‘We are Middlesbrough’ Ormesby TTC on BBC TV

As a result of winning the British League title at the weekend, a BBC television crew came to the Club last night to take some action footage from the sessions that were taking place and carried out a number of interviews.

This was originally intended for the ‘We Are Middlesbrough’ programme, however, it is going to be shown on tonight’s BBC 1 Look North programme.  It is likely to be in the second half, therefore, between 6.45 and 7.00pm.

I understand it will be available on the iPlayer afterwards.  I hope you have an opportunity to watch it.

Ormesby win British Premier League Title

The Club won the vital set to clinch the title at home on Saturday afternoon when they entertained last season’s Champions, The Urban Club from London.

The well attended match was a hard fought battle as the Urban team needed to win all 5 sets to retain the title.  One single set for Ormesby would mean that Ormesby would be the 2019 British Champions.

The match started with the Urban pair Gyorgy Szilard and Daniel Kosiba gaining their revenge from the fixture played at Urban in March by winning the doubles by 3 sets to 1 against Darius Knight and Tianming Zhao, with comfortable score lines.

The doubles was one of the matches that Ormesby had a good chance of winning, and therefore, this victory by Urban increased the pressure on the home team.

Tianming Liu

The first singles followed between the two number one players; Tianming Liu of Ormesby and Daniel Schaffer of Urban.  Liu was beaten by Schaffer in the reverse fixture.

This time Liu upped his game, sharing the two opening games winning the first 13-11 but losing the second 11-9.  In the two following games Liu came out on top winning 11-7 and 13-11 to clinch the title for Ormesby.

The match was still alive as Urban needed to score further points against Ormesby to claim second place.  They did this when Daniel Kosiba scored a straight games win against Darius Knight and Gyorgy Szilard produced his best performance to beat Liu by 3 games to 1 giving Urban a 3-1 lead.  Ormesby pulled the score back to 3-2 when Tianming Zhao beat Daniel Schaffer in three straight games.  The final score being Ormesby 2 Urban 3 so the League title going to Ormesby by 3 points

Ormesby have been in the hunt for the title for the last 3 years having previously finished in second position twice before taking the title this year.

The standard of the competition this year has been the highest in the history of the League with four very strong teams.  Ormesby the winners with 35 points, Urban a close second with 32, Drumchapel from Glasgow third with 28 and Ormeau the top Northern Ireland team in fourth position with 26.

Cadet and Junior National Championships 2019

National Cadet Champion – Thomas Rayner

Ormesby’s Thomas Rayner produced his very best performance to become the English Cadet (Under 15) Champion, winning the Boy’s Singles event in The PG Mutual National Cadet and Junior Table Tennis Championship in Nottingham on Sunday.

Rayner who had been producing some very good results in the International Tournaments over recent weeks continued his good form.  Seeded 4th Thomas reached the Semi-Finals with two comfortable victories.

Thomas with coach Denis Neale

In the Semi-Final Rayner met the Number 2 seed, Louis Price from Bristol, where this Ormesby player took charge after being 2-1 down to win the last three games 11-9, 12-10 and 11-5.

In the Final his opponent was Number 1 seed Derbyshire’s Naphong Boonyaprapa. Rayner won the first two games by narrow margins 11-9 and 12-10.  Boonyaprapa came back to win the third at 11-5.  Rayner went further ahead with another 11-9 win in the fourth.  Boonyaprapa came back again to win the fifth game at 11-3 before Rayner took command again to win the final game at 11-9.

In the Boy’s Doubles, Rayner reached the Final with his Ormesby team mate, Ben Piggott, before they lost by very narrow margins to Boonyaprapa and his partner, Rhys Davies.  Rayner and Piggott lead by 2-1 before their opponents won the fourth at 12-10 and the decider at 11-9.

In the Junior events the previous day, Ormesby had two of the Semi-Finalists Joe Cope who reached the Semi Final from his fourth seeded position, only to lose to the top seed Shayan Siraj of Yorkshire by 11-9 in the 7th game.  Ben Piggott, unseeded, did brilliantly to reach the Semi-Final with big wins over the second seed of the First Round, James Smith for Kent, at 11-9 in the 7th and then in the Quarter Final he beat the 6th seed, Amirul Hussain of Lancaster by four games to one.

