Karina’s ‘Grand Prix win’

Karina Le Fevre won her first major tournament of the season, the Table Tennis England Bristol Grand Prix, on Sunday beating her England team mate, Emma Vickers of Derbyshire, in 3 straight games in the final.

Le Fevre’s route to the final was more difficult than anticipate when one of the top seeds, Alice Loveridge, finished only second in her group and therefore qualified to meet Le Fevre in the quarter finals.  The Ormesby girl won this match against the Guernsey international who has represented Team GB in Olympic competitions, by 3 games to 1.

Le Fevre’s semi final opponent was Yolanda King who beat the winner of the first Grand Prix of the season, 3rd seed Abbie Milwain of Derbyshire, by 3 games to 1.  King, who represents Sussex, was beaten in straight games by Le Fevre at 11-4, 11-8, 15-13.

Vickers came through to the final after a tight semi final with Diana Rusinova, also of Derbyshire, where she recovered from a deficit of 2-0 to win 11-4 in the 5th.

Le Fevre won the vital first game of the final at 12-10 and then took command, winning the 2nd and 3rd at 11-8 and 11-7.  This avenged the win between the pair for Vickers in the South Shields Grand Prix, although Le Fevre beat her playing for for Ormesby in the vital Women’s British League top of the table match at the start of the season.

Le Fevre and Vickers team up this weekend to represent England in the 6 Nations Championship at Largs in Scotland.  This competition consists of the international team event on Friday and Saturday and then an individual competition for the 6 Nations title on Sunday.  Representing England’s men are Chris Doran from Northamptonshire, who reached the final of the Bristol Grand Prix at the weekend, and David Macbeth from Hampshire.  They will be playing teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey.
Alan Ransome OBE

Three Medal’s for Andrew

Andrew Green in action at the BATTS Para Open in Harlow Essex, November 15 2014 – the first of the new BTTAD grand prix series run by Dave Cochrane on behalf of BTTAD.

Andrew came away with 3 medals – Bronze in class 3&4 singles, Bronze in Junior W/C event, Bronze in Doubles W/C event with Daniel Bullen.

Not a bad day out !!!

Dave Cochrane

Major Award for Alan

The picture of Alan was taken at the Stockton 4* Cadet and Junior Tounament on Saturday 25 October 2014 where he was coaching children from Ormesby Table Tennis Club and also presenting some of the prizes.

It is with much pleasure that we have heard that our Chairman Alan has been awarded an honorary degree by Teesside University, This prestigious award is a great honour for Alan who works extremely hard for both his business and table tennis. Alan is devoted to Ormesby Table Tennis Club and I’m sure you will all want to congratulate him on his Doctorate award.

Please see the report on the Table Tennis England website – News page.

British Premier League – 2nd weekend

Commonwealth Games Selection for Karina

Pictured on the left, Karina can be seen with Kelly Sibley taking part in the Queen’s Baton Relay celebrations.

Congratulation to Ormesby player Karina Lefevre who has been selected to play for England in the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Karina, 20, said she was thrilled to have been selected for the Commonwealth Games and looked forward to being a part of Team England once again.

Along with Karina, Paul Drinkhall and Danny Reed who began their careers at Ormesby Table Tennis Club have also been selected to play for Team England.

Paul and Danny are joined in the England men’s squad by Andrew Baggaley, Liam Pitchford and Sam Walker.

As well as Karina the Women’s squad features Joanna Drinkhall, Kelly Sibley, Tin-Tin Ho and Hannah Hicks

Both squads are currently in China for a two-week training camp with Nicky Jarvis another former Ormesby player, who is coaching the team.

Stockton 4* preview

With 3 players who have travelled from the Shenzhen Nanshan Sports Academy in China plus the majority of the top British Juniors competing, the Tees Active Stockton on Tees 4 Star Junior Table Tennis Championships which take place at Thornaby Pavilion this weekend promises to be the highest standard junior event in Britain this season.

The top seed in the Boys’ Singles is Helshan Weerasinghe from Sussex who is ranked No 1 in England.  He is already the English Junior Masters Champion, a former Sainsbury’s UK School Games Champion and has won major tournaments in Europe.  Weerasinghe represents the Ormesby Club in the Senior British League.

