Isle of Man Table Tennis Association’s annual Harold Wilcock Hard Bat Tournament was held a little later this year at the NSC last Friday.

The unique feature of this competition is that all players use exactly the same basic bat, which means everyone has an equal chance of winning.

The real challenge is getting used to playing with something unfamiliar and adapting your playing style to suit. It’s much like riding a bike, the only difference is this bike has no brakes!

There were a total of 34 players competing, all with the hope of taking the trophy home. The only certainty was that the current holder Scott Lewis would not be defending his title as he was unable to play.

Playing in 11 groups, top seeds Jason Quirk and Liam Chan went through to the knockout stage having won all of their matches with relative ease. They were joined in the shootout by defender John Magnall, fast and furious Malcolm Cummings, left-hander Duncan Alexander, the long-levered Graham Macfarlane, flat-hitter Malc Lewis, side spin specialist Marc Townsend and the young and confident John Shooter.

Khayee Vinas and Wayne Taylor were the only seeded players not to make it through to the knockout stages after facing stern opposition from Alex Buck and William Shooter. Quirk and Townsend won their next matches in straight sets, while Chan and John Shooter had a very close game with Chan just edging it 17/15 14/12.

In the remaining three games, Magnall, Lewis and William Shooter made their way to the second knockout stage, the most impressive win was by young Shooter who beat first division player Duncan Alexander 3/11 16/14 12/10.

The play-offs to reach the semi-finals were contested between Lewis versus Townsend and Magnall versus W. Shooter. Townsend made his way to the semi after beating Lewis 11/6 11/7. On a march, Shooter upset the seeding by beating previous title holder Magnall 13/11 6/11 13/11 to claim his place in the semi-final.

There faced Chan in the last four but he couldn’t keep up his winning momentum and lost in straight sets 3/11 3/11, while Townsend played against Quirk and suffered the same fate when losing in straight sets 7/11 5/11.

The final between Quirk and Chan was played on a larger court and was the best out of five sets. The hall fell silent as the two top seeds battled it out amidst a sea of spectators who watched every point played out.

There were some amazing passages of play between these two masters of the hard bat, but there was nothing Chan could really do to challenge Quirk who didn’t seem to miss a shot and the ball always found the table.

Chan did not make it easy for him, but Quirk with relentless determination won in straight sets 11/8, 11/6, 11/4.

Isle of Man Table Tennis Association wishes to thank everyone who turned up to play in this tournament.

The season has now finished - unfortunately, with all of the lost weeks during the two circuit-breaker lockdowns, the association has run out of time to play the prestigious island championships.

These will now take place in October, with the annual presentation dinner being held at the end of October or beginning of November.

l If you are interested in taking up table tennis or want to start playing again and be part of the table tennis community, there are several clubs you can get involved in.

Monday - Douglas, Ballakermeen Youth Table Tennis Club (8-18) between 6-8pm during term time in the school gym - juniors £3; Tuesday - Castletown, Buchan school gym 7-9pm during term time - adults £4, juniors £2; Wednesday - at the NSC between 7-9pm (end of August) - adults £4, juniors £2; Thursday - Ramsey Grammar School gym (three sessions) between 6.30-9.30pm during term time) - £1.50 per session.

WAYNE TAYLOR