End of an Era at Chelsea Academy
London Community Ranking Tournaments now fully embedded in the capital
Eamon Brennan – 15th July 2019The tenth and final tournament of the season was completed with one hundred and twenty entries and some spectacular table tennis. In bands one and two it was all about Cain Fagan from the Fulham Brunswick Club, who pulled off yet another brilliant double despite some predictably fierce competition from the highly talented London Academy squad.
In bands 3 & 4 it was all about the pimples where, in Band 3, the amazingly clever Leslie Samuel’s saw off a powerful challenge from the equally clever Pell brothers, Simon and Paul. And in band 4, Mohammed Larbi from the Richmond Park Academy, also employing his pimple bat to great effect, gained a successive tournament victory by seeing off Adam Lohiya in a particularly hard fought final.
In bands 5&6 it was all about the London Academy youngsters. Zakariya Abdi showed just how much he has improved by winning his first ever tournament,
and in band 5, two highly promising LA youngsters battled it out in the final, with Janak Shah getting the better over fellow Academy star, Harvey Cheung in a high quality final.
With over seven hundred individual participants and nearly two thousand entries over the first season, it is clear that these community tournaments have become an important part of the Ping London phenomenon. Catering for both complete beginners and established tournament players, London Ping has filled a huge vacuum in the capital’s table tennis scene. A special thanks to the London Academy and the wonderful Greenhouse Centre for hosting eight of the ten tournaments.
Of particular surprise was just how successful the two satellite tournaments were. Although not convenient for everyone, they proved very popular with parents who could drop off their youngsters after school and pick them up a few hours later without having difficult travel journeys across London. We expect to have many more of these ‘local’ tournaments next season.
The Greenhouse Centre also proved very popular with parents and players alike, due both to its central location and it’s wonderful ambience. A big thank you to the Greenhouse team for facilitating the event on three occasions.
Finally a big shout for our sponsors and supporters; Top Spin Sports, Epic Sports, and BeTT, without whom the whole project would have been that much more difficult. So from the whole London Ping team; Eamon, Maggie and Jon, have a great summer and we hope to see you all back in action in the autumn.
Best regards to all. Jk