Country Carnival
The tables were cleaned and the floors were mopped making way for the biggest event on Port Lincoln's table tennis calendar, the 2024 country carnival, held in Murray Bridge over the June long weekend. Battle lines were drawn and with both mens and womens A grade sides well represented, Lincoln had every chance to bring home some sugary dessert. Lincoln also fielded a C grade side which consisted of a team full of Atkins - Megan, Charlotte and Logan with the latter 2 representing Lincoln for their first time and doing very well with Charlotte winning 6 of her 9 matches, Megan winning 2, while Logan won his first!
There were 12 mens teams which were split into 3 groups with each team consisting of 3 players. On paper, the Lincoln mens team were drawn in a group of death with equally strong Mount Gambier who won the coveted event last year. Matt McLachlan (C), Darren Atkins and Dan Challinger were the men tasked this year with trying to bring home the holy grail and in their first matches of the day, each came away with a win after shaky starts.
They made light work of a Presidents and Barossa side defeating both of them 9-0 without each of our boys losing a set. The showdown between Lincoln and Mt Gambier was a different kettle of fish though with matches going every which way. Needing only 5 wins to get through to the round robin final, everyone needed to stand up and with Mt Gambiers gun, Leigh Barry beating all 3 of the Lincoln boys in 4 sets, Lincoln needed something special. Mt Gambiers Kevin Patzel using pimples defeated Darren Atkins in a seesawing 5 set thriller but that would be their last hurrah with Matt and Dan taking care of Patzel and then all 3 Lincoln boys giving the left handed Ben Newman a proper send off taking the tie 5 wins to 4 and getting to move onto the final vs 6 great southern players who all won their group stage rounds.
With 9 matches played just to make the final, everyone was starting to fatigue and with another 6 more to come in the final, it was going to be a survival of the fittest. With each team having to play each other, Lincoln didn't lose a match to the Great Southern 2 side which had talent but were just a bit out of their depth with Lincoln winning 9-0. The Southern 2 side did win 3 matches against the Southern 1 side but still lost 3-6, so they couldn't win.
Great Southern 1 side got off to the perfect start vs Lincoln with the country carnival king Chris Gorman and young gun Matthew Jackson both defeating Matt and Darren respectively in 5 sets but Dan got the team on the board fishing for a solid win over Tyrone Gorman for the team to trail 1-2 early on. The turning point came from when the king was dethroned with Dan Challinger taking charge and giving Gorman his first loss of the tournament then going on to throw Jackson in the frypan and send him back to his table hungry with a loss. With momentum well and truly in Lincoln’s sails, Matt McLachlan schooled Tyrone in 4 and played out of his skin in a fiery end to the clash with Jackson sending him straight to detention 11-9 in the 5th set. Darren did Tyrone's tax to finish the night and sent him off with a loss to have the final scoreline finishing at 6 wins to 3, Lincoln mens side becoming the 2024 country state table tennis champions for the first time since 2012.
All 3 Lincoln players made the prestigious top 10 rankings with Dan winning 6 from 6 in the final with an overall record of 14-1 to rank 2nd, Matt finished at 13-2 to rank 3rd and Darren 11-4 to rank 6th best in the country state.
It was nice to have a fairly strong A grade women’s side which consisted of Angelika Sederstrom, Vicky Mundy & Sally Kunze (C)
In round 1 against Mount Gambier, they all lost to the opposing number 1, Sirinat Sweet, but all beat the 2 & 3 Rayelene Hutchesson & teenager Jedda Hardcastle to get the first win on the board 6-3
The second bout was almost a carbon copy playing Great Southern, they all lost to the pimply bat of no.1 Jill Cunningham & all won against their 2 & 3 Flora Huang & Joy McKenzie. The PLTTA women’s second round result was also 6-3.
The fourth match-up was the most intimidating on paper, knowing that Murray Bridge fielded a strong team. Angelika stepped up a peg & beat Heather Richards, Tamara Attrill & frequent previous A-grade singles winner Laurette Norton. Vicki beat Tamara & Heather but lost to Laurette. Sally could only manage one win against Heather. The good team effort meant that that the result was still a 6-3 win. Optimism was high after this win, as Murray Bridge was thought to be the strongest opposition.
The last match-up was against Barossa & Light (after an interlude pick-me-up for Vicki, getting the anti-cramp pills & taking a bit of time for a calf massage).
Angelika managed to win all 3 again beating Jennifer Noack, Sharyn Cruickshank & Jedda Hardcastle. Vicki & Sally both won 2 each, both losing to Jennifer. Again a good team effort, this time the win was 7-2.
