ENGLAND Vs ROMANIA
Played at Cheltenham Town Hall on February 11th 2003

The Cheltenham Table Tennis Association were privileged to be asked to host the International game between England and Romania on the 11th of February 2003. Although England eventually lost the match, those who attended the event witnessed some spectacular matches. It was simply a spectacle that could rival the fencing of wits in poker tourneys and raw action of tough sports like football.

England fell 3-1 to a strong Romanian side in the European Men’s League First Division match at Cheltenham in front of a good crowd. Former four times national champion and three times Commonwealth champion, Matthew Syed (Surrey), 32, earned a standing ovation for his cliff-hanging 11-13, 15-17, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10 win over the 2000 European youth champion, Constantin Cioti. Having to call repeatedly on his spectacular defensive brand of returning ‘winners’ from the barrier and sometimes beyond it, Syed saved three match points in the 4th game, before ultimately clinching England’s only rubber when they were 2-0 down.

Neither national champion Andrew Baggaley (Buckinghamshire), 19, nor England No 2 Gareth Herbert (Berkshire), 22, could handle the forehand power of Andrei Filimon, who is higher world ranked than both of them, while Romania’s former star, Vasile Florea, who has recently returned to international competition, had demonstrated his tremendous touch and control in his straight games defeat of Baggaley in the opening singles.

ENGLAND Vs RUSSIA
Played at Cheltenham Recreation Centre on 23rd September, 2003

England's International table tennis squad lost 3-0 to Russia in the first stage of the qualification rounds for the 2005 European Championships at the Cheltenham Recreation Centre. This was a welcomed return to Cheltenham for the Russian side after last visiting previously in 1972.

The home side included England number one Matthew Syed, four times national champion and three times Commonwealth champion. He was joined by Gareth Herbert, the 2000 home counties champion, and Alex Perry, the 1999 national champion. The Russians fielded a very strong team which included Alexei Smirnov, Dmitrij Mazunov and Fedor Kutzman, ranked 11, 78 and 81 in the World respectively.

In the first match, Herbert went two games down to Mazunov and needed to pull something our of the bag to stay in the match. He started the third game strongly, but Mazunov's defence was equally as good. However, through sheer perseverance and good attack, Herbert managed to get the points that counted and won the game. But he was unable to recover after going down 7-3 in the fourth game and Mazunov went on to win 11-9, 11-7, 8-11 and 11-8.

Syed and Smirnov clashed in the second match and Smirnov opened up an early 8-4 lead, but through great defensive play and athletic ability, Syed managed to pull the game back to 8-8. However, Smirnov's aggressive attack was too much for Syed and the Russian won the first game 11-9.

Trailing 2-0, it was up to the left-hander Alex Perry to bring England back into the game against Kuzman. Perry commanded an early lead, but Kuzman quickly settled in and won 11-8. Perry struggled in the second game and was soon at a 6-1 disadvantage. But he still had fight in him and battled to a 9-7 lead. With help from the net, Kuzman levelled at 10-10, but Perry steadied and eventually won 14-12.

In the third game, the net was once again a factor as Perry's lead of 5-1 was quickly narrowed down to 8-8, with Kuzman winning on a lucky net at 11-9. Perry remained calm going into the fourth game, needing to win to keep England's hopes alive. He moved into a 5-2 lead and eventually won the game 11-2 in what was probably the best match of the evening.

In the fifth and deciding game, Kuzman quickly advanced to a 6-3 lead, at which point the England camp called a time out. It seemed like the tactic had worked as Perry battled back to 8-6 down. However, Russia decided to play their first time out of the evening and this succeeded in breaking Perry's momentum, with Kuzman going on to claim all the remaining shots to win the game 11-6 and to finish the night with a whitewash for Russia.