2008 Canadian National Junior Championships - Results

            The 2008 Canadian National Junior Championships took place this past week in Halifax, Nova  Scotia. Eight of our juniors participated in the tournament. In U13 team event Robert Humber (Pasadena) teamed with Eddie Jiang of P.E.I. to take 7th place overall. The Boys U15 team of Nick Buckle (Springdale), Brent Hunter (Springdale), and Jordan Osmond (Springdale) defeated both Nova Scotia and Alberta with Brent Hunter winning 3-1 in the 5th match over Nova Scotia to secure a 6th place finish. Nicole Buckle (Springdale) joined Lucy Yang and Yao Yumingzi of P.E.I. and defeated Nova Scotia 3-0 to take 7th place overall. The Boys U18 team of Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.), Mitch Haynes (C.B.S.) and Lawrence Downey Jr. (Springdale) defeated P.E.I. 3-0 however lost a close 3-2 match to Nova Scotia to finish 8th overall. In U15 doubles Robert Humber (Pasadena) teamed with a Qu�bec player and advanced as far as the Quarter-Finals. Nicole Buckle (Springdale) also made it throughout to the Quarter-Finals with an Alberta player in Girls U18 doubles. The lone mix-doubles team of Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.) and Nicole Buckle (Springdale) defeated Nova Scotia to make it as far as the Quarter-Finals. Both Jordan Osmond (Springdale) and Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.) made it to the Round of 32 in their respective age groups. Brent Hunter (Springdale) won 2 matches in his first national tournament, Nick Buckle (Springdale) had 3 singles wins, Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.) finished with 6 singles wins, and Mitch Haynes (C.B.S.) picked up his first National singles win during a 3-0 team win over P.E.I. Overall our team performed the best that it ever has in recent years with every player getting at least one win. Denise Simms (Springdale) and  Lawrence Downey Sr. (Springdale) were the coaches of the team and done an excellent job all-around.

              Paradise Recreation Center Opens

         On Thursday June 5th, the Paradise Recreation Center officially opened. On hand at the event was the Mayor of Paradise Ralph Wiseman along with the town councillors, NTV was also broadcasting live at the event. The NLTTA aslo had a number of representatives at the opening including president Brian Ash, Vice-President Merv Greenham, and Paradise residents Tony Gosse and Dean Gosse. As well, CTTA president and St.John's resident Bruce Burton was also present. The building will be the home of the new Paradise Table Tennis Club starting next season. It will become the 3rd club in the Metro Area joining C.B.S. and St.John's. Many players who play in the C.B.S. and St.John's leagues are Paradise residents, which includes both juniors and seniors, with this Club being active, these players will not have to travel to play in a league. The Town of Paradise is also located next to the City of Mount Pearl where there is no club currently running, this may also provide the opportunity for Mount Pearl residents to play Table Tennis. The NLTTA hopes that this venue could possible become host to the NL STIGA NTV Closed next Spring, also, next season the Atlantic Championships are back in our province and the venue is also being considered to host this major event. Paradise is a part of the Mount Pearl/South region which did not have a team in the 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games, hopefully this club will generate enough young interest to provide players for the regional team in the 2010 games. 

         2008 Atlantic Championships - Charlottetown, P.E.I.

        The 2008 Atlantic Championships took place this weekend in Charlottetown, P.E.I. The Newfoundland and Labrador team had what was perhaps their most  successful tournament in recent years. On Saturday morning our Boys U18 team placed 2nd narrowly losing 3-2 to Nova Scotia. The Senior Mens team just missed a silver medal losing 3-2 to P.E.I. "A" with Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) pulling out a huge win over Mark Gregory (P.E.I.). Later on in the day our players picked up a few more medals with Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) placing 2nd in the Over 40 event. Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.) took silver in U21 Singles and Eric teamed with Zack Clarke (Springdale) to win the "B" Doubles event, this is the second consecutive year that Clarke has won the event. Another great accomplishment to note is that at Saturday nights banquet, Wayne Butler (Corner Brook) received the Mo Mohammed award for Sportsmanship. On Sunday more medals were won by our players. Kayla Gray (Triton) placed second in Girls U18 Singles as well there were 2 huge doubles wins starting with Mitch Haynes (C.B.S.) and Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.) who managed to win 3-0 in the final over Nova Scotia's top team. Just hours later, Merv Greenham (St.John's) and Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) pulled another upset defeating the top seeded team from P.E.I. in 5 games. This win came in style when at 10-9 in the 5th game for Merv and Eric, the P.E.I. team served long to Eric who pivoted and looped the ball by the awaiting player to win the gold medal. Merv also played extremely well in singles this weekend winning the 21-40 age group as well as making it all the way to the Semi-Finals in Championship Mens before losing a very hard fought match in the 5th game. Nova Scotia's Dawn Charles and Ian Kent were the winners of the Female and Male Championships. The next stop for our provincial team will be Halifax in July at the Canadian Championships, the final roster will be released May 15th.

