Ladies have a hot first term

The Imperial Womens team are back and we are stronger than ever! After a frustrating couple of years trying to drum up interest amongst our female players, finally things have clicked into place. Nan and I were back after some busy times (we combined to win the BUCS Womens doubles bronze medal in 2007). We also welcomed Trang to the team, who was a mixed doubles bronze medallist for Cambridge University in the same year.

It was time for us to combine forces and make an assault on this year’s BUCS Womens league. We were buoyed by the knowledge that London Metropolitan University were absent this year. They had previously recruited players from China including former Olympic bronze medallist Tong Fei-Ming even though she’s over 40 years old! Middlesex were also noticeably weaker without their former England top tenners. Lack of interest amongst their players forced them to pull out halfway through the season. In 2008, when only the top two teams in the south east could go through to the next round, we finished third below these two teams. This time not only are they absent, but the top 4 go through making our lives a whole lot easier! Although we needn’t worry about that considering the results we have had this year.

First up were LSE who were so keen they turned up half an hour before us and were practicing hard even before we got our kit on! But Trang and I won our first matches comfortably. As they adapted to our games and the conditions, they provided sturdier opposition forcing Trang to drop a game. But in the end it was a 5-0 win to us.

Next Nan and Trang travelled to King’s College. The venue wasn’t your typical table tennis hall. It appeared to be the underpass of a railway bridge transformed into a sports hall, or at least an attempt to transform it into a sports hall. But that wasn’t enough to distract our girls. They were given a good test by King’s but they ultimately came out on top 5-0 again.

Giving Trang a well deserved break, Nan and I took on Essex University who were without some of their former England international players this year. They gave us a few troubles early on, I seemed to be unusually nervous making too many mistakes but we won this match 5-0 too. I felt a bit harsh considering they had travelled for two and half hours only to get a thrashing from us. But that’s sport and nothing beats that winning feeling!

Nan and I played the first of two tough matches against UCL. One of the opposition players was ridiculously muscly by a normal table tennis player’s standards, confusing me enough to relinquish a 2-0 lead and lose the game against her! However Nan was brilliant and despite narrowly losing the doubles match, we won the tie 3-2.

Finally in a battle to top the south east division Trang and I played Kent. Unfortunately Nan had to pull out of this tie at the last moment due to a nasty wrist injury (smacking your hand against the edge of a table tennis table at high speed is never pleasant!). A combination of nerves due to the occasion and post-Christmas rustiness meant I played poorly winning only one of my singles matches knowing I was capable of more. With Trang also winning one singles match, it came down to the deciding doubles rubber. We battled hard but we lost the tie 2-3.

As we look forward to the next round we are safe in the knowledge that we are capable of much more and can go deep into the competition. I am delighted with the strength of our team and the progress we have made. A huge congratulations and thank you to Nan and Trang for the contributions they have made this year. This is the best chance we have ever had of winning the BUCS championship, maybe it is too ambitious at this stage but nothing is impossible!