London Progress scored an impressive double at the weekend when they won both the under 18 and under 13 A-band categories of the LJTTS All -London Finals held at the West London Table Tennis Centre in Southall. Rafi Marom cruised to an easy victory in the under 18's event seeing off fellow Progress cadet, Alex Fegredo and East Londoner, Mattthew Mulley in the final group of three.Fegredo captured the second spot thus giving Progress a 1st and 2nd placing. In the under 13 A-band the rapidly improving 11year old Zak Zilesnick, went through the day undefeated to give another top spot to London Progress.
The finals were the first to carry national ranking points and like any new system it had a few teething problems. The most serious saw two of Gareth Herbert's TTK stars, who had qualified via band A find themselves placed in band C. Despite vehement protests with supporting evidence, the organisers refused to budge. Gareth, legitimately outraged, slung his hook and took his youngsters home. To add insult to injury, we learned that a 13 year old youngster who had qualified from group C found himself in the unenviable position of having to battle it out in band B of the under 18's. He was not amused. Clearly the organisers have some homework to do.
Notwithstanding the above anomalies, the LJTTS represents the future of grass roots junior table tennis in London, and acts as the perfect pathway between novice ping and the more established tournament circuit. Plenty of table tennis all day at very cheap prices with nobody getting 'knocked out'. It's a pity this structure has not spread across the country. The British League, British Junior League, VETTS and Grand Prix tournaments are all flourishing but without an ever expanding junior grassroots programme the future of table tennis in this country is still in jeopardy.Perhaps the ETTA development department, which did so much to promote the NJL and NCL a few years ago, could come out of hibernation and get things moving!
The Bath Grand Prix at the weekend was hugely oversubscribed which is both good news and bad news. The good news is obvious. These tournaments are very popular and meet an important need within the sport. The bad news being the organisers obviously lack the imagination and will to find ways to incorporate all those who wish to play. If table tennis is to flourish in the 21st century we need administrators that have flair and ambition. Running sport is just like running a business. Only the fit survive. The rest go under. It's as simple as that.
