The VETTS is an independent Society which promotes table tennis in a friendly and competitive environment for all players aged 40 and above. It holds a series of six Regional Masters tournaments; three team events and supports other ratings tournaments around the country during the season, culminating in the grand finale, the VETTS National Masters Championships.
The VETTS National Masters Championships is open to all VETTS members who compete over a weekend for 24 titles in singles and doubles in age categories from Over 40s to Over 90s.
Over 40s/50s
Former Bulgarian chmapion, Radoslav Kamberov, marked his debut in VETTS events by being crowned the O/40s Men’s Singles Champion with a final win (14-12, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6) over last year’s runner up Oleh Biletskyi.
Kamberov, now a full-time table tennis coach based in England, was pushed to the limit in the semi final, probably the match of the tournament, by Guang Shi before emerging the winner (11-9, 8-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5)
Guang Shi did make the winner’s podium in the doubles by retaining his O/40s MD title alongside partner, multiple VETTS Champion and current European Champion, Lorestas Trumpauskas.
In the Men’s O/50s, last year’s result of Lorestas defeating Jason Ramage, was reversed as Jason took his first VETTS Nationals Singles title with a 11-9, 6-11,11-8, 11-8 victory, having defeated Neil Charles in the semis and Darren Griffin in the quarters.
The women’s 40s and 50s singles were again dominated by Estonian friends Kaitlin Poldveer and Pille Veersaar with Kaitlin emerging as the winner in the O/40s against Hurey Ahmetoglu, and Pille taking the O/50s title against last year’s winner Jo Keighley. However, the Estonian pairing were denied a second gold in the final of the O/40s Women’s doubles as friends and multiple VETTS Masters winners, Hurey Ahmetoglu and Tumay Ekrem retained their title in a five set victory.
Hurey did the doubles double with partner Adam Klos beating Yorkshire pairing Janet Adams and Tim Dyson in the final of the Mixed Doubles.
Other events:
Former European Champion and VETTS President, John Hilton, was the only player to take two golds in the Singles events, winning the O/70s against John Fuller in the final, and Dave Harvey in the O/75s.
Darren Griffin, in his first O/60s VETTS Nationals, beat defending Champion Ritchie Venner.
Brian Hill made a welcome return to the VETTS scene to take the O/80s title against Dennis Bromage.
In the women’s events, Joy Daniels made Scotland proud with win over Janet Adams in the final of the O/60s, Helen Shields from Yorkshire took the title in the round robin event in the O/70s, while Penny Perry and Sue Felstead retained their O/75s and O/80s titles respectively.
Over 90s
One on the highlights of the tournament is the Over 90s competition which this year saw our first female competitor in this event, Veronica Greenwood. The winner was 95 year old Eric Renshaw who returned the reclaim the title he had won on two previous occasions (2023 & 2024), having been pipped at the post, deuce in the fifth last year.
A full Roll of Honour for the Main and Consolation events is attached.
Detailed results are available here:
https://vetts.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/4af81622-d21a-47ed-a046-86c492b4cfe9
VETTS
The VETTS National Masters 2026 was organised by volunteers within the VETTS. It comprised 310 players, 24 events, 38 tables and over 1500 matches over a weekend. The Tournament Referee was Cliff Bell, assisted by scheduler Michael Stewart, and a whole team of VETTS volunteers, who serve the organisation with professionalism and good humour throughout the year. We could not do it without them.
The VETTS is an independent, self-funded Society and membership is open to anyone over the age of 40 who wishes to participate in friendly, competitive table tennis as a player or a supporter. We currently have about 1,000 members and membership costs £15 a year. For more information, see www.vetts.org.uk or contact Susie Venner, VETTS Chairman, on susie.venner@yahoo.com