Today's tournament

Today I've been playing in one of our clubs invitation Table Tennis Tournaments. These are quite low key events but the standard is quite good. It is held in a small venue with only four/five courts. There were eighteen players in the competition and you play eleven or twelve matches and everyone gets a final ranking position.
All the players pay £10 to enter with the winner winning a cash prize. All the other players get a prize which can be anything from beer, wine, chocolates, DVD's, etc. The higher up the final positions you finish you get choice of a better prize.

Anyway I was quite pleased with my performance (I lost two matches) finishing 4th. This was my first time playing since injuring my ankle and I was worried that I may have a problem but I came through all the games fine. I selected some cans of Beer for my prize (12 cans of John Smiths Yorkshire Bitter) so I can now drown my sorrows for not winning.

The tournament was won by one of our British league 1st team members Simon N whom I beat 11-8 in the deciding set . My two defeats came against the players finishing 2nd & 3rd Richard whom also plays for our first team and only lost to the winner Simon N and also to Simon D (11-9 in the decider) who plays for Darlington and finished above me on count back.

To put my performance into perspective you have got to remember I am a 48 year old overweight hasbeen and the 3 players who finished above me are in their prime at 18 or 19 year old. Actually they are all smashing lads, Richard I have coached on a regular basis from been a total beginer at 11 year old and I have also done a quite a bit of coaching with Simon N so I have got to be proud of their achievements.

The Photo is Richard and Simon N taken at a British league match about 18 months ago.