Blitz on target for national area titles

Blitz Table Tennis club made massive inroads into securing two national area titles at the weekend.
Gainsborough Table Tennis league, pictured is Ryan Mitchell (G130212-6m)Gainsborough Table Tennis league, pictured is Ryan Mitchell (G130212-6m)
Gainsborough Table Tennis league, pictured is Ryan Mitchell (G130212-6m)

The local youngsters were in action at events hosted by their club, at Trent Valley Academy, with teams coming from as far afield as Skegness and Nottingham to compete.

Blitz Under 15s started the day well against a strong looking Skegness team, recording a 6-3 win.

This seemed to set the tone for the rest of the day for Blitz as they followed it up with a 7-2 win over Market Rasen, a 6-3 victory over Grimsby/Immingham and a 9-0 thrashing of Scunthorpe.

Their closest game came against the Sycamore team from Nottingham, but they triumphed 5-4 thanks to a vital final win from Ryan Mitchell.

Mitchell finished the day unbeaten with great support from Matthew Mudd who only lost one match all day.

Eleven-year-old Sam Phillips found the competition tough, but competed well and took a couple of close, important matches for the team.

Youth is on his side with four years left in the event and the future looks bright for him.

Blitz Under 18s started the day with a superb 6-3 victory over what looked on paper to be a strong Lincoln team.

They then followed this up with a 9-0 beating of Market Rasen and another 9-0 demolition of Scunthorpe.

The pick of the results was a 3-2 victory for James Longstaff over the in-form and highly rated Henry Walshe from Scunthorpe.

Chris Gamble finished the day undefeated, with Harry Tomlinson losing only one match, and James Longstaff dropping just two.

This meant that both the the Under 15s and Under 18s finished top after day oneof four in the National Cadet and Junior Leagues, with the Under 18s way out in front and looking strong favourites to take the title.

If anyone is interested in playing table tennis, young or old then please contact head coach Paul Johnson on 07986 044680 or via email on [email protected].

The club is open three nights a week for matches, coaching, practise and social table tennis.

Special thanks to all committee members that helped out and to the ladies that did all the catering all day.