AS the table tennis season nears its close, the Malvern Club is able to look back on the most successful year in recent memory for junior table tennis.

Based around the coaching club that takes place on Sunday evening at Dyson Perrins High School, the club entered teams in the local Whatley Recordon Malvern League for the first time and reached out to compete successfully in county, regional and national junior events.

Four teams competed in our local league, led enthusiastically by a Junior A team of Joe Higgs, David Smith and James Clarke who won promotion from Division Three at the first attempt. Matt Lang, Anthony Wiseman and Tom James were just pipped for the other promotion place by a very experienced Crackpots team. The remaining two teams competed well against players many years their senior.

For the second year running two junior teams entered in the National Junior League, once again using the excellent facilities of the Ledbury Sports Centre. Having come second to a strong Hereford team last year, the Malvern A team of Joe, David, James and Matt went one better this time to pick up their first win in this tournament.

It is particularly encouraging for the future that Malvern also entered a young U14 team in the national Cadet League giving Ben Salisbury, Geoff Burford, Mark Griffiths and Jack Higgs valuable experience at this level of competition.

These successes come at a time when eight Malvern players were selected for the West Midlands Region training squad. Ian Marshall, a senior ETTA coach, leads these squad training sessions at Ledbury and Lilleshall, the home of the National Sports Centre. The squad members are Joe, David, Matt, Anthony, Tom, Ben, Geoff and Jack. And the season is not yet over.

This weekend junior and cadet teams compete at Evesham in the Worcestershire Inter-League competition and in early June several players will compete for positions in the County junior rankings. Without doubt, this has been a most successful year.

On the club front Joe Higgs defeated Matt Lang in the final of the annual ladder competition, Anthony Wiseman picked up the most improved junior award with Ben Salisbury being chosen by the coaches as the most im-proved cadet.

For further information on the club and on coaching contact Gerald Foley on (01684) 565427.