Great Britain Deaf Table Tennis Association hosted their first international table tennis matches against a Hungarian squad on Saturday the 19th September 2010 at Greenacres primary school in Amington and at the Woodfield table tennis club in Wolverhampton.
The Hungarian side were hosted by the GB team in their homes and taken sightseeing during the 4 days they were in the UK. The visit was deemed a great success by both teams, and a return match in Hungary is being planned for next year and could possibly be the precursor to a European Table tennis league for the deaf. The Hungarian team comprising of manager Imre Bensik, coach Evente Aranyosi and players, Gergely Bencsik, Jeno Fulop, Adam Bodo and Daniel Fuleki spent 4 days in the UK visiting London, having a meeting with Craig Crowley ICSD President and playing 2 matches in Tamworth and Wolverhampton.
Great Britain “B” Andrew Cooper, Alireza Kamrani, Ernesto Bueno Del Carpio and Nasim Khakbaznejad playing at Greenacres lost 6-2 with Alireza and Nasim winning one game each. Andrew and Ernesto both played well but were beaten by superior opponents on the day.
The full Great Britain “A” team of Andrew Calloway, Nick Gilmour, James Meyers, and Chris Angus playing at Woodfield won 6-2 reversing the “B” team score. The win for the GB team justified their world ranking of No 12 against the Hungarian ranking of 17 in the world. The match was first class and enjoyed by both the spectators and players. All the GB players played exceptionally well and the two losing games were desperately close. Andrew Nick and James are all ranked in the top 100 players in the world.
David T Evans
National coach to the GB deaf table tennis squad.