Table Tennis: Eggheads win Cippenham Table Tennis Club Team Two-Star Open

In fact, the tournament was over-subscribed and some potential entries had to be refused.

A maximum of 24 teams can be accommodated for the competition which, in addition to being a team rather than individual event, also features the progressive knock-out format.

This is unique in open tournaments in this country and again proved very popular with teams arriving from far and wide including Devon, south Wales and Yorkshire.

The tournament got under way with teams drawn into eight groups of three.

Seven of the top ranked teams prevailed but Corby Smash Table Tennis Club were defeated by Archway Peterborough whose ranking was only slightly inferior.

Steve Gray and Martin Freeland of Archway embarked on a route through the event that saw them ultimately finish in seventh position.

Corby, on the other hand, beat a local side in the first knockout round then, pitched against another of the top eight, fell to Tommy Gritton and Quentin Kwan.

PHOTO: Mitchell Jones and Jamie Fischer of It's Only Ping Pong finished runners-up to the Eggheads in the Team Two-Star Open.

Tony West and Henry Arthur of Corby were consequently relegated into the middle section of the draw from which they finished top in overall ninth place.

Gritton and Kwan finished sixth overall, losing their final match to Maccabi – Jeremy Banks and Jack Josephs.

Of the semi-finalists, only Brummie Old Boys had suffered defeat along the way. That came in the first round after the groups when London-based Highbury inflicted a loss on the Midlanders.

However, Brummie turned that around with victories over Cardiff-based Class Act and Maccabi to qualify for the semis.

The two semi-finals were relatively straight-forward affairs with The Eggheads beating Brummie and It’s Only Ping Pong beating Highbury, both 2-0.

The final matches, though, were pulsating and dramatic events worthy of any competition.

The final itself was between The Eggheads and It’s Only Ping Pong.

Three of the four players went into this match unbeaten and the only players to lose that record was Mitchell Jones. He was beaten 16-14 in the fifth and deciding game by Craig Bryant in a match most of the rest of the hall stopped play to watch.

PHOTO: Martin Gunn of the Eggheads in action at Cippenham.

Jones had two match points of his own against the player ranked 11th in England, 28 places higher than the Watford man.

In the second, Jones’ teammate Jamie Fisher looked all at sea against the wily hard-bat skills of Martin Gunn. However, the young player turned it around brilliantly and won the next two games to square it at 2-2.

Gunn, the Old Windsor resident who has a fantastic recent record of winning tournaments at Cippenham, was not to be outgunned and eventually won 3-2.

The play-off for third and fourth placed between Highbury and Brummie was just as close. Again, the final score was 2-0 but both sets required a deciding game.

In the first of those, Josh Nashed of Highbury just about managed to hold on to defeat Mike Browne 13-11 in the fifth, and then Fabian Mauroy followed up 11-6 against Jody Bevington.

Cippenham’s Steve Smith, playing for RAF, had an exceptional day, winning six of his seven matches while Ashley Shaw, playing with his brother Ollie in Sh-awesome, managed three wins. Another player who impressed, and took his team to eighth place was Sam Ricks, who won seven of his eight matches.

The tournament was organised and refereed by Graham Trimming