        2008 Labrador Open - April 11-12, Goose Bay

           The final of 4 regional tournaments was held this past weekend. The Labrador Open was held in Goose Bay and included a short coaching session with the provincial team head coach Brian Ash (C.B.S.). The coaching clinic was intended for Labradors junior players which included players from Goose Bay, as well as the coastal communities of Labrador. The coaching was a success and introduced the players to some basic technique and drills to practice. The tournament began on Friday Evening with the round robins in Boys U15 singles, Boys U18 singles, Open Female singles, and Open Male Singles. The next morning, the cross-overs began for those events. One big story was in Boys U15 when Ron Pottle (Rigolet) who is still only 11 years old managed to defeat his older opponents to take the gold medal and also drew the attention of many spectators. The second story of the tournament was Betty Jararuse (Postville), who defended her 2007 Labrador Open title. Other winners were Dylan Roberts (Goose Bay) in Boys U18, Adam   Le Drew (C.B.S.) in Open Male, as well as Chris Goodridge (Goose Bay) and Lorne Battcock (Goose Bay) in Junior Doubles and Adam Le Drew (C.B.S.) and Brian Ash (C.B.S.) in Senior Doubles. The tournament was ran very smoothly and a big congratulations goes out to Darcy Dredge (Goose Bay) who has been working extremely hard to organize this tournament for months, he managed to get donations for prizes, medals and plaques for each medalist from various companies in Goose Bay as well as register all the players for the tournament. Also, Trina Coles (Goose Bay) was a big help helping to organize the draws for the events. Another weekend camp in Labrador is in the works for sometime next fall. Overall the tournament and clinic was a huge success and many people are looking forward to next years event.

        2008 NTV STIGA NL Closed Championships - April 4-6, C.B.S.

           The biggest event of the season took place this past weekend (April 4-6) with the 2008 NTV STIGA NL Closed Championships which were held in C.B.S. It was the biggest and best tournament within recent years with almost 90 participants. This was the last of 4 Atlantic Qualifying tournaments held this season. The tournament ran for three days starting with Team Event on Friday night. In team event Springdale defeated Corner Brook in the final to take the title. All other events started on Saturday. Perhaps the most interesting event to watch on Saturday was Boys U15, Nick Buckle (Springdale) took the gold. Brent Hunter (Springdale) finished of his already impressive season with the silver. Also it was the first time in a few years that there was an U11 event held. Jeromy Lehr (St.John's) won the event as Matthew Rose (C.B.S.) won silver. On the girls side, Kayla Gray (Triton) won the U18 event for the third straight year beating Nicole Buckle (Springdale) who also has had a strong first year. In Male 40+ Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) won gold. On Sunday the main event was Male and Female Championship Singles. These events provided many interesting matches and some great stories. In the Womans event, Kathy Wells (Springdale) who was inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame the night before played some amazing Table Tennis and took home the Kim Sterling Memorial Trophy. In the Male Championship Merv Greenham (St.John's) won the event for the 14th consecutive year. Merv also teamed with Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) to win the "A" doubles event. In "B" Doubles Brandon Wiseman (St.John's) repeated as champion, this time with Ben King (St.John's) in an extremely close match against Nick Buckle (Springdale) and Jordan Osmond (Springdale). Some other notable performances were by Cory Thompson (Bay Roberts) who won 3 gold medals in just his second tournament, also 2003 Canada Games Team member Matt Janes (Glovertown) made it all the way to the Quarter Finals before losing a hard fought match to Merv Greenham. Elizabeth Hicks (Carbonear) was the winner in Girls U13 in her first ever Table Tennis Tournament, and also, Robert Humber (Pasadena) won gold in Boys U13. For complete results for all events, please click the following links: Age Group Singles, Rated Singles, Doubles, Newcomers Singles, Championship Singles. The final in Province Tournament will be the Labrador Open in Goose Bay next weekend and then the Provincial Team season will begin in Charlottetown, P.E.I. on May 3rd with the Atlantic Championships.

