Eighty-two players competed for twenty-one trophies at this year's York Closed Table Tennis Championships, held at the York RI Gymnasium on the 17^th and 18^th February 2018.

Top seed Martin Lowe (Coneysthorpe) retained the Men's Singles, defeating Joe Wright (Topspin York) in the final. This was Martin’s tenth Men’s Singles title, while second seed Joe was playing in his first final. Joe stormed into a 4-1 lead in the first game, but Martin came back to lead 7-5. Joe rallied to level at 7-7 but Martin won the next four points to take the game. Martin then took complete control of the match, winning the next two games by 11-2 and 11-4. In the semi-finals Martin defeated fourth seed Calum Goodwin (University) in straight sets while Joe had a tougher battle against third seed and team-mate Yoni Caspi, winning the fifth and deciding game.

University student Cancan Zhang won the Ladies’ Singles, defeating Rachel Langhorn (Millthorpe) in the final. Top seed Cancan started strongly and took a 7-1 lead in the first game, but Rachel fought back to level at 8-8. Rachel then saved two game points from 8-10 down but eventually lost 10-12. Cancan then took the second game comfortably by 11-2, before winning a closer third game by 11-6.

Joe Wight and Joni Caspi teamed up to win the Men’s Doubles. The top seeds won the final in straight sets against Lowe and club-mate Joel Wright, who were seeded second.

Top seeds Cancan and Marian Broadbent (BT) won the Ladies’ Doubles, defeating Anne Barnard (York RI) and Andrea Potter (Clarence TTC) by three games to one in the final. Marian teamed up with Aidan Ranftler (Clarence TTC) to win the Mixed Doubles. The top seeds beat Tia-Louise Payne and Calum Goodwin (both University) by three games to one in the final.

Mikey Arnold (York RI) defeated Will Whattam (Topspin York) by 3-0 in the final of the Juniors’ (under-18s) Singles. Sam Lowe (Coneysthorpe) won the Cadets (under 15s) Singles, defeating Arthur Sorley (York RI) in a reverse of last year’s final. It was a close match, with the first four games being shared and won by only two points, before Sam took the decider by 11-6. Arthur teamed up with Adam Stone (Millthorpe) to win the Juniors’ Doubles final, coming back from two sets and four match points down in the fourth against Matthew Lowe (Coneysthorpe) and Jacob Martindale (York RI).

Lowe defeated Jeff Cohen (York RI) in straight sets in the Veterans’ (over-40s) Singles final. John Farmery and Martin Hood (both Clarence TTC) defeated Richard Crowther and Andy Kirk (both York RI) in the Veterans’ Doubles final, also in straight sets. Cohen won the Over-55s’ Singles, beating defending champion Farmery 3-2 in the final. Keith Webster won the inaugural Over-70s’ Singles event.

The divisional singles titles were won by Aidan Ranftler (Clarence TTC, Div 1), Ben Lockyer (York RI, Div 2), Peter Smalley (York RI, Div 3) and Doug Muirhead (University, Div 4).

Filip Wojtkowiak (York RI) defeated Mikey Arnold in the final of the Hardbat Singles. The Hardbat Doubles was won by Joe Wright and Doug Muirhead. They defeated Peter Cowburn (University) and Tim Smith (York RI) in the final.

The Mixed Plate was won by Richard McCarthy (York RI). Mikey Arnold won the Handicap Singles, and Russ Barton (Poppleton) and Adam Ridley (Topspin York) won the Handicap Doubles.

The main sponsors of the tournament were GMB. Sponsors of other events were friends of the Association. Thanks to all the sponsors for their support.

Preview and Seedings

Eighty-two players will be competing for twenty-two trophies at this year's York & District Table Tennis Closed Championships, to be held at the York RI Gymnasium on the 17^th and 18^th February 2018. In the Men's Singles Martin Lowe (Coneysthorpe), nine-times champion, is the top seed, ahead of a duo from league-leaders Topspin York: Joe Wright and Yoni Caspi. University’s Calum Goodwin if seeded 4. Lowe is also top seed in the Veterans' Singles, with Andy Fletcher (York RI) seeded second. Caspi and Wright are top seeds in the Men’s Doubles. Cancan Zhang (University) is seeded 1 in the Ladies’ Singles, with Anne Barnard (York RI) seeded 2. Barnard and Andrea Potter (Clarence TTC) are the top seeds in the Ladies’ double, while Aidan Ranftler (Clarence TTC) and Marian Broadbent (BT) are top seeds in the Mixed Doubles. Mikey Arnold (York RI) is seeded 1 in the Junior Singles, with club-mate Arthur Sorley second. Arthur is the top seed in the Cadets’ Singles.

Note that seed 1 is placed into the top half of the draw, and seed 2 is placed into the bottom half. Then seeds 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8 are drawn into each half of the draw.

Men’s Singles (holder - Martin Lowe): 1 Martin Lowe, 2 Joe Wright, 3 Yoni Caspi, 4 Calum Goodwin, 5 Filip Wojtkowiak, 6 Aidan Ranftler, 7 James Atkins, 8 Peter Cowburn

Ladies' Singles (Clara Bellstedt): 1 Cancan Zhang, 2 Anne Barnard

Men's Doubles (Martin Lowe / James Rule): 1 Joni Caspi / Joe Wright, 2 Martin Lowe / Joel Wright, 3 Nathan Taylor / Andy Kirk, 4 John Farmery / Aidan Ranftler

Ladies' Doubles (Anne Barnard / Clara Bellstedt): 1 Anne Barnard / Andrea Potter , 2 Rachel Langhorn / Sarah Turner

Mixed Doubles (Marian Broadbent / Jon Wooldridge): 1 Marian Broadbent / Aidan Ranftler, 2 Tia-Louise Payne / Calum Goodwin

Under-11 Singles (Alex Widdup): 1 Alex Widdup

Cadet Singles (Arthur Sorley): 1 Arthur Sorley, 2 Sam Lowe

Junior Singles (James Rule): 1 Mikey Arnold, 2 Arthur Sorley

Veterans' Singles (Martin Lowe): 1 Martin Lowe, 2 Andy Fletcher, 3 Richard Crowther, 4 Jeff Cohen

Veterans' Doubles (Jeff Cohen / Andy Fletcher): 1 Jeff Cohen / Andy Fletcher, 2 John Farmery / Martin Hood, 3 Mick Kenyon / Alfie Potter, 4 Richard Crowther / Andy Kirk

Super-Veterans' Singles (John Farmery): 1 Jeff Cohen, 2 John Farmery, 3 Alfie Potter, 4 Keith Webster

Over-70s Singles (-): 1 Keith Webster, 2 Peter Harpham

Division One Singles (James Rule): 1 Joe Wright, 2 Calum Goodwin, 4 Filip Wojtkowiak, Aidan Ranftler

Division Two Singles (Calum Goodwin): 1 Alfie Potter, 2 Martin Hood, 3 Aidy McClaren, 4 Tom Thorp

Division Three Singles (Stephen Temple): 1 Arthur Sorley, 2 Peter Smalley, 3 Jan Suchecki, 4 Gary Bunce

Division Four Singles (Jacob Martindale): 1 Doug Muirhead, 2 Ollie Kossoff

Hard Bat Singles (John Farmery): 1 Filip Wojtkowiak, 2 John Farmery