There was drama right from the arrival of teams at Paya Lebar Airport as England arrived without their top two men, who had withdrawn virtually 'on the airport steps' when the English party had extended the Far East tour by a week, in order to be one of the first teams to play in China. However, a travelling supporter, Alan Ransome (now chairman of the CTTF), was brought into the English team on Day 1, until theit reserve arrived to play on Day 2.
Both English teams won their respective team events, but not before some anxious moments early on. At one stage, their men were down 1-4 to an inspired Indian team and on an adjoining table their women were down 1-2 to Canada. I didn't know which table to watch!
After England's darkest hour came the dawn. England's new arrival Tony Clayton, defeated India's No. 1 Mir Khasim Ali in the 9th tie with the match at 2-2. Karenza Matthews trailing 18-20 against Canada's Helen Simeri, struck 4 winners to take the match 3-2.
In the Men's event England won Gold, Hong Kong won Silver and India the Bronze. England also won the Women's event with New Zealand taking Silver and Malaysia the Bronze.
All the individual Golds were won by England. India's Mir Khasim Ali beat G. Jagannath in one semi-final and lost the final to England's Trevor Taylor. Another good result for India was in the Women's Doubles when Kaity Chargeman (now Mrs. Kodaji) and Rupa Mukarjee (now Mrs. Bannerjee) won the silver. England's Jill Shirley (now Mrs. Parker) won the Women's Gold.
Results at a Glance:
Men's Team Champion - England
Women's Team Champion - England
Men's Singles Champion - Trevor Taylor (England)
Women's Singles Champion - Jill Shirley (England)
Men's Doubles Champion - Alan Hydes / Trevor Taylor (England)
Women's Doubles Champion - Karenza Matthews / Pauline Piddock (England)
Mixed Doubles Champion - Alan Hydes / Pauline Piddock (England)
England - 7 titles
Trevor Taylor (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Singles, Men's Doubles)
Alan Hydes (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Doubles, Mixed Doubles)
Pauline Piddock (England) - 3 titles (Women's Team, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles)
Jill Shirley (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Women's Singles)
Karenza Matthews (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Women's Doubles)
England again won all the Gold, with Trevor Taylor and Jill (Shirley) Hammersley retaining their Singles titles. The surprise for their this time came from Australia whose Thai immigrant Chayamond "Charlie" Wuvanich defeated all three Englishmen. However, in the individual event Wuvanich was beaten by Trevor Taylor's younger brother Peter.
India's men did well to reach Team final, but were eclipsed 0-5 by England who played their young prodigy, Desmond Douglas, in the final instead of Trevor Taylor. Silver went to India.
In the Women's Team event, India was second to Canada in Group B and beat Australia in the cross-over to achieve the Bronze medal. England defeated Canada 3-1 in the final. The latter's only win was 2-0 in the Doubles.
Results at a Glance:
Men's Team Champion - England
Women's Team Champion - England
Men's Singles Champion - Trevor Taylor (England)
Women's Singles Champion - Jill (Shirley) Hammersley (England)
Men's Doubles Champion - Denis Neale / Trevor Taylor (England)
Women's Doubles Champion - Jill Hammersley / Susan Howard (England)
Mixed Doubles Champion - Denis Neale / Karenza Matthews (England)
England - 7 titles
Trevor Taylor (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Singles, Men's Doubles)
Jill Hammersley (England) - 3 titles (Women's Team, Women's Singles, Women's Doubles)
Denis Neale (England) - 3 titles (Men's Team, Men's Doubles, Mixed Doubles)
Susan Howard (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Women's Doubles)
Karenza Matthews (England) - 2 titles (Women's Team, Mixed Doubles)