Ben found the eventual winner, Ethan Walsh of Hertfordshire, too strong in the Semi’s going down by 4-0.

British Premier League – final match

The Ormesby First Team will be playing their most important match of the season at the Club on Saturday, 18th May, starting at 2:00pm, against the current English Champions, Urban from London.  This match is the final match in the British League this season and the Championship will be decided at the Club on Saturday.

It has the makings of a very good match as both sides, from the information received so far, will be fielding their best teams.
Currently, Ormesby are in pole position with a 4-point lead at the top of the table, after the results from the last round of matches, when we beat the Northern Ireland club, Ormeau, 5-0 and Urban suffered a 4 – 1 defeat away to Drumchapel.  To win the title this time, Urban need to win the match 5-0.  Their Team Manager, Gergely Urban, said on a social media interview on Sunday that they are looking to repeat the feats of Liverpool and Tottenham in the European Champions Football League last week.

The Ormesby squad has been named as the same team that beat Urban 3-2 when the two teams met in London on the 6th April; which is Tianyuan Liu, Darius Knight, Tianming Zhao, and Danny Reed.

Urban have named their squad as; Satoshi Aida, Gyorgy Szilard, Daniel Schaffer, and Daniel Kosiba.

The match in London ended 3-2 in Ormesby’s favour but all 5 sets were close, and they could have gone either way.  Whilst Ormesby are firm favourites to win the match and title, the Championship for the Club is by no means certain but a very good match is in prospect.  Play starts at 2:00pm and we are hoping and expecting to have the best attendance of the season for this key fixture.

North East Regional Training Day

Ormesby Table Tennis Club hosted a North East Regional training day on Sunday 14 April.

A full squad of 30 players from the across the region took part in the session which was run by Level 3 Coach, David Noutch.

David was assisted by coaches Malcolm Muldoon and Nigel Savage.

To finish off the more serious training session – some downtime to take part in some ‘FUN TIME’

Premier League win for Ormesby

Ormesby moved a step closer to winning the Premier Division of the British Table Tennis League on Saturday when they defeated Scotland’s leading team, Drumchapel 3-2 at the Club’s Headquarters.

The star of the match was Drumchapel’s number 1 player, Sweden’s Simon Bergland, who won both his singles matches comfortably beating Darius Knight 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 and Tianyuan Liu 11-6, 11-5, 11-6.

Ormesby won the other three sets with Knight and Tianming Zhao winning the doubles against David McBeath and Victor Guang Shi.

Zhao, for Ormesby, won his singles comfortably against Victor and Liu won the best match of the day against England’s number 7, David McBeath to give Ormesby a winning lead of 3-1.

Ormesby’s main rivals, Urban, won their match against Ormeau Club from Northern Ireland 4-1 so that Ormesby and Urban are both tied on points at the top of the Division with 28 points from 8 matches.

Ormesby next fixture is the visit to Ormeau on the 4th May and the title decider is likely to the home match for Ormesby against Urban on 18th May.

Alan Ransome OBE

Ormesby 2star

Ormesby players dominated the clubs own Junior 2 Star Championships, which took place at the Ormesby Club on Sunday 31st March, winning four of the five events.

The Under 18 Singles was won by Adam Webster who defeated Chris Edwards in the final.  Webster won in three straight games 11-2, 11-6, 11-4.

The Under 15 Girls Singles was won by Eve Witterick who beat her Ormesby team mate Katie Bates in the final in four games 11-3, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9.

The surprise winner in the Under 13 Singles, which was a mixed event was Katie Bates who beat Darlington’ s Anand Ravipraksh 11-9, 15-13, 11-6 in the final.

Another surprise winner in the Mixed Under 11 Singles was another girl, Ella Pashley who beat Jack Higgins in the final, going the distance 11-9, 3-11, 11-1, 4-11, 11-5.

The one event which did not produce a home win was won by Sajad Ali from London Academy who beat his team mate Robert Ionascu 13-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7.

