News Archive - April 2011

Bryant Saives But Doesn't Prosper

 South-East Regional Coach Craig Bryant recently played ex World Ranked Number 1 player Jean-Michel Saive in a Belgian League match. Crawley based Bryant lost three straight but managed to make Saive, a player who spent a record 515 unbroken days in the world top spot in the mid-nineties, work hard for his sets.

Bryant is a renowned service wizard and enjoyed the highlight of forcing the Belgian maestro to hit his first service return four foot in the air and four foot long. In the changing room after the match Saive acknowledged he had never done that to anyone before in his career!

Watch the match on You Tube here 

Wealden DC Staff TTake a Break

Two old table tennis tables purchased at nominal cost from Horsham District Council have been put to good use in Hailsham by a small group of Wealden District Council staff. They have been using them on Monday lunchtimes at Hailsham Community Centre, which is just adjacent to the Council offices in the town. Eight people have signed up with on average about five people attending each week so this stands as a good Sussex example of the role that table tennis can play as a workplace health initiative.

Unfortunately these sessions will now have to stop as the Hailsham offices will soon be closing for refurbishment and staff will be temporarily dispersed to other sites. Freedom Leisure in Hailsham has agreed to hold on to the tables in the local leisure centre and they will be using them for sessions for young people and other groups – so they will be kept nice and warm until the staff return to base!

South-East Finish Fifth in National Regional Cadet Squad Championships

20/4/11

Read Ken Muhr's report on the ETTA website

Silver Ping Project Gets the Go-Ahead

Horsham District Council's Leisure Link team has been successful in securing £10,000 to develop table tennis activity within residential care home settings for older people. The project - Silver Ping - will be delivered in partnership with a number of other organisations, notably Horsham Table Tennis Club and is part of the Leisure Link team's plan to offer as wide a range of people within the district as possible a chance to share in the area's Olympic participation legacy.

The extended project follows in the wake of a highly successful pilot sessions that were run at the Henfield Day Care Centre last year

For further information contact Paul Taylor on 07764-146339 

Bribar Sussex Open Satellite Grand Prix

The Bribar Sussex Open Satellite Grand Prix entry form is now available - click here for it. The competition is running at the Triangle, Burgess Hill on the weekend of 4th and 5th June.

Steyning Grammar School Awarded £9850 for TT

Steyning Grammar School is rejoicing at the news of being awarded a £9850 Sport England Small Grant for developing their table tennis provision. Money will go into aspects such as coaching, equipment and outdoor tables in a project which will involve collaboration with a range of partners including Horsham District Council, the Sussex TT Alliance and Steyning Table Tennis Club.

PE teacher Wendy Russell has masterminded the project and with the school having nearly 2000 pupils, serving a wide geographic catchment area and being adjacent to a large primary school the potential for progress is fantastic.

Another Excellent Jarvis Coaching Day

10 players enjoyed another excellent Nick Jarvis Training Day over the weekend held at Greenway School, Horsham. The coaching maestro was on great form in front of a mixed ability and age player audience but who were all motivated by a desire to improve. Ian Ford and Amila Thilakaratne provided sparring support and a robot was available to add a bit of variety particularly to help the younger players through the intense six hours.

It was good to see a good Sussex geographic balance of attenders - four juniors making the trek from East Sussex to benefit from the day.

Amila Starting to Fire On All Cyclinders Again

Table tennis in North Sussex is benefitting from an injection of Sri Lankan talent.

 Student Amila Thilakarathne has been as high as number 2 on the Sri Lankan senior ranking list but having had a break from the game he's focussed on getting back up to his best during his time so far in England...and the work is starting to pay off as a number of Premiership players in the Crawley/Horsham Premiership will testify. The 23 year old power topspinner was a key figure in Horsham A's title winning team.

As well as playing he's also a keen coach and sparrer. He's been assisting Rory Scott to develop players at Horsham TTC and latterly has also started linking in with the Sussex Elite Centre and MMJ East Grinstead TTC.

Bennett and Cheer in Great Form for England

Sussex youngsters, and Sussex Elite Centre attenders, Josh Bennett (Willingdon Primary School, Eastbourne) and Kate Cheer (Bewbush Primary School, Crawley) represented England Primary School teams with distinction at the International Primary Schools Event in Cardiff over the weekend.

Josh won all his matches as part of the gold winning team that won all of its matches. In the individual event he lost in the quarter final against fellow England player and eventual runner-up Hugo Pang, although he managed to take a set off him.

On the girls side Kate was part of a bronze winning team and won a highly creditable 8 out of 10 matches. In the individuals she also went in the quarters losing 3-1 to Ireland's Nya Nguyen

Click here for results detail

Cheer yourself up by reading this newspaper article