Isle of Man Table Tennis Association’s Barry Callister Memorial Senior Top 12 Tournament took place at the NSC recently.

This event is played each year, with the top 12 ranked players competing. It was due to be played in the usual format of two groups of six players. Unfortunately, because of the withdrawal of Tim Baker through illness, only 11 players took to the tables.

In group A, one match went the distance when Wayne Taylor beat Dave Parsons 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8.

In group B two matches went to the fifth end, with an in-form Chris Holmes impressively beating John Magnall 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3.

The other match that went all the way also featured Magnall and this time he managed to beat second seed Duncan Alexander in an incredibly close battle, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9.

Finishing places in group A were: 1, Scott Lewis; 2, Becky Taylor; 3, Mike Tamarov; 4, Wayne Taylor; 5, Dave Parsons. Group B placings: 1, Adam Teare; 2, John Magnall; 3, Duncan Alexander; 4, Malcolm Cummings; 5, Chris Holmes; 6, Malc Lewis.

In the crossover matches, Scott Lewis booked his place in the final after beating Magnall in straight sets. Joining him was Adam Teare after beating team-mate Becky Taylor also in straight sets.

In the mix for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth places were Mike Tamarov, Malcolm Cummings, Alexander and Wayne Taylor.

Finishing in fifth place was Alexander after beating both Taylor and Tamarov, leaving the latter in sixth place then Cummings and Taylor in seventh and eighth places respectively.

Dave Parsons, Malc Lewis and Holmes were playing for ninth place. Parsons saw off Lewis but then lost out to Holmes who took ninth spot, leaving Parsons in 10th and Lewis in 11th spot.

The final between Lewis and Teare was a very competitive match with plenty of attacking play, but in the end island number one Lewis emerged as the worthy winner with scores of 11-8, 11-5, 11-9.

Malcolm Looker Memorial Junior Top 12 Tournament

This is normally played with 12 entrants, but this year as a result of withdrawals and illness the field consisted of one group of seven.

Match of the day was surely between Liav Lanin and Eben Moore, the two youngest players in the tournament. Emerging as the winner after an epic encounter, was Liav with scores of 11-7, 20-18, 7-11, 10-12, 14-12.

The competitive spirit shown by these two emerging talents was very impressive and the match could not have been closer.

The only other match to go the distance was between top seeds Amit Lanin and William Dalugdugan, with Amit taking the honours 11-5, 7-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6.

This match was closely contested between these two talented youngsters, but in the end it was Amit who powered his way past in the final game.

The match between siblings William and Wilma Dalugdugan was notable as the only match to go against the seedings, with Wilma pulling off a fabulous win 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10.

After a countback for second, third and fourth places, it was William who took the runners-up spot, with Dan Levine in third and Wilma in fourth place.

Unusually, the final placings were identical to the starting positions. In first place was Amit Lanin, runner-up William Dalugdugan, third Dan Levine, fourth Wilma, fifth Francesca Lord, sixth Liav Lanin and seventh place Eben Moore.

Well done to Amit in what is proving to be a formative and highly successful year for him.

Harold Wilcock

Hard Bat tournament

This is an annual event run as a memorial to the late Harold Wilcock who was a keen advocate of ‘hard bat’ (no sponge) play.

It’s a unique tournament in that all players play with exactly the same equipment - but it always draws a good number of entrants. In the group stages it was best of three sets, as was the first two knockout rounds, with the semis and final the best of five sets.

There were six groups of four with the top two in each group going through to the knockout stage. In the quarter-finals Scott Lewis beat Will Shooter 11-2, 11-8, John Magnall defeated Dan Levine 11-4 11-8, John Shooter beat Jon Taylor-Burt 11-2 11-8 and Jason Quirk got the better of Neil Ronan 11-4 11-5.

In the semi-finals Lewis beat Shooter 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6, with Magnall beating Quirk 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.

The final was a superb contest between Lewis and Magnall, with some really outstanding play being witnessed by those lucky enough to have stayed on.

Lewis adopts an all-out attacking style of play, while Magnall is one of the island’s top defensive players, so this was in many ways the dream final.

Magnall combined some amazing defensive play to repel Lewis’s full-on attack, with some opportune attacks on his short pimple forehand side.

Magnall established a third set lead, before Lewis pegged him back to 10-10 in the fourth, squeezing through to extend the match to a final end. Lewis then took the fifth set 11-6 to take the title once again and add to his Top 12 title. All credit to Magnall though on a keenly-fought final.