Table tennis ace enjoys superb weekend

Table tennis

LEWIS Gray, 17, from Weald Table Tennis Club, Cranbrook, finished equal first in the gruelling National Junior Masters, a round robin competition taking place between 14 of England’s top players, which was held at Burton-on-Trent over the weekend.

Lewis, currently ranked England number five, won 12 out of 13 singles.

He was severely tested several times, being taken to five games by Sean Cullen (Derbyshire), James Ward (Staffordshire) and Jared Patel (Essex) and had close matches with many other players, but he always found something extra to win key points for victory.

His best result was in beating England number two, the left-handed Sean Cullen by 11-4, 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, in an encounter full of long, counter-attacking rallies.

His only loss was to the current England number three Sam Walker (5-11, 7-11, 9-11), an opponent he has long found difficult.

Walker, Cullen and Gray each lost one match only, to each other (Walker 3-2 to Cullen) to finish equal top on points, but on games average ended respectively first, second and third.

In the same competition, Helshan Weerasinghe, from Judd School, Tonbridge, was fifth (nine wins to four losses).

In the girls’ event, Weald’s Yolanda King also came fifth (nine wins to four losses). Yolanda, England-ranked number four, beat the number three, Tin Tin Ho, who finished third, but otherwise Yolanda had a relatively disappointing weekend.

Her worst result was in going down in straight games to the tight and precise play of Vicky Smith (Devon), who finished second overall.

Otherwise Yolanda’s form was mixed. She started well against national champion Chloe Whyte before fading to a 8-11, 14-12, 4-11, 5-11 defeat.

With two-wing topspin attack, she looked capable of causing a shock win over the England number one Karina Le Fevre before going down in five games. Until Le Fevre lost to Ho at the end of the competition, Yolanda had been the only player to take the champion to a deciding game.

She hit brilliant attacking form in overwhelming Natalie Slater in the first two games of their encounter, but her opponent came back strongly to win an entertaining match by 4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.

This was King’s best performance of the competition, but unfortunately for the Weald player, it was also Slater’s.