Mackay Closed Championships Deliver Two Days Of Close Competition

Ladies Champion - Lily Boland. Photo supplied

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The Mackay Table Tennis Association 2026 Closed Championships wrapped up after two busy days of competition on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, with 44 players taking part across Open, divisional, veteranand junior events.

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The Championships produced plenty of close table tennis, with matches across the program going to a deciding fifth game and several players backing up repeatedly across singles and doubles events.

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In the premier events, Lily Boland claimed the Open Women’s Singles title ahead of Emma Widdup, while Goncalo Serra Gageiro won the Open Men’s Singles with Mick Ruhl runner-up. The men’s final provided an appropriate climaxto the event, with Goncalo needing all five games to overcome Mick.

Goncalo enjoyed an outstanding championship, also taking the Over 30/40 Men’s Singles and combining with Mick to win the Open Men’s Doubles. He added another doubles title alongside Janice Kent in the Open Mixed Doubles.

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The Open Men’s Doubles produced some of the weekend’s best contests. Goncalo and Mick were taken to five games by Neil Brown and Steven Whiting in the final before prevailing 3–2. Earlier, Lee Brake and Graham Brake also went the distance against Barry Patterson and Abbas Irshad, while Neil and Steven survived another five-game encounter on their way to the decider.

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The Open Mixed Doubles was similarly competitive. Goncalo and Janice eventually took the title, but several matches required all five games. Mick and Donna Abbott were pushed to five by Anne Sheridan and Allan Edwards, while Lily and Trent Day were also involved in a five-game battle.

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Emma and Lily combined to win the Open Women’s Doubles, with Anne and Janice finishing runners-up. Emma also enjoyed a strong singles championship, winning both the Over 30/40 and Over 50 Women’s titles.

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The age events demonstrated the depth of competition across the association. Steven won the Over 50 Men’s Singles, Anne claimed the Over 60 Women’s Singles, and Neil completed an impressive double by winning both the Over 60 and Over 65 Men’s titles. Judy Zahn took the Over 70 Women’s title, while Graeme Walker won the corresponding men’s championship. Pam Joyce claimed the Over 75 Women’s title and Barry won the Over 75 Men’s Singles.

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Pam’s title was another of the weekend’s five-game affairs, with Gloria Vella taking her to a deciding game before Pam prevailed 3–2.

Graeme also carried the heaviest playing workload of the Championships, contesting 71 individual games across 19 matches in five events. His program included Open Singles, Open Men’s Doubles, Over 65 and Over 70 Singles, and Veteran Doubles.

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Remarkably, 20 of those games came in the Over 65 Men’s event alone, while his Veteran Doubles campaign with Rachel Fiesta featured three consecutive five-game matches on the way to the final.

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Graeme’s path through the Over 65 Men’s event alone included several demanding contests. He and Allan went the full five games in their round-robin group, before Graeme later needed five games to defeat Geoff Cowan in the semi-final. Neil eventually took the title in four games.

The Veteran Doubles produced perhaps the greatest concentration of five-game matches. Graeme Walker and Rachel Fiesta were involved in three consecutive five-game contests on their way to the final, while Steven Whiting and Daniel Warfield, and Allan Edwards and Pam Joyce, were among the other combinations taken to five. Steven and Daniel eventually claimed the title, with Graeme and Rachel runners-up.

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Division 2 also produced plenty of drama. Delma Knight won the Women’s Singles, while Ian McKay claimed the Men’s title ahead of Oliver Hamelink. Ian’s path included a five-game win over Remy Zhan, while Peter and Logan Brown also needed all five games to settle their quarter-final.

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The Division 2 Men’s round-robin stage provided one of the more unusual results of the tournament, with Allan Robins, Daniel and Logan finishing level on match points. Their final positions had to be determined using the ITTF tied-player comparison procedure, taking into account results between the tied players, games ratio and then points ratio.

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Ian also partnered George Camilleri to win the Division 2 Doubles, defeating Branko Vucurovic and Tony in the final.

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The junior events added another dimension to Sunday’s program. Logan won the Under 15 Singles, while Trent claimed the Over 15 title. Trent’s clash with Lily was one of the junior highlights, going the full five games before Trent prevailed 3–2.

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Lily then partnered Ocean Gawander to win the Junior Doubles. The semi-final between Oliver and Logan and Trent and Will Casey was another five-game contest, with Oliver and Logan progressing before finishing runners-up.

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Across the two days, the Championships provided competition for players spanning several generations and playing standards. The frequency of five-game matches across Open, divisional, veteran and junior events highlighted how closely contested much of the weekend was, with many results remaining undecided until the final game.

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The Mackay Table Tennis Association congratulates all players who took part and thanks the scorers, officials and volunteers whose contribution helped make the Championships possible.

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Full results from the 2026 Mackay Closed Championships are available through the Mackay Table Tennis Association website.

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Contributed with thanks to Andrea Payne

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