Annual Report 12/13 - The English Table Tennis Association

Annual Snapshot
June
ETTA President Keith Ponting attended
the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee ceremony at
St. Paul’s Cathedral where he met Prime
Minister David Cameron who told him about
the table he keeps at No. 10.
After meeting the Queen and the PM,
Mr Ponting described the occasion as:
“truly unforgettable.” Shortly after this
momentous occasion, Keith sadly passed
away and his contribution to table
tennis over many years, is itself, truly
unforgettable.
In the same month, Team GB
Olympians Paul Drinkhall and Joanna
Parker helped to get the third year of
Ping! underway with a glitzy photoshoot
at Heathrow Airport.
Rosemary & Keith Ponting
July
The 2012 Olympic Games kicked off
in London to create one of the biggest
summers of sport in England in living
memory. Table tennis played its part at
ExCeL in London’s Royal Docklands with
England No. 1, Paul Drinkhall, beating
Singapore’s Yang Zi (world rank 54) to
record his best international career win.
Royalty was definitely a theme throughout
July with both Queen Elizabeth II and Kate
Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, pictured
at the tables during the summer festivities.
Meanwhile, there was another type of
celebrity making headlines this month as the
Ping Pong Film was released by Britdoc –
following the journeys of eight octogenarian
table tennis players towards the World
Championships in Inner Mongolia.
Queen Elizabeth II
August
August saw the end of the
Olympic Games with Team
GB bowing out in the last 16
of the team events at ExCeL.
It will be an experience forever
remembered by those involved
including the six players:
Paul Drinkhall, Liam Pitchford,
Andrew Baggaley, Joanna Parker,
Kelly Sibley and Na Liu, all the
officials and support staff, and, of
course, everyone who watched or
attended the Games.
Internet search provider Google
also saw fit to highlight the sport
with their own ‘Google Doodle’ this
month featuring a couple of table
tennis players incorporated into the
company’s logo. This follows the news
that the internet giant became one of a
growing number of companies to have
table tennis tables in their offices.
Will Bayley, Ross Wilson & Aaron McKibbin
10