THE annual Basingstoke and District Table Tennis Association finals were hotly contested, writes STEVE ROLLASON.

The first game of the night was the super vets singles between Tony Brown and Paul Rattue.

They have played each other many times over the years and Rattue normally had the upper hand and this proved to be the case again.

However, Brown did take the first game 11-7 and was 10-6 up in the second before Rattue won it 12-10 the next two to take the title.

In the mixed doubles, Richard Fettes and Sue Purton took on Callum Coombs and Terri Allison.

Fettes and Purton are a quite regular mixed doubles partners, whereas Coombs and Allison were a scratch pairing.

It may have been the better understanding and teamwork that enabled Fettes and Purton to win 11-6, 11-7, 10-12, 11-3.

The Division One singles started with Justin Mead crashing to the floor during the first point, taking several of the barriers with him. This certainly did not help him as he lost to Rattue.

The game immediately before the half time break was the veterans singles between

Richard Fettes and Sean Pickin with Fettes taking the crown winning 11-6, 11-8, 11-6.

The next action was the men’s doubles. Rattue and Coombs took on Nick Webb and Justin Mead.

It took Mead and Webb two sets to settle into their game and by this time they were 2-0 down, 11-7, 11-3.

They played much better in the third which went all the way to the wire, but Rattue and Coombs had the edge, taking it 14-12.

The Ladies singles was next between Fallon Thompson and Celia Hooker. All three sets could have gone either way and the third was particularly close, finishing 15-13.

Thompson though, is the higher ranked of the two and she had the extra quality to edge out Hooker in each set.

The last match of the evening was the men’s singles final between Coombs and Steve Mills.

Both the first two sets were neck and neck, but Coombs edged out Mills 12-10, 11-8 and then won the third to take the title.