Runner-up Dodd delighted to improve on his seeding
IT HAS been a busy yet exciting few days for Garry Dodd on the UK table tennis circuit.
Dodd finished a superb second in the Stiga Sycamore Superleague last Thursday, celebrated his 29th birthday the following day, and then had a somewhat tougher time in the Wolverhampton Grand Prix on the Saturday.
Mid-week in Nottingham, the distinguished left-hander had acquitted himself well against some very fine competition.
He came very close to taking top spot but dropped a set at the critical moment to pass those honours to English No. 27 Jack Bennett.
A comfortable group win had thrown him into a tight round-robin contest between the top four, with Nottingham Uni-based Chinese player Tianyuan Liu proving a daunting first opponent to face.
He lost 3-1 to a player equating to top-25 English seeding but redeemed this with a straight-sets win against Max Stevens.
This set him up a decisive match against Bennett, with Dodd requiring another 3-0 victory to win the tournament.
Dodd managed to beat Bennett 3-1, although dropping a set meant that he handed the overall prize to his opponent, who had earlier overthrown favourite Liu in straight sets.
‘Very good tournament. I was seeded number three and came runner-up, so I’m happy,’ said Dodd afterwards.
Out in Wolverhampton and again in esteemed company, Dodd lost to the talented young Joshua Weatherby in the quarter-finals of Band Two.
He then went out of his closely-contested Band One group on count-back, narrowly failing to progress over Louis Price and Sam Wilson.
Overall, Dodd had a challenging outing but still finished with five wins from seven.
‘I feel like now is a good time to have a week or two off and get back to the training hall for the next Superleague at the end of May,’ he added.
