England call for Abigail

Abigail Griffith: country call

TABLE TENNIS: ABIGAIL GRIFFITH, of Oldham Table Tennis Club (pictured) has been invited to play in the England Primary Schools International competition, in Guernsey, from April 9 to 11.

Abigail (10) a pupil at St John’s C of E School, Failsworth, follows in the footsteps of her older sister Rebekah in playing in the prestigious tournament.

And she is on the verge of joining her sister in winning junior England international recognition, maintaining a fine club tradition which has seen similar calls in the past for Reena Ardenshana and Joshua Boult.

More recently, Janay Gibson has become a regular at England training camps.

The club has recently formed its own league - known as Oldham Table Tennis Premiere Club League - with senior and junior divisions.

Joint top of the senior division is team DAR - Darren Howarth and Reena Ardenshana (both ex-England’s players) and G Force - the Griffith family Dave, Abigail and Bekky.

Three teams in the junior division have unbeaten records - The Dream Team - Joshua Boult and Bekky Griffith (both former England representatives), Nat ‘n’ Sez - Natalie Dodd and Sarah Weatherby, who did well in the Oldham District league last year, and Touch of Class - Cameron Lever, Andy Mitchell and Adam Davis.

The club has entered teams in the British League but the women’s side suffered relegation to Division 3.

However, the junior girls team, with the help of funding from the Kerrching Fund - did better in finishing in fourth position thanks to Bekky Griffith, Natalie Dodd and Janay Gibson.

In the National Junior League, the team of Abigail Griffith, Andy Mitchell (14), Cameron Lever (14) and Joe Conway (12) are in fifth position and hoping to finish third after the final round of matches next month.