TABLE tennis players of all ages tried their hands at the sport to celebrate National Table Tennis Day last week.

A special event held at the Temple Cowley United Reformed Church, Oxford Road, saw world champion Andrew Baggaley put newcomers through their paces.

Mr Baggaley, of Milton Keynes, played for Team GB in the 2012 London Olympics and is the reigning WCPP World Champion.

He said: “All my family played table tennis: I started very young and I loved it. It’s a very accessible sport and fairly cheap as well.”

Yesterday’s event was the end of Ping!Oxford, a month-long table tennis festival that has seen free ping-pong tables and equipment set up in parks around the city.

As well as playing the game, participants were invited to refurbish and redecorate bats and test their skills against a machine.

Mr Baggaley said: “Ping!Oxford is a really good idea. It promotes the sport and that can only be a positive thing.

“Everyone was really enthusiastic.”