Ormesby v Drumchapel

 Ormesby play the first of their play off matches in the battle to win the Premier Division Title of the British Table Tennis League at home on Saturday when they entertain the Scottish Champions, Drumchapel.

 Ormesby will be at full strength with a squad of Tianyuan Liu, Darius Knight, Zhao Tianming and Danny Reed.

Drumchapel are also bringing their strong team headed by their England International number 7 David McBeath, together with Simon Berglund from Sweden, and their Chinese player Victor Guang Shi.

The Championship race is very evenly poised.  Ormesby are top of the table at the moment by just 1 point over the current champions, Urban of London.

These fixtures are a 5 set match, consisting of 4 single and 1 doubles.  Every set counts as 1 point in the League table so that every game is vital in the hunt for the championship.

This weekend, Urban travel to Ormeau in Ireland for their fixture.  The play at the Ormesby Table Tennis Club starts at 2:00pm and spectators are welcome.

Senior British League

Ormesby teams enjoyed a very successful final weekend in the British Table Tennis League Division League competitions with the all junior second team finishing in fourth position of the Championship Division and the Clubs 4th team winning the Division C-3.

At Corby the Club’s second team won three of their final rounds of matches and drew one, beating Ravenscroft from the Channel Islands 6-2, Portsmouth 7-1, Wymondham of Norfolk 7-1 and drawing with leaders Whitworth Academy 4-4.

Josh Weatherby produced the best results winning all 8 of his sets.  Joe Cope, playing at Number 1, and Thomas Rayner won 7 from 8 and David Gofton, promoted to number 2 in the team won 2 from 8.

Having the all junior Under 18 team finishing 4th in the table is a very good performance particularly in the last weekend, playing a draw with the winners and beating the team in 3rd place in the table, Wymondham by 7-1.

Ormesby 3rd team, also enjoyed a successful weekend, at Derby, winning three of their fixtures and losing one in Division B1.  They beat Orsted Grimsby 8-1, Westfield from Northamptonshire 9-0, Huddersfield 9-0 before losing to Nottingham Sycamore II 5-4.  Ben Piggott, George Hill and Adam Webster all won 7 from 8, whilst Jack Cope won 6.

The team finished in 4th position in the National B-1 League Table.

In Division C-3, after a very narrow finish, Ormesby 4th team won the title and Ormesby 5th team finished second.

In the final match, Ormesby 4th team beat the All In Table Tennis Club from Sheffield by 5 sets to 4 after Ryan Nassau won the final match at 11-9 in the fifth against Liam Carson.

Dave Ashwell, playing at number 1, who was the star player in this fixture winning both of his singles. To win the title Ormesby’s 4th team had to win all four of their matches over the weekend.  They beat Derwent II 6-3, Cliffdale Chandlers from Graham 9-0 and Bishop Auckland 7-2 and in the final match All In Table Tennis 5-4.

Playing at number 1, Dave Ashwell was the star of the team winning 7 from 8, Ryan Nassau made a major contribution being unbeaten with 6 wins, while Adam Ridley won 7 from 8 and Michael Young won 4 from 8.

In the same Division, Ormesby 5th team, finished second with wins against Bishop Auckland 5-4, North Ayrshire 9-0 and Derwent II 6-3.  However, they lost ground in the title race by losing to All In Table Tennis team 6-3.

Luke Robinson won 6 from 8, Ben Savage won 5, Chris Edwards 2 from 4, Charlotte Weatherby 3 from 6, Rana Rassem 4 from 6

Alan Ransome OBE

Ormesby IV winners of Senior British League C-3

Ormesby IV

Left to right: David Ashwell, Michael Young, Gary Whyman, Adam Ridley, Ryan Nassau and Ormesby – Chairman Alan Ransome OBE

After a tense weekend at the Ormesby club in the British League C-3 the Ormesby IV team were crowned League Champions.

The team were presented with their medals by Ormesby Chairman Alan Ransome.

Carl White, who also plays for the IV team was away on holiday.

 In second place were the Ormesby V team.

