Isle of Man Table Tennis Association’s annual Fun Doubles event was played at the National Sports Centre last week, sponsored by Fun88.

A total of 56 players entered the event with play originally being organised into four groups of seven partners but, because of a couple of no-shows, one group was reduced to six pairs.

As per tradition, players were allocated partners by the organiser who selected each from a diametrically-opposed division, giving every player the opportunity to compete with and against players they would not ordinarily meet in regular league competition.

The format was decided to be the best-of-three sets, which produced some close-fought and hotly-contested games.

The winners and runner-ups of each initial first round groups were as follows:

Group A

The winners were Chris Holland and his son Ryan who won all six of their matches.

The runners-up were John Shooter who, back from retirement to play league table tennis again, was partnered with Bob Borland and won four of their matches.

Group B

Both winners and runners-up won five of their matches but, after a countback, Nathan Walker and David Parsons took the winning spot, leaving Khayee Vinas and Roland Bouchat in second.

Group C

The winners of this group were Wayne Taylor and partner, junior newcomer Ege Niyazi, who won five of their six games.

The runners-up were Marc Townsend and Liam Bibby who won four of their games.

Group D

The winners were Maggie Mulhern and Sam Preece who won all their games, with Steve Curtis and Frank Feeney finishing second.

Quarter-finals:

Chris and Ryan Holland took on Khayee Vinas and partner Roland Bouchat and won in straight sets 11/9 11/4.

Marc Townsend and Liam Bibby proved to be too strong for Maggie Mulhern and Sam Preece and defeated them 11/8 11/5.

Wayne Taylor and Ege Niyazi just edged out Steve Curtis and Frank Feeney in a passionate three-set match, coming through to win with a score of 11/9 9/11 11/7.

David Parsons and Nathan Walker won a tight first set 13/11 against John Shooter and Bob Borland, then took the second set 11/9 to claim victory.

Semi-finals:

The first semi was a close match as Parson and Walker traded service gains with their opponents Taylor and Niyazi, claiming victory in two sets 11/9 11/9. The second semi between the Hollands versus Townsend and Bibby was an even closer affair, with the latter grinding out the points to emerge triumphant 11/5 10/12 11/8.

Final:

The final match was a straight sets win for Walker and Parsons over Townsend and Bibby with a 11/7 11/8 scoreline.

l Isle of Man Table Tennis Association would like to thank all players who entered and hopefully a fun evening was had by all, even with the euphoria of intermittent enthusiastic shouts of victory and occasional ball-breaking from some of the more impassioned and competitive players.

l The next IoMTTA Tournament is the Divisional Championships being held at the end of November.

Maggie Mulhern

and WAYNE TAYLOR