The 2023 Ballarat Open Veterans was played last Sunday, the 25^th of June with 121 participants flocking to the Ballarat Table Tennis Centre for some enthralling table tennis.

Play kicked off at 9:00am with all the singles matches taking place.

In the Over 40 Men’s Singles, it was David Segal defeating Simon Johnson 3 sets to 1 with Lydia Liu taking out the Women’s Singles in a gruelling 5-set affair, with Liu coming back from 2 sets to 1, winning the final two sets, taking home the medal.

Liu then went on to win again later in the day in the Over 30 Women’s Singles, defeating Yoke-Ching Tan in the final 3 sets to 1 with Craig Carter taking out the Men’s Singles, defeating Simon Johnson 3 sets to 1.

In the Over 60’s Men’s and Women’s it was You You Wang and Debbie Wilson who took home the chocolates respectively.

In some of the other single’s categories, Warren Woolcock took out the Over 70 Men’s, Daisy O’Bryan won the Over 70-80 Women’s and Buddy Reid won the Over 80-85 Singles.

Moving into the double’s fixtures and it was finally a chance for some success for Simon Johnson who won the Over 30 Men’s Doubles with Stephen Warr defeating Craig Carter and Jairo Vergara in straight sets. In the Women’s, it was Shantelle Hives and Kate Carmichael winning in a see-sawing match, 3 sets to 2.

Ballarat Stadium Manager Adam Pegg also saw some success, taking out the Over 40 Men’s Doubles with Leon Forrest in straight sets.

In some of the other doubles categories, Belinda Strong and A Brindley won the Over 50 Women’s, Jeff Dever and David Brand won the Over 60 Men’s, Debbie Wilson and Vicki Carruthers won the Over 60-65 Women’s and Buddy Reid and Igor Klaf took out the Over 70-80 Men’s Doubles.

You can view the Veterans results HERE

"This weekend saw Ballarat turn on the phenomenal weather that it is famous for to welcome the almost 120 players for the 2023 Ballarat Veterans tournament," said Ballarat Stadium Manager Adam Pegg.

With some fantastic close battles throughout the day we saw some elated winners coming through with memorable victories."

"Thanks to Claire and Alan who oversaw the tournament in their roles as Tournament controller and referee it was a very smooth tournament resulting in very happy and tired players at the end of the day's play."

The Victorian Closed Veterans is the next batch of table tennis on the state tournament circuit and is set to be an exciting day for all.