The second seed is Tom Jarvis from Lincolnshire who was Britain’s top Cadet player last year and was this year’s Sainsbury’s UK School Games Champion.  Jarvis is also a member of the Ormesby teams for both the Senior and Junior British Leagues. The third and fourth seeds are Zehong Huang and Bin Xiaoyong, both from China.  They are in England as part of a visit to the Ormesby Club organised through the Club’s Talent Development Programme and are reported to be similar in standard to both Weerasinghe and Jarvis.

There are 3 more players with local connections in amongst the seeds – No 8 Alec Ward from Swerve, Josh Harland from Ormesby at No 11 and Billy Forster from Northfield who is the No 13 seed.

In the Junior Girls’ Singles, Britain’s two top players, Tin Tin Ho from Middlesex and Maria Tsaptsinos from Berkshire are the first and second seeds.  Ho won the Sainsbury’s School Games in Manchester last month and won the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games Mixed Doubles in Glasgow with Liam Pitchford whilst Tsaptsinos won both the English Junior and the English Under 21 titles last year and is a key player in Ormesby’s Women’s team who are British League Champions.

In the Under 15 Cadet Boys’ Singles the top two seeds are both from the China team, Zehong Huang and Bin Xiaoyong.  The third and fourth seeds are Harry Dai from Yorkshire and Alex Ramsden from Northamptonshire.  The top Cleveland hope is Joe Clark from Northfield who is drawn to meet Zehong in the quarter finals.

In the Cadet girls’ Singles Denise Payet from Middlesex is the top seed with Kate Cheer from Sussex second.  Top Cleveland hope is Sophie Barlow from Swerve who is drawn to meet Cheer in the semi finals.

In the Boys’ Under 13 Singles, the top seed is China’s Cai Zmifa whilst the best English hope is the current Under 12 Champion Ethan Walsh from Hertfordshire.  The top local hope is Ormesby’s Josh Weatherby fom Durham who is seeded to meet Walsh at the quarter finals stage.

In the Girls’ Under 13 Singles the top seed is Charlotte Bardsley from Staffordshire with Amelia Chan from Middlesex in second place.  Ormesby’s Jasmin Wong is third.

The Championships begin at Thornaby Pavilion on Saturday morning at 9.00 am with the finals of the team events taking place from 1.00 pm.  The Under 15 finals commence at 7.00 pm.  On Sunday the Junior Boys’ team final will take place from 9.00 am with the Junior Boys’ and Girls’ Singles semi final sessions, when most of the top seeds will be on show, commences around 3.00 pm.

Alan Ransome OBE

Junior British League – first weekend

With strong performances from both the Ormesby and Northfield clubs, Cleveland teams dominated their divisions in the Junior British Table Tennis League that took place near Wolverhampton last weekend.

The Ormesby Junior Boys’ team followed the lead of both their Senior Men’s and Women’s British League teams and head the Premier Division, having won 4 and drawn 1 of the five matches played in Wolverhampton.

Ormesby beat the Draycott team from Derby 6-0, the Welsh national team 5-1, Bournemouth 6-0 and Wood Green, Walsall 5-1 before playing a draw in their final match with London Academy 3-3.

Christopher Wheeler was the Ormesby player with the best results, winning all 10 of his sets whilst Tom Jarvis made a major contribution with 9 out of 10, losing only to Luke Savill of London Academy.  Josh Harland also produced a sparkling performance to win 6 of his 10 matches, including a win over Welsh international Jac Jenkins.

Ormesby top the table with 9 points whilst London Academy are in second place with 8.  Ormesby also have the superior sets average, 25 against 5, against London’s 19 against 11.

Northfield had a similar success in the 1st Division, winning all 5 of their matches, heading the table with a maximum of 10 points.  Northfield beat London Greenhouse 5-1, Sussex Alliance 6-0, London Academy 5-1, Formby from Merseyside 5-1 and another London Club, Ellenborough 5-1.

Nuradin Muktar and Matthew Leete both won 9 out of 10 for Northfield whilst Joe Clark also made a valuable contribution with 8 out of 10.