All the V team are British Junior League players, Rana Rassem, Charlotte Weatherby, Luke Robinson, Chris Edwards and Ben Savage along with their Coach David Noutch. Quite an achievement for such a young squad.

It had remained very tight at the top of the division until the final match where the IV team beat ‘All in Table Tennis’.

Ormesby veteran David Ashwell had a marvelous win over Jie Fu Tham, who until his match against David had remained unbeaten all season.

 Well done to all the Ormesby Players.

National Cadet Cup

Two Ormesby youngsters excelled in the National Cadet Table Tennis Cup Competition for the best Under 15 players in England which took place at Corby over the weekend.

Left to Right: Louis Price, Rhys Davies, Tom Rayner and TTE Board Member Doug Livingstone

Thomas Rayner who was previously ranked number 7 finished in equal first position in the boy’s event with three other players, and as a result of the countback Rayner finished in third position.

Rayner beat several players ranked above him including number 2 Naphong Boonyaprapa, Nottinghamshire, number 3 Connor Green, Nottinghamshire and number 4 Jie Fu Tham, South Yorkshire and his Ormesby team mate, number 6, Ben Piggott.

Piggott also did well to finish in 5th position and his wins included victories over Green and Fu Tham.

These results are particularly important as they have significant effect on the National Rankings and are ahead of the England team selections for the European Youth Championships that take place in July.

Ormesby Premier team make it to the top

With an outstanding performance from Darius Knight, Ormesby go to the top of the table of the Premier Division of the British Table Tennis League having visited and beaten the current Champions, Urban, 3-2 on Saturday in Barnet.

Man of the Match – Darius Knight

The match began with the doubles in which Knight and Tianming Zhao won a very narrow victory over the Urban pair of Szilard Gyorgy and Daniel Kosiba.  This set went to the wire with the Ormesby pair winning the first and third games and taking a 5-2 lead at the change in the decider.  The Urban pair pulled the game back to 10-9 before the Ormesby pair clinched the last point to give the Teesside Club a 1-0 lead.

Knight’s second win was even more spectacular when he beat the Urban number 1 player Daniel Schaffer 11-9, 13-11, 11-4 to take Ormesby into a 3-1 lead to clinch the victory.  Ormesby’s third point came from Tainyuan Liu who also beat Schaffer by 3 games to 1.

Urban came back into the match when Koshiba beat Zhao 3-1 and then Urban kept in the Championship race by pulling the scoreline back to 3-2 in the last set when Gyorgy beat Tainyuan also by 3-1.

Ormesby now lead the table with 25 points from 7 matches against Urban’s 24.  Ormesby also have a superior set average with 25 wins against 10 defeats compared with Urban’s 24 – 11.

The two other teams to go in to the final three play off matches are Ormeau Northern Ireland on 22 points and Drumchapel Glasgow on 20.

Ormesby will have home matches against Drumchapel on 6th April and the final match at home against Urban on 18th May.

Ormesby’s visit to Belfast is scheduled for 4th May.

British Premier League

Ormesby Table Tennis Club have been named 5 players in their squad to travel to London on Saturday for the vital championship match in the Premier Division title of the British Table Tennis League.

Ormesby are currently on level points with Urban at the top of the table.  The winner of Saturday’s match will lead the table and have a clear advantage going in to the second round of fixtures which begins in April.

Ormesby name three of England’s top 10 players; Captain Danny Reed, Darius Knight and Helshan Weerasinghe, plus Ormesby’s two non-English players Tianyuan Liu who played his first match against BATTS last month and won both his singles, and the Portuguese player Tianming Zhao.

Urban who won the title, pushing Ormesby into second place last season, have their squad of; Daniel Schaffer, Alim Hirji, Satoshi Aida, Szilard Gyorgy, Daniel Kosiba, Gergely Urban.

The match is being played at Barnet Table Tennis Centre starting at 3:00 pm

The League Table shows both Urban and Ormesby are unbeaten and both have 22 points.  It is likely the Championship this year will be decided between these two Clubs.

Darlington 1 Star

There were some really great results from the Ormesby Hopes children

at the Darlington 1 Star Tournament on Saturday 2 March 2019.

