Trott lives up to top seed billing at Northamptonshire table tennis championships

Andy Trott lived up to his billing as top seed as he regained his men’s singles crown at Northamptonshire’s county closed table tennis tournament.

The Kettering & District Table Tennis League player saw off Northampton’s Andras Bayer in four ends in front of a crowd at Wellingborough’s Weavers Leisure Centre.

He had earlier eased past Darren Ward and Ryan Gaveglia to make it to the final, but his journey to the title had almost ended early in a dramatic second round clash.

Trott, ranked in the top 20 veterans in England, survived a huge scare to squeeze past 16th seed Gary Pells, from Smash Kettering, in a deciding end.

Nicole Bird made it 10 women’s singles titles in a row in a repeat of last year’s final against Becca George.

The Westfield star looked to be cruising to the trophy after winning the first two ends, only for Corby’s George to turn the game on its head to level it at 2-2.

But Bird turned on the style to ease home in a decider and add another trophy to her ever-growing cabinet.

Twelve-year-old sensation Prithvi Menon dominated the youth events, winning all six he could enter.

The England star, who is from Corby but now trains and studies in Lincolnshire, took the singles and doubles events in the under 13, under 15 and under 19 categories.

In the under 19 event on finals night he claimed a comfortable 3-0 win over Ben Aldridge.

The Smash Kettering duo of Alex Cochrane and Ryan Gaveglia won two thrilling matches in a row as they took the men’s doubles title.

They came from 2-1 down to defeat second seeds Andy Trott and Richard Elliott in the semi-final, before edging past Nick Howard and Craig Brown in the final to be crowned champions.

In the women’s doubles there was a big shock as favourites Nicole Bird and Jordan Moss fell in the last four to eventual champions Nicki Farrall and Becca George, who beat Corby club-mates Denise Jacobi and Brigitta Palinkas in another decider to win the event.

Bird did taste doubles success in the mixed event with Dan Smalley.

In the age-restricted events Andy Trott took the over 40s men’s title while Denise Jacobi won the over 40s women’s event.

Brian Wooding was unbeatable in the over 60 open singles and Alex Cochrane won the 19-39 singles event.

Further youth event champions included Swati Jethwa (under 19 girls’ singles), Janvi Katwa (under 15 girls’ singles) and Bart Koszyk (under 11 singles).

In the banded events Prithvi Menon made it seven titles after he defeated four Kettering Premier Division players to win the band one singles, while Alfie Chacksfield won the band four singles.

The remaining three banded singles were all won by Tosh Verma - he took the band two and three singles events before winning the band one doubles with Ethan Nguyen.

Northamptonshire County Table Tennis Association chair Henry Arthur said: “This year’s tournament was a tremendous success with a mammoth entry across the two days.

“The finals night was the most competitive for many years and I was very impressed with the high quality of table tennis on display.

“It was very pleasing to see some new names going onto the trophy this year.”

Event winners:

Men’s singles winner: Andy Trott, runner-up: Andras Bayer

Women’s singles winner: Nicole Bird, runner-up: Becca George

Men’s doubles winner: Alex Cochrane/Ryan Gaveglia, runner-up: Nick Howard/Craig Brown

Women’s doubles winner: Nicki Farrall/Becca George, runner-up: Denise Jacobi/Brigitta Palinkas

Mixed doubles winner: Dan Smalley/Nicole Bird, runner-up: Andy Trott/Jordan Moss

Over 40 men’s singles winner: Andy Trott, runner-up: Brian Wooding

Over 40 women’s singles winner: Denise Jacobi, runner-up: Brigitta Palinkas

Over 40 open doubles winner: Kevin Bird/Andras Bayer, runner-up: Martin Hall/Darren Ward

Over 60 open singles winner: Brian Wooding, runner-up: Iain Lindsay

Over 60 doubles winner: Gary Pells/Iain Lindsay, runner-up: Brian Wooding/Chris Stone

19-39 singles winner: Alex Cochrane, runner-up: Dan Smalley

19-39 doubles winner: Alex Cochrane/Becca George, runner-up: Nick Howard/Craig Brown

Under 19 boys’ singles winner: Prithvi Menon, runner-up: Ben Aldridge

Under 19 boys’ doubles winner: Prithvi Menon/Bart Koszyk, runner-up: Lucas Turnbull-Stubbs/Liam Constable

Under 19 girls’ singles winner: Swati Jethwa, runner-up: Meera Katwa

Under 19 girls’ doubles winner: Swati Jethwa/Meera Katwa, runner-up: Mia Wilson/Ella Bottrill

Under 15 boys’ singles winner: Prithvi Menon, runner-up: Adam Koszyk

Under 15 boys’ doubles winner: Prithvi Menon/Andrew Deathridge, runner-up: Adam Koszyk/Bart Koszyk

Under 15 girls’ singles winner: Janvi Katwa, runner-up: Mia Wilson

Under 13 boys’ singles winner: Prithvi Menon, runner-up: Bart Koszyk

Under 13 open doubles winner: Prithvi Menon/Mia Wilson, runner-up: Jaisal Patel/Shiv Jadeja

Under 11 singles winner: Bart Koszyk, runner-up: Darsh Gopal

Band 1 singles winner: Prithvi Menon, runner-up: Carl Leeson

Band 2 singles winner: Tosh Verma, runner-up: Ethan Nguyen

Band 3 singles winner: Tosh Verma, runner-up: Lewis Copp

Band 4 singles winner: Alfie Chacksfield, runner-up: Darsh Gopal

Band 1 doubles winner: Tosh Verma/Ethan Nguyen, runner-up: Matt Rushton/Ian Baldock