By, Anonymous
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ByAnonymous, Anonymous
Maccabi GB Table Tennis has made history by finishing top in the coveted Wembley and Harrow League.
The league, which is one of the largest and strongest in the country, features a first division that includes vast numbers of national top 100 players and a plethora of other closely ranked players.
London Progress, who are 10 times national champions, fielded three teams this season’s first division. Despite this, Maccabi GB who run teams from their club at 'Kulanu' in Kenton, took the league title in style.
The Maccabi first team performed with gusto, sweeping all before them to take the much sought after title which has been dominated by London Progress for several years.
The team consisting mainly of Guy Ben-Aroya, Rafi Marom, and Ashley Stokes were skilfully assisted by Eli Baraty, Zac Zilesnick, Jade Blasse, Reece Tan, Dov Katz and Keith Lesser who all played their part during the season adding to those valuable points that ultimately led to the winning position.
Mel Davidson, MGB table tennis chairman and team captain, said: “I’m proud of what the team has achieved and the style in which it has been done. We have one of the most naturally gifted teams playing in this league's first division and finally it has paid dividends.
“The ability of our players counts for much when trying to win titles but I believe that this alone does not necessarily mean that victory is certain. After all there are many well rated players also playing in the same division but we are much more together as a team than most. We all know each other really well and are more like a small family always looking after each other's Table Tennis interests and I think that this can make the difference between winning and losing as a team.
“This title has been the goal of many of our players but has been a long time coming and although we have been close to it before it has ultimately taken 10 years of hard work to get there and can in my opinion be considered of national importance to us and Jewish Table Tennis as a whole.”
Looking at the overall standard of Jewish table tennis, he said: “We’re on a high at the moment. We fielded six teams over five of the league's seven divisions and apart from the aforementioned victory we won a further two divisions and did extremely well in a third.
“These sort of results are extremely hard to achieve and are almost unprecedented. Hopefully next season we will field seven or eight teams across all divisions and welcome interest form anyone who wants to be involved.”