Watch this Very enjoyable short documentary about table tennis in Bryant Park, in New York City. Thanks to Tony Gregan for telling me about it.
Tony has been kicking life into the League's Facebook pages, too, if you haven't noticed already!

"Ping Pong is great for the brain"

.. according to Daily Mirror article by Dr Miriam Stoppard.
Thanks to Martin Woolf for the link!

Week 6/21

Division 1

Kings A 5-5 Five Tees C
All Division 1 matches this week involved Five Tees teams and all ended as 5-5 draws! It's a rare treat to have our top Division filled with such evenly-matched teams. No-one won three, though Keith Charbit-Middleton came close with an 11-9 deficit to Cameron Aris in the 5th set, as well as a share in the Five Tees C doubles win.

Five Tees B 5-5 Kings B
When everyone wins exactly one or two out of three, you know everyone's gone home at least a bit happy. Such was the case here, and a drawn match was a natural outcome. Bobby Zhou won two 5-setters, and that's usually considered a marker for mental toughness, so he has to be the unofficial Man of the Match.

Five Tees A 5-5 IBM A
It's uncomfortably close at the top of Division 1 - stifling, even, with fewer than one win per match covering the leading half of the table. Both of these teams are in the cluster, biting chunks out of each other's ankles as best they may. Chief chunk-taker was David Wills, who beat former and current Winchester Champions Julian Walton and Paul May on his way to three wins.

Division 2

IBM B 3-7 Swanmore A
Iliya Dimitrov and Kevin Muldowney seemed the likeliest to win three on the night, but Kevin it was who came out on top in their head-to-head struggle after five gruelling sets. I understand they ended up leaning on each other like a pair of old-time prize fighters, neither willing to yield, neither with enough strength remaining to raise his bat in triumph at the end.

Kings C 3-7 Hursley
Barry Dobson won three for the first time this season, and with Martin Ceresa and Ray Swan both chipping in with wins Hursley were able to record their first win of the season, with a little to spare.

Division 3

IBM C 2-8 Medstead B
Glenn Phur and John Bonney led the way with three wins for Medstead B, and their general all-round strength enabled them to end the week leading Division 3 by the smallest of margins.

Owslebury 7-3 Kings E
A first win for Owslebury, even without Ian McLeonards, who's been unwell. Peter Budd and Martin Woolf both won three, each for the first time this season, and their efforts lifted them clear of the foot of the table.

Kings D 1-9 Five Tees D
Graham Lynch is so pleasant and mild-mannered away from the table, it's quite a shock when he turns into an athletic steam-roller and flattens every Division 3 player he comes across. Graham was playing for Yorkshire Junior Boys against Lancashire in 1956, when sponge rubber was just coming into the game and Richard Bergmann, Ann Haydon and Johnny Leach were playing exhibition matches in another part of the county. Three wins for Graham of course, and for Tony Gregan also.

Whoever you are - YOU can play table tennis near Winchester! Plenty of tables - and bats and balls supplied - at the following venue.

• Monday – AND NOW WEDNESDAY nights too! - 7:15 pm to 10:00 pm - all ages and skill levels at Princes Mead School, Abbots Worthy, SO21 1AN - organised by Kings Table Tennis Club. Just £3 per session, pay and play – no membership fee.

Improved access via your mobile!
Need to contact someone when you're travelling to a match? Need a postcode?
Use
 www.winchester-table-tennis-league.org.uk/mobile-index.html  on your mobile to see Contact info, postcodes, plus the latest League tables, averages and scorecards. It's as up-to-date as the big-screen version, but it's formatted for small screens.
Try it on your mobile's web browser!
This is how it may look on your mobile

Pro photographer Tim Humphrey took a large number of table tennis action pictures at Westgate School recently - see some of them here!