Ten legends of the English game were inducted into our Centenary Hall of Fame as Table Tennis England celebrated 100 years as the National Governing Body.
Hundreds of guests attended a glittering Gala Dinner at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships to mark the occasion, with the greatest players of the century named in the special top 10, including guests on the night John Hilton, Mary Wright, Jill Parker, Desmond Douglas and Will Bayley (pictured above, from left to right).
Other high-profile guests from the international game were also there, bringing with them gifts to mark the occasion.
We published English Table Tennis at 100 – A Century in Photographs, a 192-page hardback book showcasing pictures of the key moments, events, performances and people over the 100-year history.
Alongside a night of history, the winners of the annual Pride of Table Tennis Awards were named during the Gala Dinner.
The occasion in March was the highlight of the centenary year following the anniversary of the creation of the Association in November 1921.
Back in January, the year began with the appointment of Lois Peake and Graeme Barella as the first coaches in the GB Coach Apprenticeship Programme.
There was a brand new Table Tennis England website, launched in February, to hep us better serve our members and engage new audiences.
The same month, a team of 19 English officials, including referee Karen Tonge MBE, was appointed to officiate at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
As well as the Centenary celebrations, March was a busy month on and off the tables, including the appointment of a new CEO as Adrian Christy took the reins permanently after being in charge on an interim basis.
Sport England awarded Table Tennis England just over £9 million to fund key aspects of our work for up to five years, and we also launched our mission to achieve gender parity in our sport.
As three athletes representing three nations were named in the new GB Junior Squad, there was success for brothers Kacper and Jakub Piwowar on the international stage. Kacper was under-13 boys’ champion at the WTT Youth Contender in Tunisia, where Jakub took a silver medal in the under-15 final. Kacper also earned selection to the World Hopes Team after impressing at the ETTU talent camp.
At the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships, there was a first men’s singles title for Tom Jarvis and a second women’s crown for Maria Tsaptsinos. In the doubles finals, Tin-Tin Ho won her 50th National title, and Jack Hunter-Spivey and Ross Wilson won para titles.
In April, the first Butterfly Schools Individual national champions for three years were crowned, after the pandemic restrictions, and we bid farewell to stalwart organiser of the Butterfly Schools Team Championships as Richard Hudson retired after 19 years at the helm.
May saw another big anniversary as Ormesby TTC in Middlesbrough celebrated 50 years since they did what no other English club has ever done, by becoming champions of Europe.
A player with Ormesby connections as a Junior confirmed his growing talent by reaching the final of the WTT Feeder event in Fremont, USA.
And in June, there was delight for British Para Table Tennis Chair Karen Tonge as she became an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
And, underlining that our sport can be enjoyed for a lifetime, the huge positive impact of table tennis in social care settings was detailed in a report by our partners Community Integrated Care.
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