Ormesby’s second team head the 4th Division only on sets average as they lost their final match to Cardiff City by 4-2.  Ormesby beat Guernsey 6-0, Ashford 4-2, Westfield from Northampton 5-1 and London Greenhouse 5-1 but fell away in the final match against Cardiff.

Kaine Macdonald was the star of the Ormesby team winning 9 out of 10 whilst Michael Ashwell did well to win 5 out of 6.  Calum White won 5 out of 8.  11 year old Josh Weatherby, making his debut in the British League, won 3 from 6.

Alan Ransome

Stockton 4 star 2014

Pictured left to right: The Worshipful Mayor of Stockton, Councillor Barbara Inman, Junior Boys winner Helshan Weerasinghe, Junior Boys Runner up Tom Jarvis and Colin Davison, Chairman of Cleveland County Table Tennis Association

Two of Ormesby’s British League players, Helshan Weerasinghe and Tom Jarvis, dominated the main event, the Junior Boys’ Singles, in the Tees Active Stockton on Tees Junior 4 Star Table Tennis Championships at Thornaby Pavilion last weekend, an event that attracted most of Britain’s top players as well as an entry from China.

Weerasinghe, currently ranked No 1 in the England Junior list, had to fight hard to take the title.  He was 2 games to 0 down against Jarvis in the final before recovering to win the next 3 and take the title.  The closest games was the 4th when Weerasinghe won by 11-9.  Weerasinghe was also challenged in the quarter final against Kent’s Luke Savill where he also recovered from a 2 games to 0 deficit.

The Junior Girls’ Singles was won by the England No 1 Junior from Middlesex, Tin Tin Ho, who was also the silver medal winner in the Mixed Doubles event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when she partnered Liam Pitchford.  Ho also had a tough fight to take the Tees Active title.  She recovered from 2-1 down to beat Maris Tsaptsinos, a member of the Ormesby Women’s British League team.  After trailing by 2 games to 1 Ho won the 4th and 5th comfortably, both at 11-4.

The Cadet Boys’ Singles was won by Alex Ramsden from Northampton who beat Yorkshire’s Harry Dai in the final by 3 games to 1 whilst the Cadet Girls’ Singles was won by Charlotte Bardsley of Staffordshire who beat Kate Cheer of Sussex in straight games in the final.  Cheer defeated the Swerve player Sophie Barlow at 11-6 in the decider in the semi final whilst Bardsley beat Ormesby’s Jasmin Wong in straight games at the same stage.

The Under 13 Boys’ Singles was won by 9 year old Chinese visitor, Cai Zmifa, who won a terrific final with one of the England top young prospects, Ethan Walsh from Hertfordshire.  Cai won at 12-10 in the deciding game.  The Under 13 Girls’ singles was won by Ormesby’s Jasmin Wong who beat Scotland’s Faye Leggett 3-0.

Success for Cleveland came in the team events when Northfield A won the Boys’ Cadet team event, beating Gloucester by 3-1 in the final.  Harry Dai won both is singles whilst Joe Clark beat Olly Tyndall.  The only loss was the doubles.

The Northfield team of Alec Ward and Billy Forster reached the final of the Junior Boys’ team event before losing to London Academy by 3-1.  The first game of the match, when Gabriel Achampong beat Ward by 11-8 in the 5th was a key result in this match.

The Cadet Girls’ team event was won by the Fusion Club from London whose team included Swerve’s Sophie Barlow.  They beat the Ormesby team of Charlotte Weatherby and Jasmin Wong by 3-1 in the final.

The Junior Girls’ team title was won by Grantham College whose team included Emily Bolton and Soffi Jenkins.  They beat Sussex 3-2 with Lois Peake and Kate Cheer.

The main prizes were presented by the Mayor of Stockton, Councillor Barbara Inman.

Veterans British League 2014-15

Ormesby VETTS finished in 2^nd position after the first round of matched in the VETTS British Table Tennis League which took place near Wolverhampton last weekend.

