TTV INTRODUCES THE ‘RUTH SINGER OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR’ & ‘ST KILDA CRICKET TABLE TENNIS CLUB AFFILIATE OF THE YEAR’ AWARDS

PUBLISHED WED 10 NOV 2021

We are extremely pleased to announce we have made two additions to the Table Tennis Victoria Annual Awards. We have added the ‘Ruth Singer Official of the Year’ Award and the ‘St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club Affiliate of the Year’ Award.

Ruth has been an International Umpire since 1980 and became a National Referee not long after and has also served as the VTTUL secretary for more than three decades.

She has umpired at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics and multiple World Championships all over the globe including Miami, Glasgow, England, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Norway, and was the only non-Israeli umpire to be invited to officiate the Maccabi Games.

As a player, she has been a member of St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club for over 30 years and has officiated numerous Oceania and National events over her long and illustrious career. She is certainly worthy of having her name connected with the Official of the Year Award.

When asked how she felt about having a TTV award named after Ruth said:

“The only word I can think of when I was told about this is ‘overwhelmed’. It is an honour to have this award named after me and I am overwhelmed and speechless.”

The other addition to TTV’s annual awards is the ‘St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club’ Affiliate of the Year Award. The St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club has grown into one of the most successful and well-known clubs in Victoria since it began close to 90 years ago in 1933.

Since its inception, the club has gone on to win more Winter “A” / Metro 1 premierships than any other and was also the first club to have dual Australian National Singles Champions – Kerry Thompson and Bob Tuckett back in 1979.

With its long and impressive history, TTV felt it fitting the Affiliate of the Year Award to be named after the club.

“With what Ruth has done for officiating and for table tennis in Victoria and what St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club has been able to achieve over such a long period of time we felt they were the perfect choices for these new awards.

“We can’t wait to hand them to the inaugural winners.” Said TTV ECO Claire Montgomery.