Table tennis: Stadium showdown for the table toppers

Nov 20 2008 by Dave Bettley, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

FOUR rounds of British League Premier Division action take place this weekend at the Halton Regional Table Tennis Centre at the Stobart Stadium.

Matches start at 11am on Saturday and at 10am on Sunday.

League leaders Drumchapel Glasgow I will be out to confirm that they are the outstanding club team in British table tennis.

With the addition of a new number one, Lei Shi, to their ranks, Drumchapel Glasgow have tremendous strength in depth and they will be able to pick a team from Lei Shi, Ryan Jenkins, Lee Dong Wang, Sau Ayemojuba, Terry Young, Stephen Jenkins and Craig Howieson. You can expect their four opponents – BATTS Team Peniel I, Westfield I, DHS Greenhouse Progress I and Greenhouse TTK to give them good games, but only the extremely optimistic will expect them to drop any points.

Ellenborough (Lorestas Trumpauskas, Thomas Bennborm, Liam Pitchford, Jon Nilsson and Jimmy Walsh) will be looking to consolidate their second place and their Sunday matches against Ormesby I and BATTS Team Peniel I should be among the highlights of the weekend.

DHS London Progress I, 10 times British League Champions are using this year to push their many promising younger players forward. However, with a squad that comprises the likes of Colum Slevin, Jason Sugrue, Jiang Zhi Tao, Matt Ware, Dong Da Quin, Chen Bo Huang, Garth Kinlocke, Ashley Stokes, Chris Lewis and Emran Hussain they could still spring a surprise or two.