Kamberov wins Over-40 title as 310 players close VETTS season

Radoslav Kamberov turned the National Masters finale into a statement, and in doing so helped define the pecking order for English veterans table tennis heading into the next VETTS season. The former Bulgarian champion, now a full-time coach based in England, took the Over-40 men’s singles title at Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton after a testing route through one of the biggest weekends on the veterans calendar.

Kamberov beat last year’s runner-up Oleh Biletskyi 14-12, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6 in the final, but the semifinal told the sharper story. Against Guang Shi, he came through 11-9, 8-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5 in what the report called one of the event’s best matches. That is the kind of win that matters in a field like this: not just a title, but proof that the top names still have to survive real pressure on the biggest stage.

The scale was hard to miss. VETTS closed its 2026 season with 310 players across 24 events, using 37 tables over the weekend of May 16 and 17. The championships were open only to VETTS members, with entry set at £15 a year, and the society said entries closed on Sunday, April 19. VETTS says the National Championships have been running for more than 40 years, dating back to the first edition in Watford in May 1984, when 99 players entered. Today the membership is more than 900, with players ranging from 40 to 99 years old.

Jason Ramage added another headline result by winning the Over-50 men’s singles, reversing last year’s outcome against Lorestas Trumpauskas and taking his first VETTS Nationals singles crown 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8. Ramage had already cleared Neil Charles in the semifinal and Darren Griffin in the quarterfinal, a useful reminder that the Over-50 bracket is no place for passengers.

The women’s events had their own familiar winners. Estonian friends Kaitlin Poldveer and Pille Veersaar dominated the Over-40 and Over-50 singles, while Hurey Ahmetoglu and Tumay Ekrem retained the Over-40 women’s doubles title in five games. Ahmetoglu also completed a doubles double with Adam Klos, beating Janet Adams and Tim Dyson in the mixed doubles final.

John Hilton, the former European champion and VETTS president, still knows how to finish a weekend. He won both the Over-70 and Over-75 singles titles, beating John Fuller and Dave Harvey respectively, while Brian Hill took the Over-80 crown against Dennis Bromage and Darren Griffin won the Over-60s in his first VETTS Nationals appearance, toppling defending champion Ritchie Venner.

The final verdict on the 2026 veterans circuit is simple: the biggest stages still belong to players who can handle scorelines, age-group depth and a full weekend of knockout pressure. With the return of 310 competitors and a field spread from Over-40s to Over-90s, VETTS ended the season looking as strong, and as competitive, as ever.