2026 Closed Championship Ends in The Unimaginable
The 2026 edition of the city’s annual closed table tennis championships wound up last week at the local playing centre on Leichhardt Park on Campbell Street. With Ann-Louise Stewart and James O’Sullivan figuring prominently in the women’s open singles and veteran singles and doubles events that were decided during the first week of competition a few others got their names on major medals, however this pair still created some solid performances during the second week of the tournament.
The premier men’s open singles was finalised as per the program, however the grand final did not unfold as the players and onlookers would have anticipated or imagined. Following the round-robin series the previous week to sort out which players would qualify for the round of eight to compete for men’s singles club champion as opposed to the consolation singles, plenty of good matches were witnessed in the closing stages of this major event.
Matthew Pettett and Rayden Smith had already qualified for the semi-finals due to entry-numbers. Emerging youth player Cooper Bulow outlasted Nick Green in the quarters
11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8 in a clash that featured an abundance of great plays from both contestants to qualify for the semi-finals against the title holder in Pettett. James O’Sullivan had too many tricks for Jakob Baker in the other quarter on the card and he won over straight sets that all had narrow score-lines to have a shot at the second seeded Smith.
In the semis Pettett was just too strong on all fronts for Bulow to win three-zero and Smith pretty much set up the same situation against O’Sullivan, who has beaten him in past fixture encounters.
This set up the same final as in last year’s competition where Pettett won across four games in a best of five rubber contest against the player who he went through the junior and youth categories with where they were regular training partners when they were very busy on the state tournament circuit at these lower age-levels. Both represented the state and their regular practice sessions kept them in fine fettle over a number of years.
The play-off was looking in Pettett’s favour when he lead by two sets to nil 11-6, 11-6. In the third game Smith appeared to be mounting a potential come-back into the clash when he had a 10 points to 8 cushion and needing a point to win the game at that stage. During that rally Pettett went for a forehand drive shot and succumbed to a shoulder injury which ultimately did not allow him to continue the match. The outcome was that the title-holder could not continue in the match and Smith was awarded the title.
Earlier in proceedings Pettett had partnered Chris Leitner to victory in the open doubles event. This pair, who were the title holders, entered the comp as top seeds and took on the second favourite pairing of Dane Coughlan and Allan Clarke in the final for the second year in a row. In earlier clashes the Pettett/Leitner combination outed Cooper Bulow and Tom Tonkin after these youngsters had surprisingly beaten James and Linda O’Sullivan (11-9 in the decider) after downing another solid combination of Glen McDonald and Warun Wilkinson 11-9 in the fifth set after trailing two-zero.
On the other side of the draw the passage of Coughlan and Clarke was challenging as they narrowly defeated Jakob Baker and Nick Green 11-8 in the deciding fifth set in the quarters and outlasted Rayden Smith and Pam Clarke over four very close sets in the semis.
The consolation singles event which includes players who do not make it through to the main draws of both the men’s and singles open events was again hotly contested and finished with a very good final where Chris Leitner posted a great win over Glen McDonald 13-15, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7.
Leitner, who emerged from an unseeded position, earned his pot in the play-off after he prevailed over the reliable game of Julien Wright over four sets prior to overcoming Warun Wilkinson in another close four-game encounter and then knocking Pam Clarke out of contention in the semis. McDonald’s earlier victims included Linda O’Sullivan, who had earlier beaten the vastly improved Sajan Baral 12-10 in the decider, and Jeff Jordan, after he qualified for the semis on outlasting veteran Allan Clarke over five lengthy sets.
