8th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships 1985
(Douglas, Isle of Man)

The little island in the Irish Sea hosted the 8th Championships, affiliating to the ITTF in order to do so, and what a good job they did. However, they could do nothing about the bitter east wind which caused many colds and chills.

England played their best players, and regained most of the titles lost to Hong Kong in 1983, defeating them 5-0 in the Men's Team event, and 3-1 in the Women's Team event.

Biggest surprise in the individual events was Chiu Man Kuen's defeat in an early round by Scot, John Broe. Desmond Douglas of England, undefeated in the Team event, cruised though to the Men's Singles title, beating Alan Cooke (ENG) in the final, and Karen Witt (ENG) defeated the 1979 champion Hui So-Hung in the Women's Singles final.

It was not all England's way, as Nigeria's Atanda Musa and Francis Sule won the Men's Doubles, and Canada's Mariann Domonkos and Gloria Hsu, the Women's Doubles.

Results at a Glance:

Men's Team Champion - England
Women's Team Champion - England
Men's Singles Champion - Desmond Douglas (England)
Women's Singles Champion - Karen Witt (England)
Men's Doubles Champion - Atanda Musa / Francis Sule (Nigeria)
Women's Doubles Champion - Mariann Domonkos / Gloria Hsu (Canada)
Mixed Doubles Champion - Desmond Douglas / Alison Gordon (England)

England - 5 titles
Nigeria - 1 title
Canada - 1 title

Desmond Douglas (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Singles, Mixed Doubles)
Karen Witt (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Women's Singles)
Alison Gordon (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Mixed Doubles)