Manawatu Hosts Oceania Championships

With New Zealand taking over the hosting of the Oceania Championships from the country they were originally allocated to (Tahiti), and having to first secure adequate funding, a mere six weeks preparation time was available before the start of the Championships in September.

The event was held in Palmerston North with local Manawatu officials represented on the Organising Committee and doing a large share of the work leading up to and during the Championships.

Thirty-four of Oceania’s best players put on a dazzling display of quality table tennis. They came from five countries (New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Tahiti and Papua New Guinea) and were supported by twelve team officials.

The tournament was managed by a team of mainly local officials and play controlled by a referee and ten umpires. The umpires were smartly attired and included international umpires from Australia and New Zealand - Manawatu’s newly accredited international umpire Michael McAvinue among them.

The entire event was professionally staged with a team march-in, an opening ceremony, music played during breaks in play and public commentary provided at appropriate times. Music also accompanied the presentation ceremony. The compere was Dennis Emery of Manawatu.

Michael McAvinue, Dennis Emery and other Manawatu officials were very active in obtaining sponsorship and media coverage.

A special grant from the Hillary Commission of $10,000 was gratefully accepted by NZTTA, without which New Zealand probably would not have been able to host the event at such short notice.

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Oceanias: New Zealand on Show at Home

Ten players and four officials made up the New Zealand team that proudly paraded in front of a home crowd at the Oceania Championships opening ceremony in Palmerston North on 14 September. Also on parade was the umpiring contingent which included four New Zealand international umpires (Tony Darroch, Keith Fraser, Ivan Houghton and Michael McAvinue) and four NZ national umpires (Paul Escott, Tarzan Graham, Jim Jarmin and Andrew Marr).

With play under way, two New Zealanders quickly showed their class and dominated the entire field in three events. Li Chunli and Peter Jackson won the women’s and men’s singles respective championships, both without dropping a game and, playing together, they also won the mixed doubles, again without dropping a game.

Success eluded us in the other doubles events and we were edged out 2-3 by Australia in both the men’s and women’s team contests.

Hagen Bower, Peter Jackson, Tony Radford, Li Chunli and Maxine Goldie were New Zealand’s A Team representatives. New Zealand also entered men’s and women’s “B” teams, with Andrew Hubbard, Brendon Pearson, Aaron Winborn, Barbara Dickey and Tracey Epps earning selection.

The team managers were Peter Hirst, David Jackson, Geoff Rau and Zhu Hui.

L/R: Zhu Hui, Tony Radford, Hagen Bower, Peter Jackson.

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World Cups Aplenty

Most sports (cricket, soccer, rugby, etc) are happy with just one World Cup every four years. Table Tennis had three in 1990 alone. The co-incidence of all three was somewhat unusual, one was a new event, not all are played every year and some were to lapse for several years on end in later years. But this year there was a Men’s World Cup; a Doubles World Cup (men and women); and a World Cup for teams (men and women). The teams event was being played for the first time. The major difference between the World Cups and the two-yearly World Championships, which also include team events, is that the Cup fields are limited to no more than 16.

New Zealand participated in two of the Cup events and missed the third due to the late illness of a player.

The World Teams Cup (played in Japan in May) featured a New Zealand men’s team which qualified to compete as Oceania Champions, but no women’s team. As could be expected, the opposition was daunting and all three of the men’s 5 match contests were lost 0-3. Peter Jackson had a narrow three-game loss to Frank Bouta of The Netherlands but all other matches were lost by wide margins. The team faced Yugoslavia, The Netherlands and China, who lost 2-3 to Sweden in the final. Our team was Hagen Bower, Peter Jackson and Karl Entwistle with David Jackson non-playing captain.

The Oceania Qualifying Tournament for the Doubles World cup was won by New Zealander Barry Griffiths with an Australian partner, Alois Rosario – both playing for Australia. But as Barry’s NZ citizenship prevented him from playing for Australia under ITTF rules, the runners-up (NZers Peter Jackson and Hagen Bower) were awarded the Oceania place in the tournament. But then a last-minute illness prevented Hagen Bower from playing so their matches were defaulted.

New Zealander Peter Jackson represented Oceania in the Men’s World Cup in Japan, after a resounding win in the qualifying tournament played earlier in Melbourne. He met Asian players with world rankings of 6, 13 and 21 and his performance in such elite company was creditable. Against Yoo Nam Kyu (ranked 13) he won the first game 21-19, lost the second 15-21, and at one stage the score was 15-15 in the third, before Yoo went on to win 21-17. The remarkable fact is that Yoo was the gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Peter’s score against Chen Longcan of China (ranked 6) was 20-22, 16-21, and against Saitu Kiyoshi of Japan, 23-25; 21-14; 16-21.

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Australian International Open Championships

Following a special Invitation Tournament in 1988 to celebrate their country’s bi-centenary and to which teams from China and Japan were invited, Australia this year conducted an International Open Championship along the same lines. Top Asian countries again competed, along with Australia and New Zealand.

The Championships were a showcase event, with ITTF President Adam Sharara in attendance. They were held in place of Australia’s regular open championships and had been elevated to international level in support of their bid for the 1996 Olympics.

