TABLE TENNIS: Alf Davies, widely regarded as the Didcot & District League's best ever player, has died at the age of 81.

During a playing career spanning nearly 60 years, he won numerous titles in Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

But the crowning achievement came in 1998, when he won the World Masters Doubles title (for over 70s) along with Arthur Hartshorn, of Burnley, from an original field of 140.

This win was all the more remarkable because his partner had only recently come back to the game after suffering ill-health.

A legendary player, Mr Davies, who represented the AERE club, dominated the Didcot League scene for the best part of 50 years, after arriving in the area in 1957.

He was Berkshire champion in the 1960s when he also inspired Didcot as they dominated the inter-town tournament.

Remarkably, in 1999, when he was 72, he still topped the league's best performance for most wins in Division 1 - a feat he had achieved on numerous occasions.

In the latter years he played in the Oxford League, before giving up about five years ago.

Keith Walton, a Didcot League official and friend, said: "Alf's footwork, anticipation and timing were perfect.

"Although a quiet person, he was a fierce competitor."

A mathematician, Mr Davies, who lived in Wantage and worked for many years at AERE Harwell, leaves a wife, Mair - who was herself a leading player - two sons and a daughter.

His funeral service was held in Oxford yesterday.