Ormesby beat Fusion B, Hollingbury A and Hereford Challengers 5-1, played a draw with the Nottingham club Redlands Bats 3 all, but in their last match lost to the bottom of the league team, South Essex 4-2.

Dave Ashwell produced the best results for Ormesby 9 wins from 10 sets whilst Carl White excelled with 7 from 8.  Michael Young won 3 from 8 and Gary Whyman 1 from 4.

Alan Ransome

North East Region Cadet and Junior Qualifications

Pictured left to right are the four Junior Boys who qualified –  Calum White, Joe Clark, Michael Ashwell and Kaine Macdonald with referee Dave Cochrane

Players from Cleveland excelled in the Northern Region Junior and Cadet Qualification event for the National Table Tennis Championships, held on Sunday at the Ormesby Club, with all 14 qualifiers coming from Cleveland clubs.

In the Junior Boys’ Singles Joe Clark from Northfield finished 1^st with Kaine Macdonald, Callum White and Michael Ashwell, all from Ormesby, finishing in 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th positions.  Josh Harland had already qualified automatically for the National Championships due to his national ranking.

The Junior Girls’ Singles was won by Sophie Barlow from Swerv e who beat her sister, Katie Barlow, into 2^nd pace.  Ormesby’s Charlotte Weatherby clinched the third position after being seeded 6^th with a surprise win over Holly Williams.

In the Cadet Boys’ Singles Will Dobinson from Northfield was the winner with Joe Cope 2^nd, Kieran Wardell 3^rd and Robert Forrest in 4^th place.

For the Cadet Girls’ Singles, Charlotte Weatherby was the winner with Kelsey Bradley 2^nd and Charlotte McCarty 3^rd.

Womens British League 2014/2015

With convincing wins in all 5 matches played in Wolverhampton last weekend, Ormesby are firmly on track to retain the Women’s British Table Tennis League title.

For Ormesby Karina Le Fevre produced the best results, winning all 8 of her sets including a comfortable victory against Emma Vickers, the No 1 player for the main challengers, Draycott East Midlands from Derby.  New signing Sarah Berge made a big impact, winning 9 of her 10 sets in a comfortable manner, losing only in a spectacular match against Vickers.  Her defensive style proved to be a major problem for most of her opponents.

Playing most of the matches in the No 3 position, Maria Tsaptsinos was also outstanding, winning all 10 of her sets which included big wins against Abbie Milwain and Natalie Slater in the Draycott match.  Chloe Whyte completed the Ormesby team and won both her sets against Knighton Park from Leicester.

Ormesby opened the fixtures with a 6-0 victory over the Leicester club Knighton Park followed by a win by the same score against Burton Uxbridge.  Ormesby’s third match was a 6-0 win against the Devon team YHL.  In this match Le Fevre won a very tight encounter with Yolanda King at deuce in the 5th game.

On Sunday morning Ormesby defeated the Merseyside club, Halton, by 6-0 and then in the final contest Draycott East Midlands were despatched by 5-1 with Le Fevre convincing against Milwain as well as Vickers whilst Tsaptsinos excelled to win her 2 sets.

These results put Ormesby firmly in charge at the top of the division with not only 10 points from their 5 matches but with an important games average of 29 wins against just 1 defeat, which is an excellent position to be in for the second round of fixtures which took place in Doncaster in February.

Alan Ransome OBE

Senior British League weekend 1

Pictured left to right are five members of the Ormesby Division Three North team: Calum White, Joshua Weatherby, David Noutch (team captain), Kaine Macdonald and Michael Ashwell.

