​Chris Deegan hits top form in final Bridlington Table Tennis League Doubles tournaments

Chris Deegan and Leon James defeated Gavin Smithies and Gerard Ferre, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8 in a pulsating Division 1 Doubles final, writes Tony Wigley.

Chris and Leon both play an attacking style whereas Gavin uses a defensive blocking game and Gerard attacks with heavy topspin.

The International drawn doubles event paired Division 1 players with Division 2 players, and each team could nominate their national team names.

The more exotic teams included Western Samoa, Catalonia, Jamaica and Brazil.

We used the round/robin format and this ensured that each team would play each other over two hours, and the two highest scoring teams would qualify for the final.

Tina Crockford and Roy Hill, playing for Australia, made a strong start and they were soon destroying their opponents.

Deegan and Paul Senior were representing Brazil, and they were also producing some devastating form.

It seemed inevitable that Australia would meet Brazil in the final, and we would observe four distinct styles of play.

Crockford plays a very clever defensive game, using her infamous short-pimpled bat.

Hill attacks with heavy topspin on both forehand and backhand, Deegan plays a flat-hitting attacking game and Senior plays an ultra defensive style.

Brazil struck the first blow taking the opening set 11-5, but Australia showed much more resilience in the second set before going down 11-8.

Caron Holdsworth and Deegan won the Wednesday night round/robin tourney.

The league resumes in mid-September.