London Rankings Make It Three successful Tournaments in a Row.

Eamon Brennan – 13th November 2018

The normal procedure for sporting press releases is to highlight the glorious winner or endlessly dissect why the local favourite didn’t quite make it. It’s all fairly predictable stuff. But the London Community Table Tennis Ranking Tournaments are anything but predictable.

Yes, our tournaments always have six winners – one for each band – but the real winners are in in fact every single participant, who by simple turning up to play, gain valuable tournament experience as well as five valuable ranking points in the London ‘Top One Thousand’ rankings.

Of course, after only three tournaments we are only approaching the halfway mark in the quest for the Top One Thousand players. But that is quite impressive in only six months. But the real sobering statistic is that all three tournaments were highly subscribed and the latest, held at the amazing Greenhouse Sports Centre in Marylebone, was in fact, over-subscribed. What this tells us is that there is a real demand for these relaxed but fiercely competitive table tennis tournaments in London.

With over ten million people living and working in London each day, it is not hard to imagine table tennis continuing its recent renaissance if the opportunities to play are made readily available. Ping London has made a huge contribution to that renaissance, and with the Central London Greenhouse Sports Centre opening itself up to the whole community, and the London Ranking Tournaments springing up all over the capital, table tennis is set to take off in a big way. Of course, London already boasts some great table tennis clubs and the London Ranking Tournaments are well placed to support and promote those clubs. In fact, every big club is welcome to host a satellite ranking  tournament if they have 12 tables or more at their disposal. All clubs are welcome to advertise themselves on the London Ping website and at the tournaments themselves. Set up a stall, bring your leaflets or just chat with the participants and invite them to your club nights.

Sunday’s tournament at the Greenhouse Centre was the first of our ‘satellite’ tournaments, though it has to be said with over 120 participants, it felt every bit like the main event. The conditions were wonderful and the Greenhouse team were most supportive. Judging by the positive feedback from players and parents alike, there is every likelihood that further Ranking tournaments will be held there in the very near future. But for now, its all eyes on the London Academy in Edgware, where on Sunday 2nd December, the next Ranking tournament will unleash itself. Entry forms are now on our website;  londonping.co.uk   but don’t delay because places are already filling up quickly. Congratulations to Sunday’s Band winners and a big thank you to all the players, coaches, parents and schools that made it such an enjoyable day. And once again a massive thanks to BeTT and our great sponsors Top Spin Sports.

NB. The ranking list will be fully updated shortly after the December tournament. Best regards to all from the whole London Ping team. JK