The Tornadoes were the warm favourites on finals night at the Noosa Table Tennis Club. They had dominated proceedings during the rounds and were expected to prevail over their less credentialled rivals, the Magicians. However finals night at the club has a habit of being full of surprises. And so it proved to be. It was a night of mixed fortunes, the winner only known at the eleventh hour.
Early in the night saw the clash of two club heavyweights with Jonas Campbell taking out Steve Gardner 11-8, 14-12, 4-11, 11-9. This was the start of a run for the Magicians winning 8 of the next 11 matches to establish a handy 9-6 lead. In this run Rita Malik for the Magicians had just got home against the better performing Joe Laffey, winning 9-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 13-11.
However it was Martyn Clarke, the Jerkyll and Hyde of Noosa table tennis, who stopped the rot. He unexpectedly beat his eternal rival Jonas Campbell winning 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8.
The Tornadoes continued to drag themselves back into contention to make it 9 all. The tide had turned. The Tornadoes now looked to be in the box seat as the three remaining matches heavily favoured them. However the Tornadoes had not factored in the upset of the night that was about to befall them.
And it was Rita Malik who again did the damage, doing the near impossible and taking the shine off Martyn Clarke’s earlier triumph winning 11-9. 11-9, 4-11, 4-11, 11-3. In the end the Magicians had one trick too many, ultimately prevailing 11-10 on the night.
Player of the match was Rita Malik who proved to be wafer-thing difference between the two teams.
