Andrew Rushton wins STIGA Blackpool 3 Star Open
11th April 2005
By Tony Meredith

Andrew Rushton receiving the winner’s trophy and a cheque
for £295 from Blackpool TTC Chairman Mick Parker

At the STIGA Blackpool 3 Star Open Championships, which were held at the popular Blackpool Sports Centre over 9/10 April, players from all over Britain and overseas were in attendance to give a top class display of Table Tennis.

Australian William Henzell headed the line up with England International Andrew Rushton from Manchester the main challenger. Warwickshire’s Kelly Sibley, who recently competed in the European Championships, was the top woman with Hungarian Barbara Kiss the other main seed. Lancashire’s Lindsey Thornton was unseeded but went down in the quarter-final to Yorkshire’s Joanna Roberts.
No.1 seed Henzell overcame surprise semi-finalist Chris Ford from Liverpool in straight games and Manchester’s Andrew Rushton battled his way past Hungarian Gergeley Urban after dropping the second game. Rushton proved too strong for Aussie Henzell in the final, winning in straight games.

Women's Singles winner Barbara Kiss receiving the winner’s trophy
and a cheque for £180 from Blackpool TTC Chairman Mick Parker

England International Kelly Sibley had a tough match against Yorkshire’s Joanna Roberts in her semi-final encounter winning in 3 straight but all three games were tight.
Barbara Kiss was given a run for her money by Cheshire’s Gemma Lloyd in the other semi with Kiss running out winner by 3 games to 1. The final was the best match of the day with both players counter hitting and the third game reaching a scoreline of 18-16 in favour of Kiss who came good in the deciding end, triumphing 11-8.

Liverpool’s Chris Ford ended a very successful day by winning the veteran’s singles over Oxford’s Jeff Rigby in straight games. He had earlier beaten top ranked Bryn Drinkhall from Cleveland in the quarter-final of the main event. Drinkhall made amends in the under-21 event when he beat Chris Brown of Cornwall and Kelly Sibley overcame Cheshire’s Karen Shepherd in the under-21 womens.

Blackpool’s Stuart Walker appeared in the men’s singles band 6 and excelled to reach the final where he went down to Yorkshire’s Sean Madden 8 in the deciding game.

Results:-

Mens Singles: Andrew Rushton bt William Henzell 9,8,2.
Womens Singles: Barbara Kiss bt Kelly Sibley –9, 8, 16, -19, 6.
Under-21 Mens Singles: Bryn Drinkhall bt Chris Brown 7, 8, 10.
Under-21 Womens Singles: Kelly Sibley bt Karen Shepherd 1, 5, -7, 6.
Veterans Singles: Chris Ford bt Jeff Rigby 4, 1, 8.
Mens Singles Band 1: Abdul Wuraola (Sy) bt Shaun Marples (Dy) 8, 10, 8.
Mens Singles Band 2: Chris Ford bt Keith Bird (Dy) 5, 4, 7.
Mens Singles Band 3: Lee Horton (Wo) bt Earl Sweeney (La) 10, 2, 2.
Mens Singles Band 4: Jeff Rigby bt Gavin Lioyd (Ch) 9, 7, -9, 6.
Mens Singles Band 5: Steve Lyons (La) bt Eddie Crowley (La) 6, 8, 10.
Mens Singles Band 6: Sean Madden bt Stuart Walker 7, 8, -9, -2, 8.
Womens Singles Band 1: Joanna Roberts bt Alice Howard (Ch) 10, -2, 9, 8.
Womens Singles Band 2: Corinna Whitaker (SCO) bt Fiona Dennett (Ch) –7, 7, 12, -14, 9.