The 2020 Croydon Open Masters were held last weekend between March 7 and 9 at the Kilsyth International Table Tennis Stadium. Three days of great table tennis highlighted our long weekend with the Juniors starting the three-day event on Saturday, the Veterans hit the tables on Sunday with the Seniors closing out the action on Monday.

Open Junior Championships

On Saturday March 7, 80 juniors competed in a total of 303 matches across 21 different events.

Geelong’s Richard Li was one of the big winners as he claimed three impressive first place finishes. Li won the Under 18 Boy’s Singles defeating Rocky Chen in four sets, he also won the Open Boy’s Singles and Division 1 Singles.

Lucas Lum (Croydon) also took home three winners’ trophies by taking out the Under 15 Boy’s Singles, Under 13’s Boy’s Singles and the Under 18 Mixed Doubles with Dandenong’s Connie Psihogios.

On top of her gold with Lum in the Under 18 Mixed Doubles, Psihogios also finished with two silvers in the Under 18 and Under 15 Girl’s Singles.

Dandenong’s Ellen Walker defeated Psihogios to win the Under 18’s Girl’s Singles and also won the Division 2 Singles.

Sisters Olivia and Hannah Green (LOOPS) won the Under 15’s Girl’s Doubles and each took home a single’s win with Olivia getting the victory in the Under 15’s Singles while Hannah claimed the Open Girl’s Singles trophy.

Open Veterans Championships

The Veterans hit the tables on Sunday March 8 as 93 players played 248 singles matches and 40 doubles matches to decide the winners of 35 separate events.

Croydon’s Pam Tait was dominant as she took out three singles titles and two doubles victories. She won the Over 70, Over 75 and Over 80 Women’s Singles as well as the Over 60-70 and Over 80 Mixed Doubles.

Simon Johnson (Warrnambool), Be Phu Huynh (Vietnamese TTA) and Igor Klaf (Albert Park) were also amongst the players who had exceptional days, the trio each taking out four titles.

Johnson won the Over 30, Over 40 and Division 1 Singles as well as the Over 30 Men’s Doubles with Adam Zheng Fu.

Phu Huynh took out the Over 50, Over 60 Men’s Singles as well as the Over 40-50 and Over 60 Men’s Doubles with Mikhail Geller (LOOPS).

Klaf won the Over 80 Mixed and Over 75 Doubles and the Over 75 and Over 80 Men’s Singles titles. 

Open Senior Championships

For the Seniors, India’s Sanish Ambekar defeated Croydon’s Luke Cosgriff in four sets to win the Men’s Singles title. Cosgriff defeated number three seed David Powell (Croydon) and top seed Heming Hu (Dandenong) on his way to a very respectable second place. Ambekar beat Geelong’s Richard Li and Loops’ Xavier Dixon on his way to the final.

Cosgriff did not go home without a win as he claimed the Division 1 Singles title.

Chermaine Quah (LOOPS) won the Women’s Singles event winning both of her matches in four sets. Quah also won the Women’s Doubles with Jenny Langridge (Croydon). Langridge also took out the Mixed Doubles title with David Powell.

Richard Li added to his trophy haul from Saturday with a win against Sunraysia’s Matt Avers in the final of the Under 21 Men’s Singles.

The Vic team pairing of Xavier Dixon and Dillon Chambers (Croydon) were dominant on their way to a win in the Men’s Doubles.

“The Croydon Masters is always a smoothly run and thoroughly enjoyable tournament for all involved each year,” said CDTTA President Tracy Gardner.

“Players are treated to high quality matches, both in who they get to play and who’s also there to watch. Seeing local Luke Cosgriff knock off two Olympians on his way to the final of the Men’s Singles drew many spectators!” said Tracy Gardner, CDTTA President.

“With only two more tournaments to go before the Junior State Teams are selected, it was fantastic to see the rising quality of players at the Junior event and the team spirit between so many players from different clubs supporting each other throughout the day,” said Junior Team Manager and TTV Events & Clubs Officer Claire Montgomery.

“It was especially great to see the support between the players who take part in the high-performance sessions.”

All photos taken by Judy James / @JJsPhotographyEvents