FOR the second year running, Colin Stallwood was the star of the Clacton and District Table Tennis League’s Closed Championships.

He won the men’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and veterans’ singles titles.

Stallwood produced a peerless performance to become only the third player in the league’s history to win four major titles in the same year, a feat achieved previously only by Dennis Arr in 1964 and Derek Wood in 1996.

However, if it was a champagne tournament for Stallwood, spare a thought for 15-year old Sam Hume, a losing finalist in three main finals and suffering a heart-break defeat to Stallwood for a second year running in the men’s singles.

As last year, the final was a top-quality affair between two talented home-grown players, Stallwood and Hume, putting on a first-class show in a match that see-sawed throughout.

But Stallwood showed all his experience in the fifth set to establish an early lead and, with high-class counter-hitting, kept a firm grip on the match to deflate his young opponent whose disappointment at the end was only too palpable.

The final score was 12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5.

In the semi-finals, James Denyer lost to Stallwood and Kevin Gowlett went down to Hume.

Paul Hume, Gary Young, Gary Cattermole and Greg Green were the losing quarter-finalists.

There was also a sense of déjà vu in the men’s doubles, which saw a repeat of the 2015 final, with Stallwood and Greg Green facing the Hume brothers, Paul and Sam.

Stallwood and Green made it three titles in a row with a comfortable 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 victory. Stallwood and Annabelle Rodriguez retained their mixed doubles crown against second seeds Sam Hume and Gracie Edwards, who had hoped to become youngest-ever holders of this trophy.

However, experience prevailed over youth, with Stallwood and Rodriguez winning 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10.

Stallwood capped his quartet of wins with a first-ever success in the veterans’ singles, the classy Stallwood running out a 13-11, 11-7, 11-3 victor against Gary Cattermole.

And it was no surprise that, for the second year running, Stallwood received the Victor Trophy as the outstanding Player of the Championships.

The ladies’ singles final was a repeat of last year with 14-year-old Gracie Edwards facing former champion Annabelle Rodriguez.

And as last season, despite a more resilient performance from Rodriguez, Edwards powered to a 11-5, 6-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5 success.

Isabel Barton and a delighted Debra Found were the losing semi-finalists.

In the ladies’ doubles, Gracie Edwards and Cris Edwards became the first granddaughter/grandmother combination to win the trophy, defeating Annabelle Rodriguez and Kayley Lamb 12-10, 11-6, 11-9.

Rodriguez and Lamb had surprised many by their performance, eliminating reigning champions Isabel Barton and Jenny Higgins in the semi-finals.

Gracie Edwards also featured in the final of the junior singles where she met holder Sam Hume.

Hume retained his title 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, albeit scant consolation for his defeats in the three senior events.

The losing semi-finalists were Tom Wilkin and Ethan Lloyd.

In the junior doubles, Harry Beezer and Woody Fitzpatrick put in a spirited performance but were no match for Sam Hume and Tom Wilkin who came out 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 winners.

Alan Burgess took the super-veterans singles by beating reigning champion Derek Willis 11-4, 4-11, 11-4, 11-4.

It was a fourth super-veterans’ title for Burgess, who thus equals the record of Brian Thiel who won the trophy four times between 2001 and 2006.

Gary Cattermole looked the best player in the restricted singles and he duly took the title with a 6-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 victory over Gavin Price in a high-class encounter of two talented players.

Duncan Dunne and John Barton were surprise semi-finalists.

There was a shock in the division two singles where 2015 winner Frank Burbidge was eliminated by Graham Parkes in round one.

The final was contested by top seed Mark Salter and Roger Hance and it was Hance, helped by an element of good fortune, who emerged the winner, taking a first Clacton title 14-12, 11-8, 11-9.

There was an even greater shock in the division three singles where defending champion Rivhu Khan, unbeaten in the league, crashed out to Woody Fitzpatrick in the semi-final.

Second seed Jason Lloyd also had a tough semi-final, scraping past a doughty challenge from John Long 14-12 in the fifth, but he went on to take the title by beating Fitzpatrick 9-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-5.

It was an all-round excellent championships and once again the league is indebted to Paul Newbould Planning and Building Design Services, main sponsors of the championships for a 23rd year.

2016 CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS: Men’s Singles (sponsored by Margery’s Day Nursery) : C Stallwood beat S Hume 12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5.

Ladies’ Singles (sponsored by the Skelmersdale Centre): G Edwards beat A Rodriguez 11-5, 6-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5. Men’s Doubles: G Green/C Stallwood beat P Hume/S Hume 11-3, 11-5, 11-6. Ladies’ Doubles: G Edwards/C Edwards beat A Rodriguez/K Lamb 12-10, 11-6, 11-9.

Mixed Doubles: C Stallwood/A Rodriguez beat S Hume/G Edwards 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10.

Veterans Singles: C Stallwood beat G Cattermole 13-11, 11-7, 11-3. Super-Veterans Singles: A Burgess beat D Willis 11-4, 4-11, 11-4, 11-4.

Junior Singles (sponsored by Clacton Gas) : S Hume beat G Edwards 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8. Junior Doubles: S Hume/T Wilkin beat H Beezer/W Fitzpatrick 11-7, 11-6, 11-5. Division Two Singles: R Hance beat M Salter 14-12, 11-8, 11-9.

Division Three Singles: J Lloyd beat W Fitzpatrick 9-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-5. Restricted Singles: G Cattermole beat G Price 6-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7.