Making the grade as we look back at season

THIS year is the 60th anniversary of the gradings being introduced to the Leicester League, writes John Bowness.

At the time the English Table Tennis Association was interested enough to have started procedures to incorporate them into every league, but a takeover stopped it in its tracks.

Leicester and several other clubs did adopt the system, however, and it is still going strong.

It was based loosely on the chess system in the country at the time, with an adaption I applied to allow for three opponents at a time instead of the one-to one of chess, but it still worked on assessing players on the status and ability of their opponents.

Better opponents means better gradings.

The overall system gave five Master levels, beginning with the almost-impossible 400 barrier for International Master, then 350: National Master, 300: County Master, 250: League Master and 200: Club Master.

Normally in local leagues just a handful of players would be above 300.

In the Leicester League the core average has been allowed to slip so that the bulk of players are about 28 below what they would be using the initial system.

I have calculated players on the old system and, largely because they had five players in their championship winning team, Unicorn have five of the nine above 300.

FINAL GRADINGS

Top 12 for 2023/24

325 Chris Rogers (KP)

315 David Arrowsmith (Unicorn) 311 Adam Pettitt (Unicorn)

306 William Michell (Unicorn) 306 Garry Knights (Lough Uni) 305 Robin Pearce (Lough Uni) 304 James Berry (KP)

301 Xingling Luo (Unicorn) 300 Sandor Koch (Unicorn) 295 Ayush Buche (Uni II)

292 Mat Hobday (Elec)

290 Wing Tat Victor Tam (KP II).

■■Notice has gone out to clubs for entries for the league’s summer competition for the Elbow Tankard, a team handicap that was inaugurated just over 50 years ago largely because of the instigation of the gradings making things much easier to handicap players.