It is said, often by himself, that Robin van Persie is Arsenal’s king of the table tennis table.
So, to test just how good the Dutchman is, the Arsenal matchday programme arranged for Robin to spend an afternoon at Southall Sports Centre, home of leading British side London Progress, for an afternoon of coaching and competition with three-times Commonwealth champion Matthew Syed and 18-year-old prodigy Darius Knight.
Robin was put through his paces with a range of serving and returning drills before finishing with with two sets against Knight, the Under-21 national champion. Urging his opponent to operate at full throttle, Van Persie managed respectable defeats of 3-11 and 4-11, hitting clean winners for several of his points.
The Gunners man was later presented with a brand-new professional bat to take home and admitted afterwards that he had learned a lot in just one afternoon’s play.
Arsenal TV Online subscribers can now watch highlights of Robin’s day at Southall Sports Centre as well as an interview with the Dutchman. In the interview he discussed:
- his own competition-sized table at home
- why he loves table tennis
- what he had learnt
- how good the afternoon's mentors were
- other Premier League hot-shots
Subscribers can now watch this footage on Arsenal TV Online. If you don't subscribe to TV Online, click on the red button on the gold panel opposite.
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