Table-Tennis-The-Hard-Way 2012
Not surprisingly, Karl Bushell won the Oxford Hard Bat Tournament for the third year running, defeating the organiser, ever returning hero Arun Jogi, 11-4, 11-4, in an anti-climactic final, as the hour of 11 approached at Bicester. Karl has enjoyed a lot of Hard Bat success at National level, has a high ranking and was even invited to take part in a televised International competition. The beaten semi-finalists were Tony Gorman and Jason Tustain. Earlier on, Jogi had beaten Karl 15-14 in the groups, which left Karl having to pull out a few stops to get past former winner Geoff Burton in the 1st Round of the Main Draw. But apart from the one fleeting aberration, Karl really had a relaxed, untroubled evening.
It was good to meet up again with some old friends and in particular, Andy Lebutt and Sohail Caratella, who had travelled down from Leicester; and good to see several Bicester juniors enjoying the special challenge of this old-time skill. County Junior no 1 Lewis Sumner made it into the Quarter-Finals with a notable 15-12 win over Sohail; his run of success was halted by Jason Tustain, who would be the first to admit that he had a run of outrageous good fortune. Luke Jobling also reached the main draw with some steady, patient play, while just-out-of-juniors Mike Harrison fought his way into the last eight. At the other end of the age spectrum, John Tremayne (looking forward to his 90th birthday) was amazingly back in action, even though still recovering from breaking his upper arm with a fall on an icy towpath.
The Plate was won easily by Chris Hawkes – the other three semi-finalists were the youthful trio of Pichtipong Juiwong (Dom), Jamie Felton and Chris Gorman.
Thanks, as always, go to Jogi for his inspirational zeal, which produced a record entry of 26, of whom nine were Under 21s.
Finishing positions in the groups, listed in order:
Group 1 Group 3
Andy Lebutt Arun Jogi
Pete Hargreaves Karl Bushell
Andy Crofts Lewis Sumner
Luke Jobling Pete James
Ashley Young Tom Brennan
James Moore Birgit Muller
Group 2 Group 4
Tony Gorman Jason Tustain
Sohail Caratella Mike Harrison
Geoff Burton Stan Harding
Mike Jobling Jon Abungan
Chris Gorman Chris Hawkes
Rob Moore John Tremayne
Jamie Felton Pitchitpong Juiwong (Dom)
Round 1: P L A T E 2 0 1 2
Jamie Felton beat Birgit Muller
Dom beat James Moore
Quarter-Final:
Jamie Felton beat Ashley Young 15-8
Chris Hawkes beat Rob Moore
Chris Gorman beat John Tremayne
Dom beat Tom Brennan
Semi-Final:
Chris Hawkes beat Jamie Felton 15-6
Dom beat Chris Gorman 15-11
Final:
Chris Hawkes beat Dom 11-4, 14-12
Round 1: M A I N 2 0 1 2
Andy Lebutt beat Jon Abungan
Karl Bushell beat Geoff Burton 15-8
Lewis Sumner beat Sohail Caratella 15-12
Jason Tustain beat Luke Jobling
Tony Gorman beat Pete James
Mike Harrison beat Andy Crofts 15-4
Pete Hargreaves beat Stan Harding
Arun Jogi beat Mike Jobling 15-8
Quarter-Final:
Karl Bushell beat Andy Lebutt
Jason Tustain beat Lewis Sumner
Tony Gorman beat Mike Harrison
Arun Jogi beat Pete Hargreaves 15-12
Semi-Final:
Karl Bushell beat Jason Tustain 11-4,11-6
Arun Jogi beat Tony Gorman 11-4,11-4
Final:
Karl Bushell beat Arun Jogi 11-4,11-3