With the six Teesside teams competing in the Senior British Table Tennis League completed its first round of fixtures for the new season last weekend.
In Division one Ormesby’s 2nd and Northfield won 2 and lost 2 of their first round of fixtures.
The match between the two teams produced a 5-3 victory for Northfield with Damien Nicholls and Billy Forster both winning 2 for the Stockton club whilst Andy Wilson won 1.
For Ormesby Martin Rutter, Chloe Whyte and Harry Dai all won one set.
Rutter did well to beat Wilson 3-1 whilst for Northfield Billy Forster produced two good wins again Dai and  Harland.
Ormesby opened with a 5-3 win over Burton when Rutter won 2 of his sets. This was followed by a 7-1 victory over Bristol were Rutter, Harland and Dai were all unbeaten.
Ormesby’s 3rd match was a defeat for Rotherham Scorpions 6-2 Harland and Dai won one set each.
Ormesby finished the weekend with Rutter scoring 5 from 8, Harland 4, Whyte 2 and Dai 6.
Northfield opened with a 7-1 defeat against Cardiff with Forster winning the only set. This was followed by a second defeat to Burton by 6-2 with Forster and Tim Surrey winning the sets.
Sunday morning Northfield improved with a 5-3 victory over Bristol with 2 wins from Andy Wilson.
Forster was Northfields best player with 5 from 8 whilst Wilson won 3 from 8, Nicholls 2 from 8 and Tim Surrey 1.
Ormesby are in fourth position in the table with 4 points and whilst Northfield are sixth also with 4 points. Ormesby have the superior sets average.
Ormesby the 3rd team who are playing the second division found it tough going with most of the team playing in a higher division than last season.
Ormesby scored two draws with Draycot of Nottingham and Scarborough but were defeated 8-0 by Barrow and 7-1 by the Liverpool team Bankfields.
Dave Ashwell produced the best Ormesby results with 3 wins from his 8 sets whilst Carl White won 2 from 6 Michael Young 2 from 8 and Peter Wilkinson 2 from 6.
In the third Division North which was played at Ormesby. Middlesbrough based Beaumont Nomads are placed second in the table won 2 of their matches and two draws whilst Ormesby fourth  team are in 7th place having drawn just one of the matches.
The opening match of a 4 all draw between Beaumont and Ormesby’s 4th team in which Kaine MacDonald excelled for Ormesby to beat Sam Hitchin and Mark Walpole.
Calum White did well to beat Walpole whilst 10 year old Joshua Weatherby had his best result with a victory over Hitchin.

10 year old Josh Weatherby pictured right who was voted man of the match:

The young team playing for Ormesby IV in their first match of the 2014 – 2015 season in the Senior British League earned an unexpected point against the much more experienced Beaumont Accountancy Nomads team from Middlesbrough.

Calum White and Kaine Macdonald won their two opening games against Mark Walpole and Sam Hitchin respectively. Stephen Cooper and Shannon Walker made it two all for Beaumont and then Kaine added his second win beating Mark Walpole in the fifth end to make it 3 – 2 to Ormesby IV. Stephen Cooper beat Calum White in three ends and then 10 years old Joshua Weatherby won his first game in his first British League match beating Sam Hitchin 4 – 11 in the fifth end.The match ended in a draw when Shannon Walker beat Michael Ashwell in four ends.

British Premier League – Ormesby share the top spot

Ormesby are equal top of the British Table Tennis League Premier division after the first round of matches which were played at Ormesby this weekend.

With the3 wins and 1 draw Ormesby are level with current English Champions Nottingham Sycamore with whom they played a 4 all draw.

Ormesby won their other 3 matches against Barrow Tornadoes 7 – 1, Fusion of London 6 and the Scottish Champions Drumchapel  5- 3.

Ormesby success was based on a strong all-round team effort.  Number One, Darius Knight won 5 of his 8 matches.  Portuguese International Enio Mendes won 6 from his 8 at number two.  Heshan Weerasinghe playing at number three won 4 of his 6.  Tom Jarvis did well to win 5 of his 6 whilst Michael Marsden won 2 from 4.

In the first match against Barrow Ormesby’s  7 – 1 was achieved with 2 each from Knight, Mendes and Marsden while Tom Jarvis found the strong defence of the English Women’s  Champion Joanna Drinkhall was just too difficult.

In the second match Ormesby’s beat one of the championship contenders Fusion by 6-2.  The star man for Fusion was the Veteran Loresta Trumpauskas who won both of his matches against Knight and Weerashinghe Jarvis and Mendes won 2 each for Ormesby.

The toughest match was on Sunday morning when Ormesby played a 4 all draw with the current champions Nottingham Sycamore. Weerashinge was the star of this match for Ormesby with wins against Mathew Ware and Sean Cullen.

