Mpundu Is The Master

On a fabulous night of table tennis played at Stanley Street Club Ernest Mpundu was crowned Worksop Masters Champion. The inaugural event saw six of the highest ranked players in the Worksop & District Table Tennis League came together to do battle for not only to have the honour of being crowned Champion but also to walk away with the £100 prize money on offer for the winner.
The six players who were ready to do battle were split into two groups with Group A consisting of Richard Element the current Open Singles Champion, Tom McIntosh and Steve Fox with Group B having Ernest Mpundu, Chris Cattell and Steve Walker. Before each match the players were introduced by MC Andy Lee and walked on to music of their choice and the first match of the night was between Richard Element and Steve Fox with Element enjoying a 3-1 win to strike first in Group A but he didn’t have it all his own way as Fox very nearly took it into a decider before losing the 4th game 17-15.
Group B kicked off with Ernest Mpundu playing Steve Walker and it wasn’t long before Mpundu got into his stride playing some consistent attacking shots which proved too much for Walker to handle with Mpundu winning in straight sets.
The next game up was in Group A with the first appearance of the night for the youngest player to have made it through to the Masters in Tom McIntosh. He was up against Steve Fox who knew that only a win would give him an outside chance of making the final and although Fox lost in straight sets to McIntosh they were all close games as he bowed out of the competition losing 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.
Chris Cattell was also making his first appearance of the night but in Group B where he was up against Steve Walker and Cattell soon found himself 1-0 down as Walker showed his array of defensive shots to throw Cattell out of his stride but it was the last success Walker would have as Cattell rattled off the next 3 games to win 3-1 to put himself joint top of Group B with all to play for.
The final games in each group would determine who would reach the first ever Worksop Masters final and in Group A Richard Element and Tom McIntosh went toe to toe with some superb attacking play with McIntosh edging out a close first game 11-9 with Element hitting back to win the next two 11-4, 11-5 and it looked odds on that Element would go through to the final but McIntosh was having none of it as he won a tense 4th game 13-11 before getting the upper hand in the deciding game and eventually winning it 11-7 to ensure victory.
Ernest Mpundu went into the Group B decider as favourite but if he thought he would ease himself into the final he had another thing coming as Chris Cattell took the game to him playing some fabulous attacking table whilst showing a deft touch around the net and it soon paid off as he took the first game 11-5. The second game started off pretty much like the first as Cattell raced into a 5-1 lead and looking comfortable doing so but at this stage the match changed as Mpundu roared at himself in annoyance and clawed his way back to take the second game 11-9 before winning the next two games to win 3-1 and to make it through to the final.
The Worksop Masters event was put on to showcase the fabulous talent that we have in the Worksop League and the final lived up to the leagues aim as Mpundu and McIntosh served up some mouth-watering table tennis for the spectators present.
McIntosh drew first blood winning the opening game 11-9 before Mpundu hit back to take the second 15-13 with some fantastic rallies for the crowd to enjoy. Mpundu then took the momentum of winning the second game into the third game winning that as well 11-5. McIntosh wasn’t going to lie down and he fought hard to try and get back into the match in the fourth game but couldn’t quite do enough to get past Mpundu losing the fourth game 11-8 which gave Mpundu a 3-1 victory to be crowned the first ever Worksop Masters Champion.