Table Tennis centre was ‘buzzing’ again
Tide turns sharply for Cippenham as competition resumes
Cippenham Table Tennis Centre was buzzing again earlier this month as competitive table tennis made a welcome return after a gap of more than eighteen months, writes Ben Hart.
The Cippenham team, playing in National Division B-4, played four matches over the weekend, winning both their encounters on Saturday but the tide sharply turned against them on Sunday.
Up against Wensum 2 from Norwich in their first match, Cippenham registered a 7-2 victory.
Team captain Martin Adams opened the scoring and the supporting cast of Rob Hansell, Martin Gray and Steve Munson all registered points as Cippenham’s first competitive return to the table was a happy one.
Horsham Spinners followed and Hansell retained his unbeaten record despite being forced to a deciding game by his opponent.
Skipper Adams won both of his matches comfortably and added another brace of points to the league table courtesy of a 6-3 scoreline.
Sunday, however, proved far more difficult as the weekend’s hosts slumped to a couple of defeats. Firstly, Cippenham came out second best in a 5-4 thriller against Foresters. Hansell and Gray stretched their unbeaten doubles run to three but it was not enough as the team from Crawley hit back to steal the points.
The toughest game of the weekend concluded the action. Divisional leaders Ormeau 2 boasted three players ranked in the top six in all-Ireland. Rob Hansell came closest for Cippenham, losing 11-9 in his singles match.
Beyond that it was all one-way traffic as the Ulstermen romped to a 9-0 victory.
Across the weekend Cippenham hosted two divisions of the Senior British League.
This first set of fixtures was organised by Graham Trimming and refereed by Ken Phillips.