THE season climaxed with the finale Woolwich Junior Table Tennis League Merit Competition and in B Division, Group One was extremely tight as Gary Blackburn, Jake Bolton and Adrian Bond all finished with two match wins each.

However, Gary came top because he won the most individual games and Jake was runner-up with the second most wins. This was very tough on Adrian especially as he actually beat Gary in the group 3-2.

In Group Two, Andrew Evans - the eventual winner - defeated Ben Caulfield, Robert Woodhead and Matthew Lyons to win the group. Ben was runner-up with two wins.

The first semi-final between Andrew and Jake ended with an easy straight game victory for Andrew. The second semi-final between Gary and Ben was much closer and went to five games. It was Gary who was triumphant, winning 11-3 in the fifth.

Gary was favourite in the final as he had previously beaten Andrew in the league. It was therefore a surprise when Andrew won comfortably in straight games 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 to be B Division Merit winner.

In A Division the competition was thrown wide open by the inexplicable absence of top two seeds Steven Riddiough and Matthew Hamer. In Group One Saqib Mehrban beat both Daniel Gorton and Adam Hek to win the group with Daniel finishing as runner-up.

In Group Two, Simon Walsh headed the group after defeating both Demha Ahmed and Simon McNamara. Demha beat Simon McNamara to finish runner-up and was unlucky to take no further part in the competition. He took both Simon Walsh and Demha to five games, but lost in the fifth on both occasions.

The first semi-final between Saqib and Demha ended with Saqib winning comfortably in straight games. The second semi-final between Simon Walsh and Daniel began with Daniel taking a surprise lead. In the second game Simon came back from 2-8 to win it 12-10. He then took the next two games to win 3-1. The final between Saqib and Simon lived up to expectations, twisting and turning in a five-game thriller. Simon took the first 11-9, but Saqib bounced back in the second 11-4.

He also took the third 11-7 but then it was Simon's turn to level it by winning the fourth 11-5. The fifth and final game was tense and couldn't have been closer, but it was Simon who eventually triumphed 11-9 to be crowned A Division merit winner.

Results - A Division (Group One): Saqib Mehrban 6 points, Daniel Gorton 4, Adak Hek 2. Group Two: Simon Walsh 6, Demha Ahmed 4, Simon McNamara 4.

Semi-finals: Saqib Mehrban 3, Demha Ahmed 0; Simon Walsh 3, Daniel Gorton 1.

Final: Saqib Mehrban 2, Simon Walsh 3.

B Division (Group One): Gary Blackburn 8, Jake Bolton 7, Adrian Bond 6, Tony Brazendale 1.

Group Two: Andrew Evans 9, Ben Caulfield 6, Robert Woodhead 5, Matthew Lyons 3.

Semi-finals: Andrew Evans 3, Jake Bolton 0; Gary Blackburn 3, Ben Caulfield 2.

Final: Gary Blackburn 0, Andrew Evans 3.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.