With regard to the performance of the New Zealand players, our men’s and women’s teams both had 3-1 wins over Australian Academy teams but were outclassed by all other teams they faced. Some respectable results were recorded in the individual events. Peter Jackson and Li Chunli defeated Park and Hong of Korea 23-21; 21-19 to reach the mixed doubles semi-final and in the women’s singles second round Chunli ran the second seed and eventual winner Hu Xiaoxin (China) very close, 21-14; 21-23; 21-23; 21-23.

The full team was Hagen Bower, Peter Jackson, Maxine Goldie and Li Chunli. Peter Hirst and David Jackson were the managers. The Championships were held in Melbourne in May.

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World Veterans Title Won By First New Zealand Champion

Beginning his stellar table tennis career at the 1934 New Zealand Championships where he won the first ever Men’s Singles title, continuing through a long term of service to the Auckland Association as an administrator and coach, Errol Cheal added another spectacular achievement to his Table Tennis CV by winning a gold medal at the 1990 World Veterans Championships in the Over 80 men’s doubles. Standing on the podium at a world table tennis event was a fitting climax to a six decade table tennis career.

Errol was nominated by NZTTA for a “New Zealand 1990 Commemorative Medal”, a special issue to mark this country’s 150th jubilee and a visit by the Queen. The nomination was successful and Errol was presented with the award in a glittering ceremony. It was an honour for him and for table tennis as nominees were considered on the basis of their activities in many categories, sport being only one of them.

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High Level Olympic Course Held in New Zealand

Since New Zealand Table Tennis became part of the Olympic movement in 1985 New Zealand coaches and administrators have been involved in Olympic Solidarity funded courses in Fiji (1985) and Sydney (1987). Arrangements were made at an Oceania TT Federation meeting in 1988 for New Zealand to host a course for young players and trainee coaches in 1990.

The course was held in Hamilton from 7 – 14 May. The Olympic Solidarity Commission granted US$30,000 towards the costs and this covered travel and accommodation for two players and one coach from each Oceania member country. Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Western Samoa, Australia and New Zealand all participated, with Peter Hirst (NZ) and Ron Moule (Australia) conducting the course.

This was the first Olympic Solidarity Course to be held in this country and its status was evidenced by the succession of visitors that were welcomed. They included Hillary Commission Sportscorp chairperson (Ann Taylor), NZ Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association Secretary-General (Fred Smith) and Oceania National Olympic Committee Secretary-General (Tay Wilson). Oceania TT Federation President Ken Wilkinson opened the course.

Hamilton TT Association officials and volunteers were depended on for a large amount of assistance, particularly with transport.

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New Method of Allocating NZTTA Costs to Associations

A new task was added to the responsibilities of the regional councillors when they were asked to assist with the allocation of NZTTA fees to be paid by District Associations. It was decided to divide the Associations’ share of the NZTTA budget into regional allocations. Regional councillors called early season meetings of their constituent Associations to set an agreed amount to be paid by each. It was up to the regions to decide each Association’s fees for the year, provided they added up to the total allocation for the region.

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Good Team Wins and Individual Titles at Australian Age-group Championships

New Zealand successes at two separate age-group championships in Australia included first place for our Under 21 women and Under 17 girls in the inter-state teams events, and a bag of three individual titles to Hagen Bower (Under 21 men’s singles and Under 21 men’s and Under 19 boys’ doubles, both with Aaron Winborn). Tracey Epps also won the Under 17 girls’ singles and Barbara Dickey and Melanie Low the girls’ doubles in the same age-group.

Sharon Coad was unbeaten in the Under 21 women’s teams contests.

The junior championships (Under 15 / Under 17) were played in Adelaide in early July, and the Under 19 / Under 21 championships in Sydney a month later.

The team members were: (Under 21 men) Hagen Bower, Stuart Munday, Karl Entwistle, Andrew Hubbard; (Under 21 women) Lisa Astle, Sharon Coad, Louise McFarlane, Diana White; (Under 19 boys) Andrew Allan, David Allardyce, Brendon Pearson, Aaron Winborn; (Under 17 boys) Craig Dye, Daniel Hempstead, Chris Hickling, Kevin Wike; (Under 17 girls) Barbara Dickey, Tracey Epps, Melanie Low, Kirsten Pitcher; (Under 15 boys) Michael Blackmore, Jeremy Hickling, Shane Laugesen, Jared Smith; (Under 15 girls) Kylie Ferguson, Vicki Garrett, Catriona Mitchell, Tracey Phillips.

No Under 19 girls team was selected.

The officials accompanying the juniors were Peter Hirst, Barry Butler and Andrew Marr. Managing the Under 21 / Under 19 teams were Martin Duffy, Barry Butler and Zhu Hui.

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Death of Long-term Life Member

The death occurred on 27 July in Auckland of a New Zealand administrator who had the distinction of being only the second person (after Arthur Marshall) to be granted Life Membership of NZTTA. Keith Longmore was the national association’s second Secretary/Treasurer and served in that dual position from 1935 to 1938. He was made a Life Member in 1955.

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New International Umpire

Michael McAvinue successfully underwent the written examination for international umpire status, thus becoming the seventh New Zealand umpire to hold this elite qualification.

 

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Long-term Treasurer Steps Down

After an eleven year term as NZTTA Treasurer, Dick Lynn did not seek re-election. His successor was Management Committee member John Beatson.

 

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