Seth Holland  – winner of the Under 10 Boys

Presented with his trophy by Kevin Wray

Ella Pashley – winner of the Under 11 Girls

Presented with her trophy by Brian Day

The youngest  Ormesby player, 9 year old Jack Hodgson – runner-up in both the Under 10 and Under 11 Boys

Jack Higgins – won the Under 13 Boys Plate

Ormesby v BATTS

Left to right: Tianyuan Liu, Darius Knight, Helshan Weerasinghe and Captain Danny Reed.

Ormesby Premier team  5 – 0  BATTS

With a 5-0 victory of the leading Essex club, BATTS, at home on Saturday, Ormesby are now on equal points with Urban of London at the top of the table of the Premier Division of the British Table Tennis League.

The Ormesby victory was as comfortable as the score line suggests, with new signing, China’s Tianyuan Liu, winning both his singles against Jack Bennett and Ismalia Akindiya, whilst Darius Knight beat Joe Walker by 3-1 and Helshan Weerasinghe defeated Jack Bennett in straight games.

The doubles match was a straight games victory for Weerasinghe and Knight.

Meanwhile, the Ormesby rivals Urban visited the North Ayrshire Club, and achieved only a 4-1 victory but with this lost one valuable point.

The 5-0 victory for Ormesby and the Urban result gives Ormesby the one point advantage which secured the level point at the top of the table.  Both teams are on 22 points from 6 matches.

In the final match of the first half Ormesby visit Urban on the 9th March in London.

Three matches remain for the second half of the season when Ormesby have both fixtures against Drumchapel and Urban at home and an away fixture against Ormeau in Northern Ireland.

Report by Alan Ransome OBE

British League

Ormesby II – Liam McTiernan, Joshua Weatherby, Coach, Denis Neale, Darius Knight and Thomas Rayner

Ormesby 2nd team, moved out of the relegation zone of the British Table Tennis League at Corby over the weekend, with two important wins against Drumchapel Glasgow and the BATTS Club from Essex.

Darius Knight, Liam McTiernan and Josh Weatherby were all unbeaten for Ormesby, winning four sets each while Thomas Rayner won three which included a victory over Samuel Chesterman in the BATTS match.

Knight’s wins were all convincing in straight games, whilst McTiernan had a narrow victory over Gordon Cheng of BATTS.  Josh Weatherby also was taken close by Joe Walker in the BATTS match winning at 11-5 in the decider. These wins take Ormesby up to 6th place in the Division and 6 points clear of the relegation zone which includes Drumchapel Glasgow, Kingfisher Reading; and Ravenscroft.

With one weekend to go Ormesby appear to be in a safe position despite mathematically being vulnerable if all the results from that weekend went in the wrong direction.

Ormesby’s wins were without the services of Joe Cope who was playing for England in the Sweden Junior Open.

Ormesby’s third team however, slipped in the bid for honours in Division B-1 losing both of their fixtures to Derwent 7-2 and the league leaders Barrow Tornadoes 6-3

Against Derwent, Jack Cope and George Hill won one game each whilst against Barrow, Adam Webster and George Hill won two of the sets, plus the doubles with Hill and Webster.  These two results take Ormesby down to 4th place in the League table.

In the Division C-3, which was played at Ormesby, the two Ormesby teams won one set and lost another.

Ormesby 4th team who were top of the Division lost their first match against Pudsey by six sets to three with single wins from Gary Whyman and Ryan Nassau plus the doubles Michael Young and Nassau.

In their second match Ormesby 4th team defeated North Ayrshire, in a very tight match, by five sets to four with two wins from Ryan Nassau plus one each from Adam Ridley and Gary Whyman.  The doubles for Young and Nassau was Ormesby’s fifth win.

Ormesby 5th team go to the top of the table after beating Cliffdale Chandlers from Grantham 9-0 in the first match before losing to Pudsey 5-4 in the second.  Rana Rassem was the star of the Ormesby team winning all four of her singles while Chris Edwards and Luke Robinson won three and Ben Savage won two.

