The finals of the York Table Tennis knock-out handicap team competitions, sponsored by SLTFM Solutions Ltd., were played on Thursday 7th May 2015 at York RI.

The Shepherd Trophy final was an all Coneysthorpe affair, with the B team (Martin Lowe, Matthew Lowe, Tom Needham) beating the A team (Neil Raine, James Rule, Joel Wright) by five games to four, in a very close match. Joel beat Tom in the first match. This was followed by a meeting of the top two ranked players in York, Martin and 16-year-old James. Team-mates in the division one title-winning team, they were on opposite sides in the Shepherd Trophy final. James won the first game 21-20. Martin came back to win the second 21-17 but it was not enough to overturn James's six-point handicap advantage, the final score being 44-41 to James to put his team 2-0 up. The A team pulled back to 3-3 before James defeated Matthew to give the B team a 4-3 lead. Tom them beat Neil to tie the match at 4-4. The first game of the decider was close, won 21-15 by Martin but Joel was equal with the handicap. However Martin ran away with the second game by 21-6 to give his team victory.

The Machell Trophy, for teams knocked out in the first round, was won by York RI I from division 4 (Mike Dinsdale, Alex Robinson, Ben Robinson). They beat division 3 team Bootham E (Peter Corner, Ray Mitchell, Jan Suchecki) by 5-3. The star of the final was Alex, the youngest player in the York League at ten years old, winning all three of his games, including the win against Peter to give his team victory. He was joined by his 16-year-old brother Ben, who is autistic and in contention for a place in the GB Paralympics team. Mike won the other two games for the winning team, while each of the Bootham players won one game each.

Thanks to David Atkinson for organising the competitions. Trophies were presented by Steve Tindall of sponsors SLTFM Solutions Ltd.

Semi Finals

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Shepherd: Coneysthorpe B 5 (Martin Lowe 1-1, Matthew Lowe 2-1, Tom Needham 2-0) York RI E 2 (Mikey Arnold 2-0, Dan Hickey 0-3, Tim Smith 0-2)

Machell: Bootham C 4 (Gareth Bryning 2-1, Ady McClaren 1-2, Steve Milner 1-2) York RI I 5 (Mike Dinsdale 2-1, Alex Robinson 2-1, Ben Robinson 1-2)

Thursday 30 April 2015

Shepherd: Coneysthorpe A 5 (Charlie Allott 2-0, Neil Raine 1-1, James Rule 2-0) York RI D 1 (John Hughes 0-2, Luke Blackburn 0-2, Mark Blackburn 1-1)

Machell: Bootham E 5 (Peter Corner 2-0, Ray Mitchell 1-1, Jan Suchecki 2-0) Crescent WMC F 1 (Mike Belton 0-2, Keith Hood 0-2, Paul Lodder 1-1)

Finals

Thursday 7 May 2015

Shepherd: Coneysthorpe B 5 (Martin Lowe 2-1, Matthew Lowe 2-1, Tom Needham 1-2) Coneysthorpe A 4 (Neil Raine 0-3, James Rule 3-0, Joel Wright 1-2)

Machell: York RI I 5 (Mike Dinsdale 2-0, Alex Robinson 3-0, Ben Robinson 0-3) Bootham E 3 (Peter Corner 1-2, Ray Mitchell 1-1, Jan Suchecki 1-2)