2016 RBK Mothernest Australian Open Veterans Table Tennis Championships

Report by Jennifer Aduckiewicz

We’re wacky table tennis vets who represent our states.

We band together once a year to battle with our mates.

As booze and snappy outfits and then air fares must be bought,

We’ll spend our kids’ inheritance without a second thought.

But whether we have trained in gyms, or in our local bars,

We’ve rocked up here believing we’re potential super stars.

Jill Wherry, South Australia

The 33rd Annual Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships were held at Netball Central, Olympic Park, Sydney from the 15th – 22nd October 2016. The event showcased the table tennis talents of over 400 players ranging in age from 0/30 to 0/80 and playing in both men’s and women’s categories. Players came from every state in Australia, from New Zealand, China, Vietnam, Wales, the USA and Japan to compete and build friendships. You could not miss the players who did not fit into a state team and joined one of the very colourful Presidents Teams.


Vietnam Players /
O/40 Women’s Doubles Qtr Final /
Presidents Players

Table Tennis NSW ran a wonderful tournament thanks to the many volunteers, the officials, organising committee, tournament controllers, Bev and Brian James, and our sponsors. This year the Australian Veterans Championships was sponsored by:

  • RBK & Mothernestpremium quality health care products. Many of the players visited their well-stocked display looking for remedies and advice.
  • SAN-EI table tennis equipment suppliers for world class tournaments.
  • NSW Government Sport and Recreation supporting table tennis for this major event.
  • TableTennisWorld.com,run by our own Paul Pinkewich, sponsored the “Outstanding Player Award” in each category.

For me the most outstanding Team result of the championships went to the 0/40 New Zealand Women’s team of Joanne Shaw, Sarah Sandley and Joanna Roberts who only lost one game throughout the week and were ranked 1, 2 and 3 in the 0/40 Women’s Order of Merit. Fantastic!

40 and Over Womens Teams Presentation.

One of the most amazing matches of the tournament was between The One China 2 and NSW in the 0/50 Men’s Teams.

Qui Jun Fan was outstanding winning 100% of his matches across the tournament. NSW players Wayne Heginbotham, Bill Robson and Peter Krigovsky knew they had to beat the other two Chinese 1 players of Jie Wang and Ding Tong. Both doubles were lost leaving the score at 4 all. With one rubber to play Peter Krigovsky lined up against Ding Tong. A nail biting finish and NSW had won 6:5. Bruce Judge and Ming Ming Li joined the celebrations. At the end of the championships NSW won gold and China 1 & 2 won silver and bronze. 50 and Over Mens Teams Presentation

The players came determined to do their best. There were pen grips and handshake holds, scary serves, fancy footwork and plain crazy shots but all played in a spirit of genuine friendship.

Ted Davis was the MC (master of cultures) for the medal presentations, successfully pronouncing all the names from Alice Abbas to Ai Qin Zhang. Special thanks to those representing Strathfield Council and toTony Houhliasfrom the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, David Mumford and James Ro from RBK and Peter Marriott, Will Goodier and Leonie Whiteford from TTA. We were grateful that theygave up their time to present the medals.

The Medal Presenters - “Thank You”

Table tennis is often a family sport with many siblings and spouses playing together. This year saw the Langley family from South Australia enjoy great success in the championships. Congratulations to Cynthia Langley and her son Paul who both took out gold medals in their respective age groups and were both awarded the No 1 position in the Order of Merit. Cynthia is the Chairperson of the national Veterans Committee so had a very busy week. Little Addison was suitably proud of her grandfather’s many medals.

Cynthia and Paul LangleyPaulPinkewichwith granddaughter, Addison

The National Veterans Committee in conjunction with the Tournament Controllers, Bev and Brian James, tracked the results of the Teams and Individual events throughout the week to determine the Order of Merit for each age group. Ratings Central recorded the highs and lows of player performances. The Ken Cole Player of the Year trophy was awarded to Case de Bondt from Victoria. Congratulations!

All results are available at this link: .

A fantastic week of terrific table tennis finished with a bang at Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL where we partied ‘til late. Good company, great food and a tireless DJ sapped the very last of our energy as Jill Wherry wrote:

But when the games are over, there’s a dinner so we’ll stay

And if our bods can stick the pace, we’ll dance till night is day.

Aching joints are soon forgotten as will power takes the strain.

A glass or two of bubbly helps to soothe the body’s pain.

But hard fought games both won and lost are bound to take their toll,

So when midnight approaches, there’s less rock and much more roll.

Special thanks to Renown Photography for providing the photographs. A wide range of photographs is available from their website .