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| Greater London Championships Report- 2005 |
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London Progress Shine at the Greater London Championships
London Progress Table Tennis Club, still buzzing from capturing its seventh consecutive British League title, continued its winning ways by raking in a haul of titles at the annual Greater London Championships held at the Southall Sports Centre last weekend. Apart from providing both finalists in the Men's Open, it was an all Progress affair in both the Men's Doubles and the Under 18's boys’ championships.
Further London Progress glory came when the club captured the boys Under 13 title.
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Events went according to form when Progress No1, Terry Young reached the final of the Men's Open and Club No3, Marco Essomba joined him to make it an all-Progress final. It was a sparkling feast of table tennis with gigantic forehand rallies sweeping across the table but in the end Terry Young proved too experienced in his overall tactics and Marco had to settle for the silver medal.
In the Open doubles, Marco and Terry teamed up only to be confronted by the Progress pairing of Egle Adomelyte and Kaori Saijo. Again the power and tactics of Young and Essomba proved too much for the Progress women stars but Egle and Kouri were happy with their silver medals.
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Juniors
In the junior events there was a pleasing surprise when Progress junior, Timi Famajuro reached the finals and a chance to upset Progress No1 junior Umair Mauthoor. It was an entertaining match but Umair proved just too strong in every department.
Even more surprising was when up and coming Progress cadet, Reece Manning, not only reached the finals of the Under 13's but in the end came out a comfortable winner. This was Manning's second title of the month, having crowned himself Middlesex champions just a few weeks earlier. With the nationals coming up next week, Reece must be starting to believe that the Triple Crown might just be possible.
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Things didn't quite go to plan as Barbara Kiss from the Barnet Club proved too good for both Egle and Kouri in the Women's Open. Similarly, there was disappointment for young Progress hopeful, Rafi Marom, who was bundled out of the Under 15's event in the quarterfinals, when clearly he was hoping to go all the way to the finals.
However, four titles in their home venue sent out the message that London Progress has no intention of relinquishing the pre-eminent status in British table tennis. (end)
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