Gavin Rumgay was happy with his weekend's work at the inaugural World Ping Pong Masters at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

The 35-year-old from Stratford, seeded five in Matchroom Sport chief Barry Hearn's latest ping pong venture, overcame Bournemouth-based Matt Ware and Germany's Genia Milchin before running out of steam in the semi-final in a fantastic five-set encounter to four-time world champion and top seed Andrew Baggaley. It was a run that earnt "The Rumdog" £4,570.

There was a moment after he took the deciding point in the third set that the 14-time Scottish table tennis champion sensed the possibility of defeating Baggaley but unfortunately it was not to be. He lost the final two sets 15-6 and 15-7.

Perth-born Rumgay said: "He (Baggaley) had a little run of nets which affected me and he changed his game. He started to play a little bit closer to the table. His shots was penetrating more than they were in the first two sets.

"My reaction was like tennis. If someone was behind the baseline hitting shots then suddenly they were in right on the baseline - that's how it felt. Suddenly my reaction time was far less that what it was before.

"I showed throughout the tournament how many times I have these close matches, it's incredible really. Again I won that big point to win 15-14 in the third. At that point things we're looking good."

Germany's number two seed Alexander Flemming finally broke Baggaley's four-year unbeaten run in Sunday's final in a fairly resounding three-set victory to claim the £18,300 top prize. But Rumgay still believes the world number one ranked ping pong player and former English table tennis champion is a tough cookie to crack.

"Andrew's learning and assessing what's going on," Rumgay continues. "If you're outplaying him he's thinking why are you outplaying him. He's changing his serves around until eventually something starts to work in his favour.

"By the end of our match he started to hit the ball very, very deep. At the start It was a little half court, a bit like tennis. I was able to step in and hit a clean winner. At the end he was hitting right on the white line right at the back time and time again."

Due to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic the event was played behind closed doors in the West Midlands in an secure bubble environment.