The tournament

Topping this year’s Dunlop Table Tennis Masters list is Europe’s most in-form player and one of the greatest players of his generation: Vladimir Samsonov, the three time European champion from Belarus.

Alongside Samsonov is Chen Weixing, the spectacular defensive specialist from Austria, who wowed the capacity 5000 audience at the Royal Albert Hall in 2008.

The player who will create the greatest excitement across Planet Table Tennis is the legendary Jorgen Persson, widely regarded as the most breathtaking and dynamic performer of the last 25 years: a Swedish legend, former world and European champion, whose heroics at the Olympic Games in Beijing electrified audiences throughout the world.

Also in action will be Jean Michel Saive, another legendary performer whose sensational performance in last year’s event was considered the highlight of the night. Whether Saive gets to play Chen is a different question: the draw for The Dunlop Masters will be made one week before the event.

Rounding up the line-up are Darius Knight and Paul Drinkhall, the two rising stars of English table tennis. It will be intriguing to see how the two Brits, who have made such strides in recent months, and who are expected to challenge for gold in 2012, fare against the world’s best.

Interviews and performances

Specially installed big screens featuring action replays and interviews with the players as they happen on court will add to the sense of occasion.

In addition to the crowning of the Dunlop Table Tennis Master 2009, there will be special performances from some of the young people who attend sport and performing arts programmes run by the charity Greenhouse.

SKY Sports

The Dunlop Table Tennis Masters 2009 will be broadcast live in the UK on SKY Sports, and coverage of the tournament will also be shown in up to 40 countries around the world.

The proceeds of the tournament will go directly towards the table tennis initiative of Greenhouse, a charity that transforms the lives of young people through sport and performing arts.

Find out more about Greenhouse
Visit the Greenhouse website

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org

Dunlop Masters Profiles 2009

Vladimir Samsonov, 33 (Belarus)

• Currently ranked 6th in the world
• European men’s singles champion (1998, 2003 & 2005)
• Euro Top 12 champion (1998, 1999, 2001 & 2007)
• World Cup winner (1999 & 2001)

Known as the "Tai Chi Master" because of his superb, all-round style, Samsonov is considered one of the few European players who pose a threat to Chinese dominance of the game, recently beating world number one Wang Hao in the 2008 Kuwait Open.

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Jorgen Persson, 43 (Sweden)

• World Championship Singles Gold (1991)
• 4 x World Championship Team Golds (1989, 1991, 1993 & 2000)

An all-time great, Persson lifted the 1986 European men’s singles title as a teenager. Representing Sweden in every Olympic Games since, Persson was a serious contender for gold in Beijing - at his 6th Olympics and at the age of 42 – before settling for 4th. His backhand ‘swat’ kill is a wonder of table tennis, backed up by a fine temperament and supreme fitness.

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Jean-Michel Saive, 38 (Belgium)

• European Champion (1994)
• Europe Top 12 (1994)
• World Champion finalist (1993)
• Ranked world no. 1 for 515 days (1994-95)

It is said Saive is one of the ‘best players never to have been world champion’.
The Belgian applies constant, heavy topspin pressure with his forehand from all round the court. Possibly the world’s best player at looping a short push, Saive is a supreme fighter and a crowd favourite.

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Chen Weixing, 37 (Austria)

• World Championship quarter finalist (2003)
• European Men’s Doubles winner (2003)

Introduced to table tennis in his native China, Weixing plays the modern ‘defensive’ game of tight, pimples-backhand chops combined with ferocious, reversed-rubber.

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Paul Drinkhall, 19 (England)

• England no. 1 (2007, 2008 & 2009)
• 2007 Australian Youth Olympics doubles champion (with Knight)

Britain’s great hope for the 2012 London Olympics, Drinkhall became England Singles Champion aged just 17. Drinkhall’s biggest mark so far has been on the international cadet and junior scene. He plays with tremendous touch, power, flair and anticipation, and has an infinitely versatile ‘Chinese style’ forehand loop that keeps opponents guessing.

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Darius Knight, 19 (England)

• England no. 2
• 2007 Australian Youth Olympics doubles champion (with Drinkhall)

Darius is a speedy, left-handed counter-hitter with excellent control. Compared with England’s greatest player of modern times, Des Douglas (also of Jamaican origin), Knight is the new urban face of the famous Fred Perry sports clothing brand.

