Ian Ferguson added to his long array of Police National titles at this year’s Police Sport United Kingdom Championships held in Lowestoft (from 4-8th April) after a two-year break following the Coronavirus pandemic.
Fergie won the Veterans Singles Title for the third consecutive year, beating Winston Wong (Metropolitan Police) in the final. He then partnered up with Silvanus Ward to claim the Veterans Doubles, winning both events without the loss of a singles set.
Unfortunately for Fergie he wasn’t able to add to his previous six Men’s singles titles as he narrowly missed out on a 12th final losing 9-11 in the decider to Steve Cowley (British Transport Police) at the semi-final stage. Kieran Smith (also British Transport Police) won the Men’s singles title, equalling Fergie’s record of five consecutive titles in a row and was a worthy winner, himself not dropping a single set on route to his victory.
Sarah Hudson (Bedfordshire) claimed the Women’s singles title for a record 8th time despite being 0-2 and 0-5 down to Anna Navicka (Kent Police) in the final.
It is Fergie’s 19th National title in total and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down with the U.S.P.E. European Championships scheduled for 2024 in Prague having been put back a year due to the pandemic.
“Hopefully I will still be sharp enough to represent the British Police Team in 2024, although I will be 49 then! I look forward to Hawley Ellicott joining me at the Police Tournament and hopefully continuing West Midlands Police success at both the National and European Championships. I truly believe myself and Hawley will be able to win the Men’s Doubles if he is able to compete at the Nationals next year, and with any luck one of us could bring the Men’s singles title back to the West Midlands also”.
