Stage Set for Action-Packed Conclusion to 2025

The last season for the year in open grade will hit-off at the Leichhardt Park Table Tennis Centre this week and the city’s regular competitors will be out to try to win a premiership flag. With the club’s annual presentation of trophies being held on Friday evening 05 December, it’s obvious that some players who have not been involved in winning teams so far this year don’t have all that long to go to try to win a fixture gold medal.

With the third season of the local club’s weekly fixture competition concluding just prior to the Term 3 school holidays, the victorious squad of Matthew Pettett, Monica Deeth, Linda O’Sullivan and Julien Wright will be full of hope that each of them can conjure another flag this year, however if they do it will be done separately as rarely do players line up in the same team in consecutive seasons. Added to that is the fact that the upcoming fixture will be a three-person per side format with each player taking part in two doubles ties and one singles bout against their opposite number.

One very important activity for locals at this time of the year is the annual intercity clash between the Bundy and Rocky clubs. This contest has been staged for in excess of fifty years and it has not lost its importance. The competition is run on a home and away basis in alternative years and this time the southerners have to do the travelling. Usually travelling carries a degree of difficulty in terms of player-availability so the locals will be hoping for success. Bundaberg currently holds the new shield that came into being at last year’s team match contest in the Rum City. This trophy has been named the “Bulls versus Bears Shield” and follows on from the Eric Cree Shield which was in place for in excess of twenty-five years after taking over from the original Trevor White Shield.

School children from Central Queensland can enter the regional play-offs for this year’s Queensland Schools Championships. Events are being staged at Bundaberg, Townsville, Gold Coast and for schools in the greater Brisbane area at the huge South Pine Sports Centre. In addition, the Rocky event will be played-out on Friday 31 October. The winning teams in the various divisions at each regional event will play in the state finals on Friday 28 November in Brisbane.

Also catering for young players, the local association is holding a Hopes Event on Saturday 15 November at the Leichhardt Park playing centre and appropriate members of clubs in this region will be invited to take part. This initiative is aimed at children twelve years of age and under and is a product of the sport’s International Federation.

Last weekend the Mackay association hosted a Northern Challenge tournament with players from Rocky to Cairns invited to take part in teams and individual singles events. Ann-Louise Stewart put the Rocky club’s name in the forefront when she won the singles event over Mackay’s improving youngster Lily Boland. However, she had a tough time in reaching the final as another local hope in Warun Wilkinson pushed her to five long sets at the semi-finals stage. Jeffrey Jordan was one of Boland’s victims when she ousted him in the quarter-finals and Paul Fletcher did well to reach the final of the consolation singles, just missing out on the gold medal in a 5 set marathon.