As the A grade women’s team was the only team to win all their rounds, they became the 2024 women’s A grade team champions. It was taxing playing 12 singles in the day with final results win / loss ratios: Angelika won 10/12, Vicki won 8/12 & Sally won 7/12, which was a great team effort meaning Angelika ended up being ranked 2nd, Vicki 6th & Sally 8th best in country state.
There were 12 mens teams which were split into 3 groups with each team consisting of 3 players. On paper, the Lincoln mens team were drawn in a group of death with equally strong Mount Gambier who won the coveted event last year. Matt McLachlan (C), Darren Atkins and Dan Challinger were the men tasked this year with trying to bring home the holy grail and in their first matches of the day, each came away with a win after shaky starts.
They made light work of a Presidents and Barossa side defeating both of them 9-0 without each of our boys losing a set. The showdown between Lincoln and Mt Gambier was a different kettle of fish though with matches going every which way. Needing only 5 wins to get through to the round robin final, everyone needed to stand up and with Mt Gambiers gun, Leigh Barry beating all 3 of the Lincoln boys in 4 sets, Lincoln needed something special. Mt Gambiers Kevin Patzel using pimples defeated Darren Atkins in a seesawing 5 set thriller but that would be their last hurrah with Matt and Dan taking care of Patzel and then all 3 Lincoln boys giving the left handed Ben Newman a proper send off taking the tie 5 wins to 4 and getting to move onto the final vs 6 great southern players who all won their group stage rounds.
With 9 matches played just to make the final, everyone was starting to fatigue and with another 6 more to come in the final, it was going to be a survival of the fittest. With each team having to play each other, Lincoln didn't lose a match to the Great Southern 2 side which had talent but were just a bit out of their depth with Lincoln winning 9-0. The Southern 2 side did win 3 matches against the Southern 1 side but still lost 3-6, so they couldn't win.
Great Southern 1 side got off to the perfect start vs Lincoln with the country carnival king Chris Gorman and young gun Matthew Jackson both defeating Matt and Darren respectively in 5 sets but Dan got the team on the board fishing for a solid win over Tyrone Gorman for the team to trail 1-2 early on. The turning point came from when the king was dethroned with Dan Challinger taking charge and giving Gorman his first loss of the tournament then going on to throw Jackson in the frypan and send him back to his table hungry with a loss. With momentum well and truly in Lincoln’s sails, Matt McLachlan schooled Tyrone in 4 and played out of his skin in a fiery end to the clash with Jackson sending him straight to detention 11-9 in the 5th set. Darren did Tyrone's tax to finish the night and sent him off with a loss to have the final scoreline finishing at 6 wins to 3, Lincoln mens side becoming the 2024 country state table tennis champions for the first time since 2012.
All 3 Lincoln players made the prestigious top 10 rankings with Dan winning 6 from 6 in the final with an overall record of 14-1 to rank 2nd, Matt finished at 13-2 to rank 3rd and Darren 11-4 to rank 6th best in the country state.
It was nice to have a fairly strong A grade women’s side which consisted of Angelika Sederstrom, Vicky Mundy & Sally Kunze (C)
In round 1 against Mount Gambier, they all lost to the opposing number 1, Sirinat Sweet, but all beat the 2 & 3 Rayelene Hutchesson & teenager Jedda Hardcastle to get the first win on the board 6-3
The second bout was almost a carbon copy playing Great Southern, they all lost to the pimply bat of no.1 Jill Cunningham & all won against their 2 & 3 Flora Huang & Joy McKenzie. The PLTTA women’s second round result was also 6-3.
The fourth match-up was the most intimidating on paper, knowing that Murray Bridge fielded a strong team. Angelika stepped up a peg & beat Heather Richards, Tamara Attrill & frequent previous A-grade singles winner Laurette Norton. Vicki beat Tamara & Heather but lost to Laurette. Sally could only manage one win against Heather. The good team effort meant that that the result was still a 6-3 win. Optimism was high after this win, as Murray Bridge was thought to be the strongest opposition.
The last match-up was against Barossa & Light (after an interlude pick-me-up for Vicki, getting the anti-cramp pills & taking a bit of time for a calf massage).
Angelika managed to win all 3 again beating Jennifer Noack, Sharyn Cruickshank & Jedda Hardcastle. Vicki & Sally both won 2 each, both losing to Jennifer. Again a good team effort, this time the win was 7-2.
As the A grade women’s team was the only team to win all their rounds, they became the 2024 women’s A grade team champions. It was taxing playing 12 singles in the day with final results win / loss ratios: Angelika won 10/12, Vicki won 8/12 & Sally won 7/12, which was a great team effort meaning Angelika ended up being ranked 2nd, Vicki 6th & Sally 8th best in country state.
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