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COUNTY NOTESBlackpool 3 Star Open Championships 
David Meads receives his prize from Stan Parr At the Stiga Blackpool 3 Star Open Championships held over the weekend of 23/24th April the entry was slightly down from past years, many juniors were at the English Schools Table Tennis Association Finals and with a full Grand Prix the weekend after this certainly did the tournament no favours. David Meads and Lindsey Reynolds became the top seeds due to the withdrawal of Paul Drinkhall, Andrew Rushton and Georgina Walker who were on an England team training camp in Germany. 
Kevin Dolder and David Meads in the Mens Final In the men’s open some unexpected faces started to appear in the later rounds – Mark Simpson the young fast left hander from Durham lost to Lancashire’s Kevin Dolder in the semi final 1-3 and Victor Imiseev of Hampshire lost out to David Meads 0-3 in the other semi final. In the men’s final David Meads showed he was the new kid on the block by stamping his authority over Kevin Dolder and beating him 3-0. 
Lindsey Thornton-Reynolds receives her prize from Stan Parr In the women’s open the top half of the draw became one grudge match after another as most of the players were from Cheshire – Gemma Lloyd on her way to the final beat Blackpool’s Tamar Seymour, and Alice Howard in a semi final thriller as Alice was leading 2-0 but Gemma found something extra and managed to scrape through 11-9 in the fifth. 
Lindsey Thornton-Reynolds and Gemma Lloyd in the Womens Final Lancashire’s Lindsey Reynolds in the other half of the draw took no prisoners and beat Judy Morley and Ros Carpenter 3-0 before winning 3-1 in the final against Gemma Lloyd. In the Under 21 Men’s Singles all the players were very hungry for success, David Meads and Andrew Leighton from the same club in Durham battled it out in the semi final with David Meads winning 3-0 whilst Derbyshire’s Sam Perry and Durham’s Chris Brown gave a spectacular display of corner to corner wide angle loops from the back of the court with Sam Perry coming out on top with a 3-1 win. A good crowd gathered for the Under 21 Men’s final as Sam Perry and David Meads battled it out in a thrilling match that went to the wire – Sam went ahead 2-1 and was looking confident but of course David had other ideas and managed to equal to 2-2 before moving up a gear in the fifth and winning 11-7. Hampshire’s Hannah Hicks made a name for herself by winning the Women’s Band 3, she caused problems for many players over the weekend with her style of play. Blackpool’s very own Tamar Seymour just lost out on the women’s band 1 title to Clare Langford 3-0. Many thanks go to Blackpool Borough Council and Stiga in conjunction with Thornton’s Sport and Leisure who’s support makes this event possible. A big thank you goes to the organising team of Blackpool’s Martin Ireland, Mick Parker and Ron Bennet along with Referee Ken Armson MBE, Deputy Referee Brian Jackson, Faith Moore and the umpires who’s dedication and hard work throughout made the event run smoothly as always. Results :
Report by Dave Cochrane
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