            Kathy Wells to be Inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame

        The NLTTA is pleased to announce that Kathy Wells (Springdale) has been named to the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame. Kathy was the top female player that this province has ever produced. She was dominant at the Provincial, Atlantic as well as a force on the National level. She has won numerous provincial titles as both a junior and senior including the Womans Singles Champion for 10 straight years along with 3 doubles and mixed doubles championships. She was the St.John's Open Womans Champion for 9 consecutive years as well as the 1978 MUN Open Junior Singles winner. At the Atlantic Championships Kathy was ranked #1 for a number of years. At the Atlantics she won 4 silver and 4 gold medals in Womans Singles as well as many other medals in all of her other events including 5 gold medals in Team Event. She also won a gold medal in Mens "B" Singles at the Atlantics. At the National Championships Kathy won 2 gold medals in "B" Team Event, a bronze medal in "A" Team Event, a gold medal in Womans "A" singles, and 2 silver medals in Womans "B" singles. In 1990 she was a member of the Ontario Team that won a gold medal in "A" Team Event at the National Championships. She was also a part of the 1979 Canada Games Team in Brandon, Manitoba where she had a record of 27-5 In Springdale Kathy was named Female Athlete of the Year 4 times. She led the Grant Collegiate High School Team to the Provincial Championship all throughout her years at the school. In 1977 she was named Springdale Athlete of the Year and received the Springdale Outstanding Table Tennis Player Award. Kathy was also runner up for the St.John's Female Athlete of the Year and Newfoundland Female Athlete of the Year in 1982. In 1988, Wells received the Canada Celebration Olympic Spirit Award for Athletic Excellence in Sport. Kathy who now lives in Ontario will be here to play in the upcoming NTV STIGA NL Closed Championships. During that weekend she will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel in St.John's on April 5th.

         2008 High School Championships - February 22, Springdale 

               The 2008 High School Championships were held this weekend at Indian River High School (IRHS) in Springdale. 8 High Schools from across the province were represented. In team event the rivalry continued between Dorset Collegiate of Triton and the hosts IRHS. In the round robin IRHS won a very close match against Dorset with Hannah Pollard pulling out a huge win in Girls Singles as well as the boys doubles team of Jordan Osmond and Nick Buckle also winning big. However when the two met a small change in the line-up proved to be the key when Kayla Gray was put in for girls singles. Dorset took it this time 3-2 winning their 4th straight team title. Ashley Butt (Carbonear Collegiate) won the Most Sportsmanlike Player award. In Mixed Doubles the IRHS team of Lawrence Downey Jr. and Sarah Burton took the gold. Also in Mixed Doubles, Cory Thompson and Shaina Norman who were the only two players in the tournament from Ascension Collegiate managed to take the bronze in their first provincial tournament. Other winners were Hannah Pollard and Nicole Buckle (IRHS) in Girls Doubles, Mitch Haynes and Adam Le Drew (Queen Elizabeth) in Boys Doubles, Kayla Gray (Dorset Collegiate) in Girls Singles, and Adam Le Drew (Queen Elizabeth) in Boys Singles. Another congratulations goes to Kelly Edmunds (Jens Haven Memorial) who won silver in Girls Singles in her first provincial tournament. The tournament could not have happend without the hard work of its organizers, they are Anne Inder (IRHS), Denise Simms (Sprigdale TTC) and Michelle Downey (IRHS) along with the help of the students and staff of IRHS.                  

