Table Tennis at 10 Downing Street
Guests including HRH The Princess Royal, Jacques Rogge and Members of the IOC, Lord Coe and Members of the 2012 Olympic Committee and the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP (Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport) were invited to a reception hosted by the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 28th March 2012.
This was part of the final visit of the IOC to London prior to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In his welcome, David Cameron spoke of the readiness of London to host the Olympics, his desire that the whole of the UK would feel involved and finally, stressed the importance of the Legacy of the Games. This was not only in facilities, but the opportunities to raise awareness of sport, particularly for young people.
Following the reception, guests were invited into the Downing Street gardens, where the PM showed his sporting prowess playing table tennis with Tin-Tin Ho, Lois Peake, Harriet Taylor, Michael Ho, Danny Lawrence and Liam McTiernan under the watchful eye of Gail Johns, Paul Birch and John Arnold. Afterwards, the players presented the Prime Minister with an England shirt as worn by the ESTTA Delegation taking part in the International School Sport Federation (ISF) World Schools’ Table Tennis Championships in Sardinia next week. All table tennis players and officials invited will be involved in the London 2012 School Games at the beginning of May. Players from Badminton were also invited to the reception.
Olympic greats Darren Campbell, Denise Lewis, Ellie Simmonds and Jason Gardener mingled with the guests and players in their role as School Games Ambassadors at this special reception to showcase the Sainsbury’s 2012 School Games.
The photograph shows the Delegation arriving at No.10.