Entries almost closed for 82nd Sheffield Closed Table Tennis Championships

The event will again be staged at the English Institute of Sport on Sunday, February 2.

The closing date for entries is this Sunday (January 19). To enter, email [email protected].

Meanwhile, in the league Northern General B’s Sue Gilroy, Fliss Pickard and Jamie Rusling each got the better of Vulcan D’s Helmuth Osborne and newcomer Chris Reeves-Croft during a hard fought Division Two contest.

The match saw five of the sets go the distance.

The visitors, led by Russ Clayton, are flirting with relegation but fought hard to stave off defeat as Clayton registered a defiant hat-trick in winning each of his sets narrowly in five-game thrillers.

The hosts lie in fifth place, clear of the relegation mire thanks to the 7-3 victory.

In Division Three, Kieran Alvey (27/32) took a maximum, as did his father Shaun, during Albert Premier’s visit to Abbeydale F.

The visitors are in the promotion battle, level on points and one set adrift of second place Abbeydale D. Ian Freeston and Steve Howard prevented a whitewash as they accounted for Ross Stewart.

Crookes H narrowed the gap at the top of the fourth tier to two points with a 6-4 win over leaders Shiregreen C. Leading scorer Ramy Naji posted his customary hat-trick and that was backed up by a brace from John Firth and John Kobierowski’s win over Ryan Henger.