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Written by Kevin Bird

Category: News Updates

Created: 12 January 2022

The same team of Ben Aldridge, Alex Elsom and Adam Koszyk travelled to Birmingham for day 3 of National Junior League.

Cheslyn Hay Tigers were our round one opponents, and we made short work of the match, winning 6-0 and only dropping one leg in the process! An excellent start.

Round two and our opponents were Birmngham 4. Another good performance and another 6-0 win, although Ben did find Roan Paul's style awkward, and had to dig deep to win 12-10 in the fifth!

Round three and our opponents are Colebridge C. First game saw Ben against Colebridge number two Hong Kit Ng (who proved to be a real handful). Ben was trailing 2-0 and 10-6,  but some well executed points saw him level at deuce and then take the next two points to win the end. This gave Ben renewed energy and belief, and he won the next two ends 11-5, 11-8 for a great win. Alex had his own five-end battle, this time being pegged back from 2-0 to 2-2, but he managed to compose himself in the fifth for a fine win. Adam was on game three and he, like Ben, had to battle back from 2-0 down. He did so with some great play, which saw him ease through 11-9 in the fifth. Three close games all going Westfield's way. Ben and Alex both won their secind matches, but Adam found Hong Kit Ng too strong and went down 3-0. A battling 5-1 kept us at the top of the table.

Round four and we are up against the the Lillington 'Giants'. In all my years of table tennis, I have never seen a team full six foot (plus) juniors! Morgan Page proved the star man for Lillington, using his deadly backhand to beat both Adam and Alex. Ben was untroubled for his two wins.

The final round of the day saw us against Birmingham 3, who were a decent team. At this point Alex and Adam were starting to feel the effects of their earliers efforts and both struggled. Adam did managed to pick up one point but Alex drew a blank. No such worries for Ben, who cruised to a brace. Final result 3-3.

There were some great performances during the day's play, and for Ben to remain undefeated was very impressive. Roll on Day 4.

• Round 1 Round 1
• Round 2 Round 2
• Round 3 Round 3
• Round 4 Round 4
• Round 5 Round 5
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