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org

All profits raised at the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters will go directly towards transforming the lives of young people in deprived communities through table tennis.

Founded in 2002, Greenhouse provides young people living in deprived neighbourhoods with sport and performing arts programmes, targeting those who may not have access to such opportunities and helping them to develop positive life skills including discipline, team-work and self-respect. In 2008, an extensive evaluation found that 90% of Greenhouse participants said they feel positive about themselves as a direct result of involvement with Greenhouse. Teachers reported improved grades, greater discipline and reduction in lateness, saying Greenhouse often provides an alternative to gang culture, stopping many participants going down the route of exclusion. TTK Greenhouse TTK Greenhouse (Table Tennis for Kids) is the table tennis initiative of Greenhouse, engaging more than 5,000 young people in London and the Rhondda Valley in Wales in 12 full-time programmes in state secondary schools, three community clubs and two centres of excellence. Over half of the top 60 table tennis players in the UK in the under 13 to under 18 age ranges have come from Greenhouse programmes – but TTK Greenhouse does more than create stars. Open to players of all abilities, Greenhouse coaches provide mentoring through a wide range of sports and performing arts before, during and after the school bell as well as in the evenings, weekends and school holidays for consistent impact throughout the critical years of a young person’s life. Greenhouse Schools Project Ltd -a registered charity (Registration number: 1098744)

 

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org

Royal Albert Hall: venue with history

By Brian Halliday

Tennis at The Royal Albert Hall is a regular feature of that sport’s calendar. The senior players led by the ubiquitous John McEnroe thrill large crowds year after year. I wonder how many of those players and spectators realise that it was table tennis that led the way in introducing sport to this great arena.

The earliest record I can find of table tennis being played at the Royal Albert Hall was in 1939 when the early rounds of the English Open Championships were played here, with the finals being played at Wembley. Richard Bergmann, who at that time was representing Austria, won the Men‘s Singles while England‘s Jean Nicholl won the Women’s event. The man they called the “Clown Prince” of table tennis, Laszlo Bellak, partnering fellow Hungarian Victor Barna won the men’s doubles. Some 21 years later the championships returned but in the meantime an unusual sponsor came forward with a series of tournaments with the finals at the Albert Hall.

The Daily Mirror was associated with our sport from the very early years. In fact they put up a car as a prize for one of their tournaments way back in 1922. The car was a Calthorpe incidentally. In 1950 and from 1953 to 1957 they organised tournaments and were able to attract very large entries from all over England. The 1950 Men’s Singles was won by Len Adams who beat Peter Skerratt, and none other than Diane Rowe won the Women’s Singles as well as the Junior Singles.

Some 6000 spectators gathered at the Albert Hall for the Mirror Finals in 1953. Over 12000 players had competed over many months for the chance of a finals night appearance. Billy England took the men’s event and Ann Haydon, who later achieved success at Wimbledon, the women’s event.

The finals were completely overshadowed by a stupendous International Invitation event. Barna played Bergmann in a quite unforgettable semi-final. I quote “It was magnificent cut and thrust stuff - all too rarely seen nowadays. Here was table tennis as it should be played. Here was grace, cunning, art, control, fighting spirit and attacking skill, pitted against defensive genius. It truly stirred the blood.” In the other semi-final Johnny Leach beat scraped home against Aubrey Simons and then got a real thrashing in the final from Richard Bergmann.

Fast forward to 1960 and the return of the English Open Finals, and some sparkling English successes. Ian Harrison won the Men’s, Leach and Micky Thornhill took the Doubles. Cathy Best and Di Rowe won the Women’s Doubles, and Harrison and Rowe won the Mixed.

In 1962 the English Open Championships went to the Corn Exchange in Brighton. Although Brighton attracted some of the World’s best performers and visits there were always memorable, but there is always a special place in my memory for my visit to the Royal Albert Hall. An arena ideally suited for the world’s best players to display our sport in all its special brilliance.

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org

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To purchase tickets please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212

For more information on the Dunlop Table Tennis Masters please go to: www.tabletennismasters.org

For further information in person please contact Gemma Barnes on 020 76035111 or info@tabletennismasters.org

For more information on TTK please go to: www.greenhouseschools.org