For Sycamore their number one Chris Doran excelled to beat both Knight and Mendes.

In the final match of the weekend Ormesby beat the Scottish Champions at Drumchapel who had Chinese star Xu Ruffeng who comfortably beat Medes in 3 straight games and Knight at 11-6 in the decider. Tom Jarvis excelled with two victories over Richard Main and Scott Barton.

In the League table Ormesby are shown in second position with a slightly inferior games average to Nottingham Sycamore.  However, Sycamore and Drumchapel have still to play each other in this round of matches in the first half of the season and the result of this match could easily put Ormesby at the top of the table.

The next rounds of matches are to played at Drumchapel in Glasgow on the weekend of the 1^st and 2^nd November.

British League – first weekend

The Ormesby Club, who are bidding to win the British Table Tennis League for the coming season, have made a late strengthening to their squad with the Portuguese player, Enio Mendes, for the first round of matches that take place at the Ormesby Club headquarters on Cargo Fleet Lane in Middlesbrough tomorrow and Sunday.

Mendes was part of the Portuguese side that won the bronze medal in the 2011 European Team Championships.

Mendes comes into the squad as the No 2 player behind Darius Knight who was part of Team GB for London 2012 and is a member of the England team playing in the European Championships later this month.

The Ormesby team will also include Michael Marsden, Helshan Weerasinghe and Tom Jarvis.

Ormesby’s first match is against the Barrow club from Cumbria whose team includes the England No 1 lady, Joanna Parker.  Ormesby have another match on Saturday afternoon plus two further matches on Sunday.

Alan Ransome

British Premier League first weekend at Ormesby

‘PING’ Middlesbrough at Ormesby Hall

The ‘Ormesby Rat Pack’ spent the afternoon at ‘PING’ Middlesbrough at the National Trust’s Ormesby Hall on Thursday 7 August.

Pictured left to right:  John Richardson, Chris Flynn, John Harrington and Keith Robinson

Along with their table tennis coach/servant Malcolm Muldoon – who some thought was there for a game of cricket – a jolly time was had by all. Once again basking in the glorious sunshine it was a wonderful day for outdoor table tennis and being part of the Ormesby Hall ‘Fun Palace’ open day.

Bob Wasson and Gillian Dinsdale added some war time entertainment and with Jose Ransome being asked to look after an injured soldier there was plenty of fun in the air.

Jean Lordon from Tees Valley Sport brought along Sarah and Brenda to take pictures and the event was followed by afternoon cream teas in the Ormesby Hall Tea Room.

For more pictures please take a look on the Photo Gallery page ‘Ping’ Middlesbrough 2014, the last item in the drop down box and share with us the lovely time we spent at Ormesby Hall for ‘PING’ Middlesbrough.

‘PING’ Middlesbrough 2014

The opening of ‘Ping’ Middlesbrough 2014 took place in Capt.Cook Square Middlesbrough on Thursday 17 July.

After the beautiful weather that was experienced during ‘PING’ Middlesbrough 2013 the organisers were really pleased to see the sun beating down and temperatures reaching the high 20’s.

It was also a special day for Karina Lefevre who was celebrating her 21st birthday and she can be seen cutting her birthday cake in the picture. Also in the picture from left to right are Malcolm Muldoon who is organising the day to day activities of the ‘PING’ Middlesbrough 2014 program, Denis Neale who along with Karina was helping to launch the opening day, Alan Ransome the chairman of Ormesby Table Tennis Club, Chloe Whyte and Danny Reed who both came to support the event and Tony Dawes from the Ormesby Club Disability Section.

Karina and Danny are both members of the England table tennis squad of players who will be taking part in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next week.

Also on hand to support the event was Jean Lordon, Executive Director of Tees Valley Sport and some of her colleagues who were also on hand to help make the event run smoothly.

Follow ‘PING’ Middlesbrough 2014 on the Photo Gallery page.

Commonwealth training camp for the Welsh players

Pictured left to right are the Welsh squad of Naomi Owen, Chloe Thomas, Megan Phillips, Daniel O’Connell, Angharad Phillips and Stephen Jenkins who were just about to start their first training session. Ryan Jenkins was also with the team.

