The 74th Annual Victorian Country Championships were held over the King’s Birthday long weekend at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium (GRISS) in Traralgon, showcasing 74 teams with some of the best players, and emerging talents from across regional Victoria.  

On Friday, 120 players from various clubs came together to have a team dinner at the Royal Exchange Hotel to kick off the weekend with some reunions and community connection. 

Saturday morning saw TTV COO Rachael Gopal commence the tournament with an opening ceremony alongside Latrobe City Mayor Sharon Gibson. Throughout the proceedings, players with outstanding dedication to table tennis, and other award recipients were recognized. Rob Thompson from the Traralgon Table Tennis Association, was awarded the Andrew Wilson Memorial Award, becoming the newest recipient of the award.  

 “The Andrew Wilson Memorial Award honours players who embody the values Andrew represented throughout their time in the sport – dedication, team spirit, and outstanding ambassadorship for regional table tennis,” said TTV COO Rachael Gopal. The Country Championships was one of Andrews favourite tournaments which is one of the many reasons why this award was infamously named after him. To this day, Andrew is still missed dearly by those who knew and were close to him.    

Bill Freeman was also recognized for over 60 years of dedication to the sport in his final year volunteering with the shields and trophies. 

The iconic event, once again delivered, with some incredibly close results and outstanding player performances, showcasing why the event is a fan favourite amongst the table tennis community.  

In the teams, Geelong took the Mark Smith A Grade Shield back from Albury/Wodonga after a massive final round dual on the Monday morning. Matt Avers was the A Grade Alan Cleaves Leading Player after a big weekend going undefeated. 

In B1, the Sunbury Ashes emerged victorious after going undefeated throughout the weekend with the Geelong Mariners finishing in second.  

All teams ladders can be found by clicking here. 

In the individual events, Max Geering defeated Matt Avers in the Men’s Singles final after being down 10-6 in the 5th set.  

Newcomer to the tournament Ronja Loebig took out the Women’s Singles title defeating Niva Udugama. 

In 2026 we changed the formatting to have the Doubles on Saturday night and the Singles on Sunday night which was received well. 

Finalists: 

Full results can be found here. 

A massive congratulations to all players on a huge weekend of table tennis. We thank every single one of you for coming along and contributing to making Country Week what it is. A special shoutout to all the members who stayed behind to help us pack down on Monday after the events – we all really appreciate your efforts. 

We also want to thank our partners at Latrobe City Council and Destination Gippsland for their contributions to making the weekend in Traralgon as optimal as possible for us. 

Bill Freeman played a huge role over the last 60 years coordinating Shields and Trophies to make sure that all winners receive the appropriate shields during the presentations. This was his final year volunteering with us and his efforts will not be forgotten. 

Thank you to Mary Legassick for sponsoring & presenting the Alan Cleaves Leading Player Medals to honour the legacy of her father Alan. 

We owe a huge thanks to Judy James Photography for Judy & Steve’s efforts throughout the weekend, making sure there's plenty of photos of all players to remember the event. Judy's photos will be available for purchase over the next few weeks once they have had some time to go through them all.

Lastly, we want to thank Affordable Table Tennis for coming to the event last minute and having a fantastic range of products on offer to choose from!