: Steve Joel & Kinga Oryl
- Kidlington TTC: James Rule and Alexander Sheppard
- Toddies 44s: Chris Doran and Matthew Horrocks
For almost 300 action photos from the event, please click here.
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