EDitorial ± 29-Sep-2009

TT0910, Week 4

New ping-pong players: none for ages, then two come along within a month. First we acquired surrealist Rene on a Bosman, and now we've added Anshul. Story is that Andy bumped into some Indian fellas having a casual game one evening, and promptly invited them to be part of the Defiants experience. One declined, pleading lack of match practice -- like that stops us -- and one, Anshul, accepted.

His first match for us tonight, and he was straight in at the deep end against cack-handed Mark. I felt sorry for him as he was trounced in game one, then mightily impressed as he showed some backbone to win game two. Down to the wire and our man pulled through to gain a fine scalp. There's quality.

As if that wasn't enough, he won his only other game too (opposition could only muster two players). That'd be one hundred per cent to Anshul, going straight to the top of our internal rankings.

Meantime, Mark gained some revenge by beating both me and Andy, who'd popped in after puppy training. As I was caving in to Mark, Roy Keane's ITFC were throwing away a two-goal lead up in Sheffield. Double bummer.

So, me and newboy Anshul to contest the doubles, and we whooped 'em in straight ends, Big A landing some fine winners. Might not be such a bad season after all.