Hall of Fame

On the initiative of Executive Director Mike Brown, a Table Tennis Hall of Fame was inaugurated at a ceremony following the NZ Veterans Championships at Easter.

A panel comprising Garry Frew, Ron Menchi and Trevor Flint was commissioned to select six foundation inductees. The criteria was for players only, and limited to those whose competitive careers peaked in the years prior to 1970.

After much public interest and speculation, the names of the chosen inductees were announced at the inauguration ceremony. They were Russell Algie, Margaret Cataslis (nee Hoar), Murray Dunn, Bob Jackson, Alan Tomlinson and Neti Trail (nee Davis).

Full page profiles on all six were published in successive issues of Table Tennis Info magazine.

(Six more people were inducted in 2005 – click here for profiles of all 12)

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World Championships

The conduct of the 1999 World Championships was thrown into doubt when serious unrest engulfed the proposed host city - Belgrade, Yugoslavia. As the threat of war escalated several countries withdrew and eventually ITTF changed the venue and split the championships. The individual events were moved to Eindhoven, The Netherlands and the date changed from April to August, while the team events were allocated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and deferred until February, 2000.

The following NZ players were selected to attend the Eindhoven event: Peter Jackson, Li Chunli, and Kadia Keller-Rice. Kadia failed to qualify in the singles, Peter reached the main draw but did not progress beyond it and Chunli did well to reach the third round. But the highlight was the performance of Chunli and Peter in the mixed doubles. After easy wins over Spanish and Columbian pairs they beat 15th seeds Yang Min and Alessia Arisi of Italy, 21-16, 21-11. They finally lost in the fourth round to Hungarians Batorfi and Toth, 21-12, 17-21, 14-21.

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Juniors Do Well in Australia

For the first time since 1996 a large contingent of NZ juniors participated in the Australian Junior Championships and celebrated their return by sending a record number of players. Over the years the age categories have changed from Under 17 / Under 15 to Under 17 / Under 14 and now to Under 16 / Under 14 with an Under 18 championship added in a separate tournament. The changes reflect international trends and were the reason for NZ’s increased numbers at this event.

Players in all age categories did well but the two under 18 teams provided the highlight by winning their respective contests. The girls (Lisa Boaden, Rachel Griffiths, Deborah Morrison and Alison Thomson) won after a tight three-way count-back, and the boys (Greg Burton, Peter Craven, Anthony Simmons and Paul Stewart) after a 5-4 win against Victoria in the deciding match.

Simon Wallace was the best performing player in the younger age-groups, reaching the Under 14 singles semi-final and two doubles finals: Under 14 boys (with Hadleigh Bunce) and Under 14 Mixed (with Jennifer Lo). In total, eight other doubles pairs reached their respective semi-finals.

The Under 16 team was John Cordue, Andrew Hovey, Evan Kramer, Adrian Soh, Andrea Gosney, Sacha Welsh, Laura-Jane Young; and the Under 14 team Hadleigh Bunce, Simon Wallace, Anthony Wilson, Florence Li, Jennifer Lo, Eileen Schwab, Sandy Wang. The managers were John Stapleton, Gay Morrison, Jane Bunce and the coaches Simeon Cairns and David McBride.

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Development Tours

TTNZ Development Officer John Stapleton and Oceania Development Officer Glenn Tepper both made extensive tours of New Zealand – John early in the year, Glenn mid-year. John’s tour was a combination of fact-finding and offering assistance with membership growth and fundraising. His main message was to emphasise the fun rather than competitive element of the game and to target groups (schools, business houses, etc) rather than individuals.

Glenn’s focus was somewhat different given his experience at top level in Australia both as a coach and player. He glided effortlessly from one level of trainee to another – working with top players and coaches in the evening and helping beginners at primary school level and giving warmly received school demonstrations during the day. His easy-going style was popular with the media and his visits were vigorously promoted by local officials.

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Kiwi TT Manual for School Children Revamped

The Kiwi Table Tennis manual (originally produced in 1993 with an accompanying video) was revamped by TTNZ Development Officer John Stapleton. He utilised his experience as a coach in his home Association of North Harbour combined with the information gathered on his nationwide tour. The revised version retained the coaching elements from the original but added a wide range of games and activities to make the game more fun. It also related the activities to specific curriculum objectives for teachers.

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Oceania Qualifying Tournaments for Olympic and World Events

Early September was the moment of truth for all New Zealand and Australian Olympic hopefuls. While final selections were not confirmed until Olympic year (2000), it was the results of the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament, held in Auckland, that determined the winners of the available table tennis places, subject to confirmation by the respective National Olympic Selectors.

Three New Zealanders qualified. Li Chunli’s world ranking gave her automatic entry; Peter Jackson (pictured) won the initial Round Robin to secure a place and Karen Li won her’s by winning the stage two knock-out The unlucky player was Shane Laugesen who came close in the singles and was denied a chance in the doubles by the peculiarities of the system. Both doubles places went to Australian pairs without a single doubles qualifying match being played – one to the winners of an internal Australian tournament for the host country direct entry (the 2000 Olympics are in Sydney), and the other to a pair consisting of two players who had both qualified for singles places, thus giving them automatic entry too. Shane, paired with Peter Jackson, could well have beaten either of those Australian pairs in a qualifying tournament situation.

In the World Cup Qualifying Tournament (held the day before the above event, also in Auckland) Peter Jackson won the right to represent Oceania in the men’s section with Shane Laugesen finishing a close second. The women’s final was the match of the tournament. Li Chunli finally lost to Jian Fang Lay (Australia) 21-23, 23-21, 21-23 after saving 7 match points and holding match point herself.

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NZ Tour by Chinese Stars Falls Through

After a concerted effort by Executive Director Mike Brown and an Auckland businessman with connections in China, New Zealand was poised to witness a three city mid-year tour by a team of top Chinese players. The Chinese were forced to cancel the tour due to a change of date for the World Championships (refer above – the tour was scheduled to take place after the Worlds but the new date of August put the tour into the midst of the Chinese team’s preparation time). There was also difficulty finding a New Zealand sponsor – a six figure sponsorship deal was needed to make the tour financially viable.

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Changes Made to TTNZ Administration after Executive Director Leaves

The resignation of Mike Brown from the position of Executive Director on 1 September caused the Board to think long and hard on the financial viability of replacing him. It decided on what was hoped would be a temporary measure – leaving the sole remaining employee (Administration Officer John Kiley) to manage the national office alone while executive responsibilities were shared among Board members and other volunteers.

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Treasurer, Chairman, Change Manager Steps Down

After a total term of 17 years on either the Management Committee or the Board of TTNZ, John Beatson stepped down following the Annual General Meeting, at which Ron Garrett outlined John’s table tennis career at national level and paid a generous tribute. John was elected Treasurer in 1991 and continued to 1996 when financial responsibility was transferred to the national office. He was both Chairman and Treasurer from 1993 to 1996 and Change Manager for the 1996 restructure, overseeing the change from Management Committee to Board and the setting up of an Appointments Committee to select the initial Board Members.

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Obituary: Cathy Tadema

Cathy Tadema (nee Johnson) passed away in January. She was NZ’s No 1 ranked woman in 1967 and a Waikato representative from 1959 to 1981. A popular personality, Cathy was a knowledgeable table tennis tactician and had a long coaching career in her home association.

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