The 2024 Veterans National Championships took place from 14th September to 21st September at Silverdome in Launceston, Tasmania. 

This year, Victoria sent a team of 83 of our best players from across almost all age categories, earning a medal in nearly all the Teams events! 

The Teams competition began on Saturday with all our teams rearing to go, after significant anticipation and build up throughout the year. 

Victorian State Team Manager Frank Pearce shared his satisfaction of the tournament stating, “at the conclusion of our teams events it was a bit of a sea of blue on the podium with Victoria medaling in nearly every event.” 

“We are currently halfway through the mixed doubles events with lots of pairs going strong, and we have a really coherent team this year. Everyone has bought a positive vibe to the tournament and I have enjoyed every minute of it!” added Pearce. 

Teams Finalists: 

Congratulations to all players who took part in the Teams competition on an incredible effort. 

Full results here 

In the individual tournament we saw some further incredible performances. 

Craig Carter & Cheryl Huang narrowly missed out on a Gold in the Over 30 Mixed Doubles, defeated by Barry Griffiths (NZL) & Beck Bennett (WA) in 3 games, with the pair also defeating Zankar Pandya & Christina Xiong in the Over 40 Mixed Doubles Gold Medal match. 

Igor Klaf & Maureen Fischer won Gold in the Over 85 Mixed Doubles, defeating Colin Geraghty (VIC) & Roma James (WA) in 4 games.  

Also in the doubles, Zankar Pandya & Simon Johnson won Gold in the Over 30’s & Over 40’s Men's, an incredible effort from the duo.  

Belgin Bennett won gold in the Over 60 Women’s Doubles, with Mick Wright taking home Gold in the Over 80 Men’s Doubles and Igor Klaf bringing home Gold in the Over 85’s. 

TTV Board Member & Veterans player Rhys Thomas had an impressive debut in the Over 30 Men’s Singles, reaching the final where he unfortunately lost to Anthony Doldo (SA) in 4 games.  

We briefly spoke with Rhys about how he felt the tournament went and he shared that “this was my first Veterans Nationals, and it was a pleasure to be involved. The level of competition was high but the tournament’s atmosphere always stayed friendly.” 

“It was great to see and cheer on so many incredible Victorian performances. For me, personally, our O30s triumph over New Zealand to win gold is a memory I’ll cherish forever” added Thomas. 

Simon Johnson narrowly missed out on a Gold in the Over 40 Men’s Singles in a tough match against Paul Langley (SA). 

Lydia Liu was the runner-up in the Over 40 Women’s Singles after suffering defeat to Beck Bennett (WA).  

Brian Berry was victorious in the Over 70 Men’s Singles beating Chau-Hung Wong (NSW) in a 5-game showdown. To cap off the tournament, Igor Klaf won Gold in the Over 85 singles after being victorious over Thong Teck Lee (NT) in 3 games. 

Full results from the individual events here 

TTV Participation & Marketing Officer Noah Newnham was in attendance for some of the week in Launceston and stated that “it was incredible to see the elite level of play across all age groups at the tournament.” 

“I loved being a part of the great community spirit surrounding the Nationals, and I would like to recognise and thank all players, volunteers and TTA staff for putting together an incredible week of table tennis.” 

We now turn our attention to the Hamilton Junior/Senior Open and Victorian Closed Junior/Senior/Para upcoming in October!