Climax after Climax in the 1^st United Kingdom Chinese Table Tennis Championship

A little Ping Pong acts not only as an ice-breaker in the Cold War between America and China, it also created a new wave in British Chinese community. The tournament, which was organised by the United Kingdom Chinese Table Tennis Association (UKCTTA), was held at Dulwich College Sports Centre on 10th August 2003.

The event has been overwhelmingly successful with over 300 participants.

28 senior players competed in the championship in the open group event and 27 players in the junior championship. The tournament was inaugurated by the UKCTTA Launching Ceremony at 10a.m and highlighted by Luk Chi Fu Lion Dance of UK brunch, which was led by Master Luk Chung Mao and Toby Wong. It amazed and amused all the participants and spectators.

The competition was done in a system of elimination where only the top 2 players from each group could enter the quarterfinal. After intense matches the senior group champion was Xiao Feng Zhang, runner-up was Michael Chan and the third places went to Kelvin Choong and Robin Peebles.

For the junior group event (aged 18 or under), the winner was Robin Peebles, runner-up was Adam Leow, third was Xiao Xin Lui and fourth was Shun Kwan.

Let us look at the profiles of our winners. The senior group champion Zhang, PhD holder in Sports Science in China, used to work for the Chinese National Science Research Centre specializing in table tennis. He is currently under one year Student Exchange Programme from De Montford University. He beat Michael Chan 3:1, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, and 11-4.

The runner-up Michael Chan is the highest ranked Chinese player in the E.T.T.A National Ranking. He was once a National Junior champion. When interviewed, he mentioned his dilemma as a breadwinner for his family with a 9 months old son and his table tennis training. He told us how he struggled to work full-time and study Accountancy part-time and had very little practice. In the competition, Michael played well in an offensive role but made errors with opportunities.

Prizes for the winners were extremely good. On top of the trophies, the senior champion received a return flight to Hong Kong or Beijing, which was sponsored by See Woo Travel. The runner-up received a cash prize of £75, the third and fourth £40.

The junior champion, runner-up, the third and the fourth were awarded cash prizes £50, £30, £20 and £20 respectively.

The UKCTTA is a non-profit making association. Management Committee members are: Chairman- David Fung, General Secretary- Perry Fung, Administrator- Ray Lam, and Tournament Director- Paolo Cheng. Last but not least is the Treasurer & Development Director, Javad Ameri, who used to be one of the Iranian national players and was trained by a Chinese table tennis coach. He is very enthusiastic to promote table tennis in the Chinese community in the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, all winners are male participants. It shows that it is not an easy task to get the popularity across all sexes. The UKCTTA is a newly developed organisation in table tennis. It is enthusiastic and ambitious to promote table tennis across the UK.

If you are interested to know more, please contact Perry Fung either on 07944 541212 or David Fung 07050 108308 or log on to the website www.ukctta.org.