Milton Keynes Topspin 7-3 Greenleys Princes
League
Division One
Wednesday 29 November 2023
| Date | Wednesday 29 November 2023 |
|---|---|
| Start time | 19:30 |
| Competition | League |
| Division | Division One |
| Venue | Milton Keynes Table Tennis Centre |
| Season | 2023-2024 |
| Games played | 34 |
| Points played | 665 |
Published 07/04/2025 20:10 by David Wackrill.
RUSSELL MASTERCLASS SEES TOPSPIN HOME AGAINST RESURGENT PRINCES
We were hosts to a re-energised Greenleys Princes this Wednesday on the coldest night of the winter so far. It was a case of woolly hats all round for players sitting out waiting to play. Promoted Princes have long since brushed aside their slow start to the season (4 points from first 4 matches) and with new signings on board had picked up a further 34 points in the following 5 outings before this one, a total which compares rather favourably to top of the table Topspin’s effort of amassing a mere 27 points in the same period.
Princes gave a debut to Saish Prabhu alongside Gary Viner and ever present skipper Saravana Kumar. Topspin went with Russell Penn, Mervyn Kelly and myself.
I opened with a win over Saravana, Saish took out Mervyn and Russell beat Gary before Princes squared the match at 2-2 with the doubles. The evening’s outcome looked well in the balance at this stage but Topspin reeled off the next 5 sets in confident mode to secure victory before Princes won their 3rd set of the night when Saish was too good for me with his fine' loop and smash' attacking style in thr final set. The only ‘scare’ along the way was an 11-9 in the 5th game victory for Mervyn against Saravana.
Russell easily takes the plaudits for this victory with a handsome straight games treble. He’s very hard to cope with in this form with his own penetrating style of taking the ball on the rise, which admittedly leaves no room for error. Not many errors here and the best he’s played all season.
Landmark stat : My own 200th singles win for Topspin in our seven and a half year history (in 113 matches played in Prem & Div 1).
Man of the match : Russell Penn
We were hosts to a re-energised Greenleys Princes this Wednesday on the coldest night of the winter so far. It was a case of woolly hats all round for players sitting out waiting to play. Promoted Princes have long since brushed aside their slow start to the season (4 points from first 4 matches) and with new signings on board had picked up a further 34 points in the following 5 outings before this one, a total which compares rather favourably to top of the table Topspin’s effort of amassing a mere 27 points in the same period.
Princes gave a debut to Saish Prabhu alongside Gary Viner and ever present skipper Saravana Kumar. Topspin went with Russell Penn, Mervyn Kelly and myself.
I opened with a win over Saravana, Saish took out Mervyn and Russell beat Gary before Princes squared the match at 2-2 with the doubles. The evening’s outcome looked well in the balance at this stage but Topspin reeled off the next 5 sets in confident mode to secure victory before Princes won their 3rd set of the night when Saish was too good for me with his fine' loop and smash' attacking style in thr final set. The only ‘scare’ along the way was an 11-9 in the 5th game victory for Mervyn against Saravana.
Russell easily takes the plaudits for this victory with a handsome straight games treble. He’s very hard to cope with in this form with his own penetrating style of taking the ball on the rise, which admittedly leaves no room for error. Not many errors here and the best he’s played all season.
Landmark stat : My own 200th singles win for Topspin in our seven and a half year history (in 113 matches played in Prem & Div 1).
Man of the match : Russell Penn