Record for veteran Carmichael

ROUND 16

THE final round of table tennis prior to the finals provided several highlights and surprises including form team ladder leader Regional Taxation Services losing 3-8 to third placed Weightmans Packaging who were on fire, while bottom team Choices Flooring Mildura led by Wayne Carmichael won three singles, proved too good just, for second team Mallee Bearings.

In this round, Carmichael by avenging an earlier in the season loss to Arhuang Lau has won the singles aggregate for a record twenty fourth time, this is an amazing achievement by the veteran with his first win dating back to 1988. In recent years he has had to recover from three hip replacements and has still been able to maintain the pressure on Sunraysia’s leading players.

The match against Lau was high class as Lau played some excellent table tennis only for Carmichael to counter some aggressive forehands from his opponent. While this match was played, Weightmans Shannon Bowen and Regional Taxation Services number one Matt Ljubic put on their own show with an outstanding five setter won by Bowen who is firing at the right end of the season.

On the table next to these two, Tankard’s Kate Carmichael recovered from a two game deficit against Cookes Pools & Spas number one Jackson Tung to win 12-10 in the fifth.

In the biggest upset of the night Weightmans Packaging were quick out of the blocks against first placed Regional Taxation Services leading at one stage 3-1 and then 4-2 before taking complete control winning the last four rubbers, the final scoreline 8-3. For the victors Shannon Bowen had a huge night winning three singles as well as taking part in both doubles’ victories. Bowen received excellent support from teammates Reece Kurrle and Lee Leeson who won two and one singles respectively.

Bowen and Kurrle after losing their doubles matches in the first three rounds of the season have now strung together twelve wins in succession, a formidable record in this important component of the game.

In a further unexpected result, bottom team Choices Flooring Mildura just edged out second placed Mallee Bearings 6-5 in a thriller. As mentioned earlier Choice’s skipper Wayne Carmichael was in great form winning three singles but to grab victory, he needed support from his teammates. Fill in from pennant two Jason Gifkins played a key role in the victory by combining with Carmichael to win the second doubles.

With the match at five rubbers all, Gifkins was matched up against Josh Arnold who was filling in this pennant for the first time, and what a match this proved to be with Arnold taking the first two games by the narrowest of margins by blunting Gifkins looping forehands.

With the four points slipping away Gifkins needed to lift and lift he did by controlling the third and fourth to level the match at two games all. With a good crowd watching on, both players while nervous battled on and in the closest finish possible it was Gifkins who had completed a memorable comeback to win 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 13-11 an eventful finish.

For Mallee Bearings Lau and Mark Dorman won two singles each as well as winning their doubles however it was not quite enough, this had been a strong finish to the season for the Choices Flooring Mildura team.

In a further close result Cookes Pools & Spas retained fourth position on the ladder with a narrow 6-5 win over Tankard Dental, this was despite Tankards at one stage leading 4-2. While the doubles were shared Cookes scored the win by Jackson Tung and Paul Kealley winning two singles each while number three Russell Walder outlasted fill in Casper McCarthy when the scores were at five rubbers all.

Walder has enjoyed a solid season, and the second doubles was crucial when he combined with Tung to defeat Kate Carmichael and McCarthy 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10.

Earlier Carmichael and Tung had played a high class five set contest. Tung was out of the blocks early taking the first two games comfortably before Carmichael decided to lift and she was able to grab the third and fourth. In the fifth she looked home leading 8-5 before Tung played well to level at 8 all, Carmichael snatched the next two points and then Tung again levelled at ten all before Carmichael won the next two points winning 4-11, 7-11, 1-8, 11-8, 12-10 in a great match.

At the weekend these two had combined to win the Ballarat Over 30s mixed doubles title, this time they were at the opposite end of the table.Sunraysia Table Tennis 2025 Winter Pennant results Round 16: –

PENNANT ONE: – Weightmans Packaging 8 (Shannon Bowen 3, Reece Kurrle 2, Lee Leeson 1) d Regional Taxation Services 3 (Matt Ljubic 2, Jamie Kealley 1); Cookes Pools & Spas 6 (Jackson Tung, Paul Kealley 2, Russell Walder 1) d Tankard Dental 5 (Kate Carmichael 3, Edi Re 1); Choices Flooring Mildura 6 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Liam Wood, Jason Gifkins 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Arhuang (Wong) Lau, Mark Dorman 2)

PENNANT TWO: – Cookes Pools & Spas 7 (Duy Truong 3, Quentin Clark 2) d Pinnacle Packers 4 (Marcus Cimino 2, Peter Midgley, James Jarvis 1); Choices Flooring Mildura 7 (Terry Martin 3, Ashley Morrison 2) d Weightmans Packaging 4 (John Fitzpatrick 2, Sony Sefer, Therese Fitzpatrick 1)

PENNANT THREE: – Sammy’s Slammers 6 (Ryan Hensgen 2, Brenden Johnson, Leo Parker 1) d Regional Taxation Services 5 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick 3, Sam Campbell, Hayden Wilson 1); Exposed Signage/Apparel 9 (Karly Leach. Deegan Kerslake 3, Brenden Johnson 1) d Weightmans Packaging 2 (Nick Kiapekos, Steve Parker 1)

PENNANT FOUR: – Tankard Dental 8 (Tom Gilmour 3, Leanne Wilson 2. Jakob Grzan 1) d Weightmans Packaging 3 (Gary Leach, Michael Hensgen, Eddy Parker 1); Mallee Meats 8 (Curtis Crabtree 3, Nathan Beard 2, Raylee Waugh 1) d Dunkley Scales 3 (Maria Starikov 2, Jenny Leach 1)

LADDERS ROUND 14

PENANNT 1

Regional Taxation Services 52

Mallee Bearings 36

Cookes Pools & Spas 36

Weightmans Packaging 36

Tankard Dental 16

Choices Flooring Mildura 16

PENANNT 2

Mallee Meats 36

Choices Flooring Mildura 32

Weightmans Packaging 28

Cookes Pools & Spas 20

Pinnacle Packers 12

PENNANT 3

Weightmans Packaging 52

Exposed Signage/Apparel 48

Regional Taxation Services 20

Sammy’s Slammers 08

PENNANT 4

Tankard Dental 56

Weightmans Packaging 44

Mallee Meats 20

Dunkley Scales 08For further information on Table Tennis contact Gavin Carmichael 0408 237 907.