CI's top hard-bat players target spot at 'Ally Pally'

Paul Hainsworth has won the Mark Kilby Hard Bat Tournament for the past five years and will be one of the favourites when the qualifier is held in Guernsey on 15 November.

The winner will go on to compete in the fifth edition of Barry Hearn's latest brainchild at the renowned Alexandra Palace, which will be shown live on Sky Sports in January in the 64-player event.

Like many of the sports that Hearn and his company, Matchroom Sport, have re-invigorated over recent years, there is plenty of innovation in this version of ping pong'.

Among them is an introduction of a 'golden ball' that can be played once by each player in a best-of-three sets match, which wins you double points.

But the major rule is that all players must use the same equipment, so much so that players do not even keep their sandpaper-covered bats for the duration of the match.

Instead, they swap bats at each change of end so the results rely solely on player skill.

Hainsworth is a big fan of the tournament and cannot wait for the CI qualifier.

'This isn't quite the same as hard bat, although it has its similarities, so I will have to wait until I have given it a go to know exactly where I am at,' he said.

'I would expect the usual people who are strong in hard bat events to be up there and, from what I have heard, Eugene Ellis, from Jersey, is coming over and will be one of the ones to beat.

'But hopefully I can be one of the challengers to win the qualifier, which would be fantastic because this is a brilliant event and is growing in popularity all of the time.

'There are some gimmicks thrown in there as well, and obviously everybody using identical equipment is unique, but really refreshing.'

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