BBC Northern Ireland Unsung Hero’s
Keith and Gervis Knox the founders of Ormeau Table Tennis Club have been awarded BBC Sports Personalities Unsung Hero’s award for Northern Ireland. An incredible achievement to recognise the tireless work that has gone on to create a full time facility for Table Tennis in the heart of Belfast City. The club caters for all ages, abilities, genders, religions and races and the atmosphere within the club is a credit to the work these two table tennis stalwarts have put in.
Gervis and Keith commented: “We are in absolute shock, completely unexpected and unthinkable! We can only thank our remarkable members, players, family & friends over the last 4 years for believing in the vision we have for Table Tennis.”
The lads will head over to Liverpool mid December to the BBC Sports Personality Awards 2017. No doubt it will prove to be a fantastic event!
Premier British League
Click here to see the BBC’s short clip on the game
Ormeau celebrated Premier British League’s arrival in Northern Ireland in style as they moved to the top of the table with an 8-0 whitewash of North Ayrshire.
The fixture was the first ever top-flight game to be staged in Northern Ireland, and the quartet of Oriol Monzo, Paul McCreery, Gavin Maguire and Keith Knox ensured it would be a day to remember as they gave the visiting Scots a harsh lesson at the start of their campaign.
This was North Ayrshire’s first game of the season after their opening round match with Fusion was postponed, and without the talents of Colin Dalgleish and Craig Hardie, they struggled to make their mark on the contest.
But the day belonged to Ormeau, who top the division after dropping just one end on their way to victory.
Oriol Monzo gave the hosts a fine start with victory over Chris Main while Paul McCreery dispatched of Sean Doherty.
Gavin Maguire and Keith Knox made light work of promising youngsters Harvey McDonald and Andrew Macpherson to give Ormeau a 4-0 advantage, and while North Ayrshire did put up some resistance when Doherty took the first end of Monzo, the Spanish star hit back to win 3-1 and secure victory.
But in front of their own supporters, Ormeau were in no mood to rest up, and straight end victories for Maguire, McCreery and Knox over Main, Macpherson and McDonald secured a memorable victory.