Ritchie Venner is one of several players set to boycott the English Open at Chatham next month.

He says the English Table Tennis Association overcharge English players to help finance the cost of entertaining foreign teams.

Venner lives in Crawley, only an hour away from Chatham, soon on this occasion would not incur accommodation costs and travelling by road should not be too expensive.

LAURENCE QUITS TO CATCH TRAIN HOME Horsham No.1 Laurence Trumpaukas walked out on the semi-final of a major tournament so he could catch the train home.

He had reached the last four of the Merseyside Open Grand Prix in Liverpool, his best performance on the circuit.

But instead of playing Alex Perry in the last four, he headed for the hall's main exit.

Trumpaukas said: "Next time I will drive up here. Relying on late trains is hopeless."

Organiser Ken Armson, said: "The tournament lost two hours because of players continuously gluing up their bats between games."

Players gain extra speed on their shots with wet glue under their bat rubbers.

Trumpaukas, a former Lithuanian champion, had a titanic struggle in the quarter-finals to overpower the Welsh squad No.3 Ryan Owen 11-9 in the fifth game. Perry lost to England coach Alan Cooke in the final.

BENNETT MAKES DEBUT Teresa Bennett makes her debut in the Eastbourne championships on January 20 as the top seed.

The four times Sussex champion will almost certainly play former England No.30, Gail Davey in the final.