FOUNDED 1931
Wembley & Harrow Table Tennis League
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Championships 2008
Stokes on fire in TT Finals
Ashley Stokes was
the big winner at the Wembley & Harrow Table Tennis League
Championship Finals Night held at the Harrow Leisure Centre last week.
The up-and-coming DHS London Progress starlet stole the show with
first-time victories in both the Men's Singles and Doubles events in
front of a large and appreciative crowd.
Stokes, a tall
right-hander with a very fast attacking stroke, overcame Dov Katz in
the singles final by three games to one. Katz, who had played
exceptionally well to reach the final, had no answer to Stokes'
onslaught. Things were much closer in the doubles, as Katz and Costas
Papantoniou pushed Stokes and Vidal Graham all the way. The Progress
pair had to save six match points in the deciding game before they won
the match 3-2.
Katz's
consolation came in the Mixed Doubles, where he joined up with Maccabi
team-mate Sally Prowen to defeat reigning champions Sally Bax and
Stuart Seaholme in another five-set thriller. It was a good
debut championship for Sally Prowen, who also won the Veteran Ladies'
Singles and Minor Singles and was runner-up in the Ladies' Singles and
Doubles.
Costas
Papantoniou retained his Veteran Men's Singles title with a victory
against Glenn Wilkes. The real star of the family, however, was his
son Mikael, who won his first League title in the Junior Boys' Singles
(up to 18 years old) against Sahil Thacker - with surely many more to
follow in future years. Mikael also won the Cadet Boys' Singles (up to
14) beating Matthew Ong in the final.
In the
Intermediate Singles final, Felix Wang of Hillingdon underlined his
potential with a 3-1 victory over former winner Nikunj Patel.
The winners' and runners-up trophies were presented by League President Michael Close and League Chairman David Hayman gave a short welcome speech, including thanks fro Steve Dunn, the tireless tournament organiser.