                        Registration for 2008 NTV NL Closed - April 4th-6th, C.B.S.

              This years NTV NL Closed will be held in C.B.S. at Queen Elizabeth Regional High School on the weekend of April 4th-6th. The tournament will start on that Friday night with Junior and Senior Team Event which was added this year. It will end on that Sunday. We ask that you please register as soon as possible with you regional contact. The deadline is March 27th because this is our biggest tournament of the year and it requires a lot of planning. This is also the final tournament for Atlantic Qualifying. Click here for the registration form.

                   2008 Western NL Open - January 26th, Corner Brook

          The third regional tournament of the season took place this past weekend at G.C. Rowe Junior High School in Corner Brook. Although their was a storm on the east coast which prevented some of the provinces top players from making the long drive across the island, the tournament still managed to run very smoothly and see some very entertaining matches. One of this seasons top stories so far has been Brent Hunter (Springdale), who continued to impress in his first competitive season as a U15. Hunter placed 3rd in Boys U15 this time adding to his 2nd place finishes in the Central Open and Eastern Open. Ahead of Brent this weekend was Nick Buckle (Springdale) and Tyler Butt (Corner Brook) who continue to play very close matches against each other. In the Female Championship it was Michelle Downey (Springdale) winning her first title of the season. The mens side was dominated by Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) who had an undefeated tournament. Another notable performance was from Corey Stone (Corner Brook) who was Cranfords closest match, when Eric won a close one in the 5th game. The next tournament is the biggest one which is the NTV Newfoundland and Labrador Closed which the NLTTA is trying to host at the MUN Field House in St.John's however, if not, it will be held in C.B.S. There is also the possibility of a Pasadena tournament sometime in February, this event is unconfirmed at the moment but there will be notice if it goes ahead.                           

             2007 Eastern NL Open - December 1st, C.B.S.

        The second tournament of the season took place less than one month after the first one at the 2007 Eastern NL Open in C.B.S. Once again the tournament ran very smoothly and everyone played well. There were three events played, Age Group Singles, Rating Singles and Championships Singles. Merv Greenham (St.John's) played some excellent matches as usual clinching his three events (U-40 Singles, "A" Singles and Championships Singles). The junior events were also very exciting with all of the provinces top juniors participating. Mitchell Haynes (C.B.S.) played very strong knocking off the #2 and #3 seeds while he made his way to a Silver Medal finish in his first tournament as a U18. Kayla Gray (Triton) was once again the top female player finishing with the Bronze Medal in U18 singles. Another first was for Ji He (MUN) who played in his first Canadian tournament, he was the winner in the U21 age group and also made it into the Round of 16 in Championship Singles. Ji is an international student at MUN who is in his first year after moving to the province from China. This was the second of three regional tournament as well as the NL Championships which are to be used to select the Provincial Team for this year. The next tournament is the Western NL Open in Corner Brook on January 26th, 2008. To see the complete results from this tournament, please click the following links: Age Group Events, Rating Events, Championship Singles.

           2007 Central NL Open - November 3rd, Springdale

      The 2007-2008 season kicked off this weekend at the Central NL Open in Springdale. It was the first tournament that has been held in Springdale in a few years and the organizers done a great job on planning the tournament. There were age events and rating events. The was also a short doubles event held at the very end. The biggest story of the day was in "A" singles where hometown favorite and former provincial champion Jeff Burton (Springdale) defeated #1 seed Eric Cranford (Corner Brook) in the final. Other notable performances were by Brent Hunter (Springdale) who in his first big tournament made it all the way through to the U15 final before losing to teammate Jordan Osmond (Springdale) in a hard fought match. Also the U13 finals was very interesting with the two top players facing off. Tyler Butt (Corner Brook) won the match 3-1 over Nick Buckle (Springdale). The top female finisher was Kayla Gray (Triton) who made it into "A" singles before losing to none other than Jeff Burton in the quarter-finals. This tournament was the first of three regional tournaments plus the NL Championships which will be used to chose the Provincial Team for the Atlantic Championships in May as well as the National Championships in July. To see the complete results from this tournament, please click the following links: Age Group Events, Rating Events, Championship Female, Doubles.