Evans the hero as Archway Peterborough Table Tennis Club topple the British Premier Division leaders

A superb team effort by Archway resulted in a 4-3 win, moving the city side up to second in the table.

At 3-1 down in the match and up against it, Archway number one Darius Knight (England ranked 8) beat Helshan Weerasinghe (England ranked 7) 3-1. Next up was an unexpected 3-0 win for Jordan Wykes over the highly -rated Sam Mabey (England ranked 9) leaving the match evenly poised at 3-3 and meaning the winner of the last game between Archway’s Welsh wizard Callum Evans and former Welsh number one Ryan Jenkins would decide the winners.

Evans, who succeeded Jenkins as the Wales number one, was up against his former mentor and at 2-2, and 9-8 down to the more experienced man he looked to be second favourite.

But Evans gallantly fought back to take the next three points to win 11-9 to snatch the points and give Archway a famous victory.

Evans and Wykes of Park Road, Peterborough are both part of the Archway Academy scheme designed to

nurture the local talent from the city.

Evans, who was voted player of the match for his two victories, deserved all the credit, especially having played in the French National League the day before, catching Eurostar back to the UK,

before boarding a flight at Heathrow to Teesside Airport and producing a performance of his life.

Results: Callum Evans bt Helshan Weerasinghe 3-0 (11-8,11-9,11-8), Sam Mabey bt Darius Knight 3-1 (11-13, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9), Sam Mabey/Ryan Jenkins bt Darius Knight/Jordan Wykes 3-2 (11-13, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7), Ryan Jenkins bt Jordan Wykes 3-2 (10-12, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11, 11-5), Darius Knight bt Helshan Weerasinghe 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 13-11), Jordan Wykes bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-5), Callum Evans bt Ryan Jenkins 3-2 (6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9).