TABLE TENNIS: Iceman Svensson stays cool to win Crawley Championships

Crawley & Horsham Table Tennis Championships. Martin Svensson 16-04-16 Pic Steve Robards SR1610810 SUS-160418-153541001

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The big guns were out in force for the Crawley Closed, the top four seeds were highly-rated players Craig Bryant, Martin Svensson, Mark Scutts and Wes Bush-Harris.

All four reached the open singles semi-finals without difficulty at the championships held at Holy Trinity School in Gossops Green on Saturday.

In the first semi Bryant showed his Foresters A team-mate Bush-Harris no mercy, winning 11-3/11-6/11-3.

The second match was a classic with Swedish ranked number 180 Svensson storming into a 11-8/11-4 lead before Scutts staged an impressive fightback winning the next two 11-7/11-8.

Crawley & Horsham Table Tennis Championships. 16-04-16 Pic Steve Robards SR1610801 SUS-160418-153515001

In the fifth it was nip and tuck all the way with Svensson leading by the odd point.

When he was caught at 9-9 with Mark’s two serves to come, it looked ominous.

But he flicked two short serves for winners to come out on top.

In the final, three service faults did England number 11 Craig Bryant no favours and he went down 9-11.

Crawley & Horsham Ladies Singles trio Kate Cheer (runner-up) Alice Hazell (third place) and champion Becca George SUS-160419-110901002

In the second he regrouped well, winning 11-6.

The third game saw Svensson able to get his big shots in to push Bryant back and win 11-8.

When he went 9-3 up in the fourth it looked all over but Bryant slowed the game down and came back to 9-9.

This setback did not rattle Svensson, who played two fine points to win the title.

Some really high quality table tennis was warmly appreciated by the audience and demonstrates how strong the Crawley and Horsham League has become.

In the doubles, Adam Daley and Gerry Pugh put up a good show, winning the first game against Svensson and England ranked number 62 Scutts and held a game point in the second before going down in four.

In the other semi Dan Pound and Mark Collins took a game and held an 8-4 lead in the fourth before losing to Bush-Harris and Craig.

In the final Scutts and Svensson won surprisingly easily with a magnificent display of power hitting to win 11-7/11-6/11-4.