Press Correspondent:   Peter Thompson      
ETTA Senior Coach
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Girls Reach Grantham Finals

Three Pudsey Table Tennis Club Girls, Nicole Finn, Ellen Auty and Samantha Parker were part of the U16 Horsforth School Girls team competing at Keighley on Sunday in a bid to reach the Regional Final in Grantham in February. With Nicole and Ellen both Yorkshire junior county players they were strong favourites. This proved the case as they won 7-1 against Wickersly from Rotherham with all the girls winning their two. The girls progress to the regional finals in Grantham in February.

It was a busy day for Nicole as she then made the dash from Keighley to Halifax to turn out for Pudsey in the senior British league. Nicole attained new standards in a thrilling match against top England veteran Dave Godbold from Hartlepool before losing in the fifth end. In her next match she won a classic end to end match against Keith Robertson showing that she has the power and determination to win at this level coming home 13-11 in the fifth. Pudsey commitment to youth at senior level was also rewarded as Junior Jake McCarthy was the other winner in the team achieving another hard fought fifth end win as Hartlepool ran out 6-2 victors.

Pudsey players Richard Smith and Chris Parker represented Leeds in the English League cup in a bid to make the national finals in June. They faced Scunthorpe in their opening match and recorded a comfortable 5-0 victory though Chris had to work hard to win in the fifth end over Liam Rowson. With Sheffield also recording a 5-0 victory over Scunthorpe it came down to a straight battle between Leeds and Sheffield. Matt Dodds put Sheffield in front before Richard Smith levelled with a four set victory over Mark Short. The doubles proved the turning point of the match as Sheffield got the better of Leeds 11-8 in the fifth end as they went on to win the match 4-1.

Posted 29 Jan 2012 18:00 GMT