City University London have kept the student bragging rights by retaining their Pongathon University Challenge title.
Their ‘Unbeatables’ team came out on top against seven other student line-ups at the end of an evening of fevered battle at Richmix in Shoreditch, London.
Also in the mix were fellow City team ‘The Maasias’, plus ‘Team Alpha’ and ‘Night Wolf Hawk Tigers’ from Oxford Brookes, ‘King Pong’ from UCLAN, ‘Team An’Tom’y’ from Herts, ‘Team Drapers’ from Queen Mary and ‘Cider Lovers’ and from Gloucestershire.
After the round-robin group stages, played on a two game, first to 11 format, it was Unbeatables and Night Wolf Hawk Tigers who topped the standings and met in the final.
Oxford Brookes took the first game 11-7, but City Uni were quick to respond, taking the second game 11-4. With everything to play for the final game was a blur of speedy serves and spin heavy smashes, but in the end City Uni emerged victorious winning game three 11-8 and taking the title of PUC Champions 2015.
Night Wolf Hawk Tigers took home balls and mini bats to hone their skills and The Unbeatables got their hands on a couple of top of the range bats kindly donated by Bribar Table Tennis UK to take their game to the next level.
A huge congrats to City Uni and a massive thank you to all the activators and winning teams that made it such an epic finals.
City Uni player Vardaan said: “The finals were a big success and everyone who showed up had a great time. We made new friends, tested our skills against them and understood how powerful a tool social ping pong can be in bringing people together.”
In the afternoon students from Exeter, Oxford Brookes, City Uni and potential activators from Leeds Beckett, Hull, and Greenwich attended PUC activator training, a gathering of highly enthusiastic students hoping to develop and forge the legacy of PUC events at their universities.
Vardaan added: “Meeting up with fellow activators involved discussions about the different approaches we all take. We will be taking back loads of new ideas to implement in order to make PUC an even bigger success.”
If you want to get your university involved in PUC, check out www.pongathonunichallenge.com / www.facebook.com/pongathonuc / Twitter: @pongathonuc
Paul Stimpson
April 30, 2015