What better way to spend a beautiful spring day than spending 7 hours playing table tennis in a school hall. Sixteen Pingsters fought it out over ten matches each in what was a rip roaring success on so many fronts. We created a non stop environment whereby no-one was left with any significant downtime in between matches. Those of us who are familiar with the tournament scene are fully aware that dead time can kill your energy levels and momentum. The standard was varied, ranging from seasoned Sussex talent like Pedro Santos down to beginners like Amelia Worne who was taking her first steps into the competitive ring. For the first time that we are aware of we established real equality when it comes to playing a physically challenged person, by making it a requirement that a wheelchair user’s opponent must also adopt a chair. This will split opinion of course and some wheelchair users have specifically adapted their game to overcome the seemingly unbalanced playing field when playing a non disabled person. However here at Pingsters TTC we have decided to set a precedent and will follow this format moving forwards in our in-house competitions.
Everyone seemed to have a fun day, all but one lost at least one match, of course losing never feels good but it was quickly overcome by the fact that we were all playing within a community who just love the game. That’s the thing- Pingsters TTC strives to illuminate the community aspect of a group of individuals from different backgrounds congregating in a common interest. The win, feels nice but the broader and more soulful impact is much more important.
Pedro Santos in familiar and ruthless fashion won the main event, dropping just one set along the way. Kris Pokorowski came second, narrowly edging out Rudi Dharmalingam who came third. In the consolation Charlie Usher came in triumphant with Mehrdad Amini and Jules White second and third. However it was the Pingsters Cup that stole the limelight, what a beauty she is.