The League Table now stands with Ormesby 5th team at the top with 16 points.  Ormesby 4th team second also with 16 points but with the 5th team having a better games average.

The championship and promotion from this Division will all depend on the next matches on the 15th and 16th March 2019.

Alan Ransome OBE

Hopes Session times for Half Term

Monday 18 February  –  1.00pm to 4.00pm

Tuesday 19 February  –   5.30pm to 7.30pm

Wednesday 20 February  –   1.oopm to 4.oopm

Thursday 21 February  –  1.00pm to 4.00pm

Friday 22 February  –  5.30pm to 8.00pm

British Premier League – Ormesby v BATTS

The Premier Division of the British League is moving towards an exciting conclusion with our club very much involved in the title race.

On Saturday 23rd February, we have our next match which is against one of the mid table sides, the BATTS Club, from Essex.

Making his debut for Ormesby will be a new Chinese player, Tianyuan Liu, who was one of the Chinese Junior Squad.  He is currently studying at Nottingham University and won the University Championships beating one of the best Drumchapel players, David McBeath in the final.

The Ormesby Squad will be selected from Tianyuan Liu, Helshan Weerasinghe, Darius Knight and Danny Reed.

The visitors, BATTS, have named within their team;

Gordon Cheng, who was a member of the Hong Kong National Team for 6 years.
Jack Bennett who is currently ranked at 25 in England and comes from a well-known table tennis family from the Sussex area.
Ismaila Akindiya is a Nigerian national player who has had a wide range of International experience playing in Spain, Italy, Finland, Sweden, France and Poland as well as in his home country of Nigeria.

In the League Table, Ormeau from Northern Ireland currently lead the table with 19 points from 6 matches.  The current Champions, Urban, have 18 from 5, whilst Ormesby are third with 17 from 5.

A victory over BATTS followed by a win against Urban, when we visit London on the 9th March, would put us at the top of the table going into the play off section.

Please find attached a poster advertising the match.  There are more available at the Club.  Please advertise and promote the match as widely as possible.

The match against BATTS starts at 2:00 pm on the 23rd February.

Member and friends are welcome.

Best wishes,
Alan Ransome

Middlesbrough Town Hall 130th Celebrations

Ormesby Table Tennis Club helped in the Middlesbrough Town Hall 130th year Celebrations yesterday.

Five young players from the Hope Squad, Jack Millward, Finley Rozsas, Jack Hodgson, Jack Higgins and Arron Christie along with Malcolm, Gary and Brenda spent an afternoon in the newly refurbished Town Hall Crypt.

Photographer Julian Germain had visited Ormesby to take a picture of some players from the various groups who play at the club. The picture seen above will be given to the club with the stipulation that we have it framed and given a prominent place for people to see.

Many other clubs across the Middlesbrough area and covering a wide range of activities had also had there pictures taken and these too were displayed in the crypt.

One of the highlights of the afternoon  – a visit to one of the old prison cells.

Fortunately none of the boys were locked in  – so we will hopefully see them at their next training session.

Senior National Qualifications

Ormesby Juniors players had a very successful weekend at the qualification competition for the English Table Tennis Senior National Championships in Preston last weekend, with four of the youngsters qualifying for places in the Senior Championships.

Joe Cope left with Jack Burnett

Joe Cope excelled to win the main event, beating Jack Burnett of Sussex in the final and Joseph Langham-Ferreira from Surrey, in the semi-final.
This is Joe’s best tournament performance to date.

David Gofton also excelled to qualify by finishing sixth.  He won his opening group before losing to Joe Cope in the quarter-final.  Gofton also did well to beat team mate Josh Weatherby in the 5 to 8 play off section.

Josh Weatherby also qualified after winning his group, before losing to Israel Awolaja from Nottingham in the last sixteen, but by beating Ashley Facey-Thompson of Middlesex, he was able to finish in 7th position and win qualification.

Charlotte Weatherby

In the girl’s event, Charlotte Weatherby had an exceptional run against one of the current England youngsters Ruby Chan, and eventually went on to finish in seventh place with a victory over Gracie Edwards of Essex.

Alan Ransome OBE