The Premier Division fixture list gives table tennis fans an early Christmas present this weekend as six of the seven league teams are set to play. Fusion, Urban, BATTS, Ormesby, Archway Peterborough and North Ayrshire are all in action across this Saturday and Sunday.
Ormesby come into the weekend on the back of a convincing victory against Fusion.
BATTS will take on the defending champions on Saturday with Frenchman Nicholas Bastiao leading their team, accompanied by Josh Bennett & Mike O’Driscoll. Bennet was particularly impressive in their season opener, winning three singles ties as well as the doubles. The fixture promises to be an exciting tie as Graham Frankell, BATTS coaching coordinator, told BBC Radio Essex: “We reckon it’s going to be an even match. There’s going to be some spectacular table tennis on show.”
Ormesby will select a team from their strong squad of Sining Zhang, Helshan Weerasinghe, Darius Knight and Thomas Rayner. Zhang has already shown how difficult he could be to beat this season, racking up four singles wins from four.
North Ayrshire, looking for their first win of the season, have a tough weekend ahead. They face Archway Peterborough on Saturday before heading to Urban on Sunday.
Chris Main said: “We are underdogs against both teams so we are looking to go out there, pressure free and play at the level we know we can play”. He will be joined by Zak Wilson and Colin Dalgliesh as they attempt to challenge for Premier Division points.
Before Urban host North Ayrshire on Sunday they travel to Fusion for a Saturday afternoon match. The London club lay down an early marker in their only game of the season so far, beating title holders Ormesby 4-3 in a thriller. They will decide on their final trio on the evening before each match from a squad of Daniel Kosiba, Daniel Schaffer, Gyorgy Szilard, Matej Mamut and Alim Hirji.
Head coach Gergely Urban said: “We are looking forward to getting a strong position in the league before the Christmas break but of course all fixtures are very difficult. Fusion has a strong team with many experienced players combined with some young talented ones.”
Keep an eye on the British League twitter feed as well as each club’s Facebook page for details on live streams of matches. You can watch Urban take on North Ayrshire on Sunday here.
The only team without a fixture, Ormeau, return for a Round 4 tie on Saturday 11th January.
Fixtures
Saturday, 14 December
Fusion v Urban
BATTS v Ormesby
Archway Peterborough v North Ayrshire
Sunday, 15 December
Urban v North Ayrshire