Press Correspondent:   Peter Thompson      
ETTA Senior Coach
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Titles Galore for Pudsey at Leeds Closed Championships

The Leeds Closed Championship marked the start of table Tennis at the new centre for table tennis in Leeds at Richmond Hill on Sunday.  Pudsey players dominated the event with Yorkshire county captain Richard Smith as the star performer.

Richard, the defending Leeds Men’s Singles champion reached the final where he faced his doubles team mate Chris Parker. Parker had come through the groups from an unseeded position and had put out the number two seed Ivan Lewis in the semi-final. Smith took an early lead in the first game 9-4 but Parker managed to claw the game back and took the first end. It soon became 2-0 but Smith battled his way back winning the third 11-9. His stronger all round game eventually giving him the title with a 3-2 victory.

Smith and Parker combined in the Men’s Doubles to take the title with a 3-1 victory over Leeds Judean Players Julian Gittens and Yoni Casper. Richard Smith made it a hat-trick of titles winning the new handicap event for the divisions one to three players with a victory over Julian Gittens.

Four more titles were won by Pudsey Players. In a round Robin event the Ladies Singles winner was county player Linda Sanderson. The Mixed Doubles was won by Doug Bartle and Sandra Rider. Lynne Thompson from Pudsey combined with Neil Harris from MPMG to win the Handicap Doubles event. James Atkins picked up the Junior Boys title.