1st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships 1971
(Singapore)

There was drama right from the arrival of teams at Paya Lebar Airport as England arrived without their top two men, who had withdrawn virtually 'on the airport steps' when the English party had extended the Far East tour by a week, in order to be one of the first teams to play in China. However, a travelling supporter, Alan Ransome (now chairman of the CTTF), was brought into the English team on Day 1, until theit reserve arrived to play on Day 2.

Both English teams won their respective team events, but not before some anxious moments early on. At one stage, their men were down 1-4 to an inspired Indian team and on an adjoining table their women were down 1-2 to Canada. I didn't know which table to watch!

After England's darkest hour came the dawn. England's new arrival Tony Clayton, defeated India's No. 1 Mir Khasim Ali in the 9th tie with the match at 2-2. Karenza Matthews trailing 18-20 against Canada's Helen Simeri, struck 4 winners to take the match 3-2.

In the Men's event England won Gold, Hong Kong won Silver and India the Bronze. England also won the Women's event with New Zealand taking Silver and Malaysia the Bronze.

All the individual Golds were won by England. India's Mir Khasim Ali beat G. Jagannath in one semi-final and lost the final to England's Trevor Taylor. Another good result for India was in the Women's Doubles when Kaity Chargeman (now Mrs. Kodaji) and Rupa Mukarjee (now Mrs. Bannerjee) won the silver. England's Jill Shirley (now Mrs. Parker) won the Women's Gold.

Results at a Glance:

Men's Team Champion - England
Women's Team Champion - England
Men's Singles Champion - Trevor Taylor (England)
Women's Singles Champion - Jill Shirley (England)
Men's Doubles Champion - Alan Hydes / Trevor Taylor (England)
Women's Doubles Champion - Karenza Matthews / Pauline Piddock (England)
Mixed Doubles Champion - Alan Hydes / Pauline Piddock (England)

England - 7 titles

Trevor Taylor (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Singles, Men's Doubles)
Alan Hydes (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Doubles, Mixed Doubles)
Pauline Piddock (England) - 3 titles (Women's Team, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles)
Jill Shirley (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Women's Singles)
Karenza Matthews (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Women's Doubles)