Ormesby Table Tennis Club were pleased to host the players from the Welsh Table Tennis Squad who were having a two day training camp on their way to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on the 17 and 18 July.

‘PING’ Middlesbrough 2014

Karina Le Fevre will open Ping! Middlesbrough, the month long table tennis extravaganza, which is a mix of “Come and Try It” sessions and regular coaching at more than 20 locations across South Teesside.

The opening will take place at Captain Cook Square at 1.00 pm on Thursday 17 July.

Karina, who will also be celebrating her 21^st birthday on that day, is taking advantage of a short break in her training before travelling to Glasgow to represent England in the Commonwealth Games next week.

Karina will be playing an exhibition match with the former 6 times English Champion, Denis Neale, who was part of the Ormesby team that were European Champions and dominated English table tennis in the 1970’s.  Denis is now one of the team of Ormesby Top Squad coaches.

Also present at the opening of Ping! Middlesbrough will be Danny Reed, the ex-Ormesby player who, with Karina, is part of the England team in Glasgow, and Chloe Whyte, a member of the current Ormesby team, who, with Karina, is part of the Ormesby team that has won the Women’s British League title 3 times in the last 4 years.

The launch of Ping! Middlesbrough is part of Table Tennis England’s National Table Tennis Day on 17 July and Ping! events are going on in many cities across the country, including Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cornwall, Exeter, Kettering, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford and Sheffield.

Ping! Middlesbrough is organised by Middlesbrough Borough Council in conjunction with Table Tennis England, Sport England, Sing London, Ormesby Table Tennis Club, Tees Valley Sport and Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.  Promotions, coaches and opportunities to play will take place throughout the month at the following venues, with the main hub being Captain Cook Square in Middlesbrough Town Centre:

Centre Square, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2AY

Easterside Community Hub, Broughton Avenue, Middlesbrough TS4 3PZ

Know Your Money Project, 73-75 Corporation Road, Middlesbrough TS1 1LY

Newport Community Hub, St Paul’s Road, Middlesbrough TS1 5NQ

Stewart Park, The Grove, Marton, Middlesbrough TS7 8AR

Prissick Base/Cycle Circuit, Marton Road, Middlesbrough TS4 3SA

Ormesby Table Tennis Club, Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough TS3 8PB

Swerve Table Tennis Club, Kirkham Row, Middlesbrough TS4 3EE

West Middlesbrough Centre, Meath Street, Middlesbrough TS4 4RZ

Acklam Green Centre, Stainsby Road, Middlesbrough TS5 4JS

Ormesby Hall (National Trust), Ladgate Lane, Ormesby, Middlesbrough TS3 0SR

Albert Park, Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough TS1 3LB

My Place, Custom House, North Street, Middlesbrough TS2 1JP

Manor Community Centre, Manor Farm Way, Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough TS8 0TJ

TASC, Acklam Road, Middlesbrough TS5 4EG

Neptune Leisure Centre, Ormesby road, Middlesbrough TS3 7RP

Top Corner Sports, Longlands Road, Middlesbrough TS3 8DS

Lakes Club, Westmoreland Road, Redcar TS10 4BB

Eston Leisure Centre, Normanby Road, South Bank, Middlesbrough TS6 9AE

Sasltburn Leisure Centre, Marske Mill Lane, Saltburn by the Sea TS12 1HJ

Loftus Co-op Building, High Street, Loftus TS13 4HW

Redcar Leisure Centre, Majuba Road, Redcar TS10 5BJ

On the final day, Sunday 18 August, a tournament for newcomers will take place with a table tennis table as one of the many prizes at the Ormesby Club with an Open Singles plus separate events for Under 14s, Under 18s and 50+.  The only condition is that players who play in the local leagues and are registered with Table Tennis England cannot compete.

For information about Ping! Middlesbrough and to find out further details of the venues and the programme, visit the website www.pingmiddlesbrough.co.uk or contact the organiser, Malcolm Muldoon, on  m.j.muldoon@btinternet.com or 07889 937056.

Alan Ransom