On Saturday 3^rd August the Great Northern Ping Hub on Deansgate, Manchester held an Olympic Challenge event, sponsored by the Lions Den, its first competition at the venue. 21 players competed in 7 groups of three with two going through to the knock out stages.

The casual setting of the Ping Hub with music playing in the lead up and practice time, brought a great atmosphere to the event with 50+ spectators watching during the afternoon. The day was a great success with a wide range of talent on display.

As a random, non seeded event, the draw couldn’t have worked out any better with a good spread of the better players in each group. In the semi finals Bertrand Tita beat Ho Hei Lam in a close fought match 9, 11, -3, 10 and Steven Gao beat Yuchong Liang 6, -11, -6, 6, 7, this led to a fabulous final with Steven Gao just pipping Bertrand Tita 9, 8, -9, -9, 11 to take the title and the £100 cash 1st prize.

With Bertrand taking home the 2nd place £50 Lions Den voucher, it was just left to decide the 3rd place with a play off between Yuchang Liang and Ho Hei Lam, with Ho Hei Lam taking the title and £25 voucher 8, 9, 8.

The next event will be the Women and Girls Olympic Ping Hub Cup taking place on Saturday 24^th August with £175 prize fund sponsored by Thornton’s Table Tennis.

Martin Ireland, NW Area Manager said “The Great Northern Ping Hub is getting busier each week with 50-100 people playing socially each day. Key elements of the venues success have been the quality of the equipment, the venue location and setting, additional lighting, 12 hour availability seven days a week and use of the TT Clubs platform to promote the hub, this has helped attract those who take their TT more seriously than some, through to social players, many of whom play here multiple times a week. There’s a great opportunity for local clubs in Greater Manchester to recruit new players for the coming season, Gt. Manchester clubs are welcome to get in touch with the GN Ping Hub to host “take over days” and promote their club to those attending.”

The Great Northern Ping Hub now has 128 registered players with 47 Ping Hub Members. Once registered with TT England and as Ping Hub members, players can book 1-2-1 coaching sessions, book a table for guaranteed play in pairs or in a small group, or enter one of our competitions.