Progress take Cadet Gold

Sixteen years after the formation of the club, the last eight of those years as British Club Champions, and finally London Progress Table Tennis club hit the big time on the European scene. Competing at the weekend in the French city of Nantes, in what is known as the Tournoi International des Pays de la Loire, London Progress came out on top of the Boys Cadet event and unbelievably took second place overall in a field of 24 teams that had come together from across the continent.

Picking up on the continued success of the England super Cadets, Paul Drinkall, Darius Knight and Gavin Evans, London Progress underlined again that something special is happening in the world of English Table Tennis. What was surprising and equally refreshing was the huge interest in the London Progress squad. Everybody at the tournament it seemed wanted to come to London to see what was happening and to be part of the exciting London table tennis scene.

The weekend tournament had a very special feel about it for three very different reasons.

Firstly it was the club’s first triumph on foreign soil. That was made possible by the heroics of new signings, Matt Ware and Garth Kinlocke, who had both done so well for the club just two weeks earlier by reaching the final of the Johnny Leach Cup and had so very nearly won it against the odds. This time the two were in no mood for compromise. They swept through round after round, dismissing the Russians, the Belgians, the Spanish, the Germans and finally the French to claim the first-ever European trophy for London Progress.

The final was a heart-stopping affair with Progress squandering no less than seven match points before finally vanquishing their French opponents. Garth Kinlocke had probably never played better and as for Matt Ware, he just keeps marching on. This weekend he gets his first England call up in the annual Six Nations tournament in Holland.

Anglo- Nordic cooperation

The tournament was also special in that it marked our first collaboration with the incredibly successful Swedes. European collaboration is not new to Progress; they still jointly compete with the stars of Antwerp in the Belgian National League and the Progress club retains its close links with the Irish National squad. But this was the first contact with their Swedish table tennis counterparts, the greatest of course being the mighty Jan-Ove Waldner, arguably the greatest player of all time.

Playing under the London Progress banner, three under 13 Swedish youngsters joined forces with the London Progress Cadets to form an Anglo-Nordic partnership that very nearly won the entire event. Two semi finals that narrowly went against Progress prevented the team silver medal from being converted into gold. Nevertheless, the gold team cadet medal was prize enough and the two individual bronze medals meant that Progress was returning to London with an armful of silverware.

Completing the Circle

Finally the tournament was extra special in the history of London Progress in that it marked a return to Nantes, the first European city that Progress had ever visited some sixteen years earlier. The reception for the returning Londoners to the French Atlantic city was extremely warm and one, which the club manager described as ‘completing the circle’. Sixteen years ago Progress was little more than an ambitious after-school club. They were now returning as all-conquering eight times British Champions. With their players on a European podium, it was truly a day to celebrate.