MORE than 60 players have entered the 2005 Malvern Table Tennis League championships to be held next Sunday (February 27) at the Forum, Malvern Theatres.

The main singles competition, sponsored by Brewin Dolphin Securities, has as usual attracted a strong entry. Current champion Chris Hewitt is seeded one with Dave White at two. Dave will be keen to avenge his defeat by Chris in the semi-final of last year's competition. Other seeds are Mark Jones (3), Joe Higgs (4), Mike Keeley (5), Nigel Foreshew (6), Alan Salisbury (7) and Jack Higgs (8).

In the Express TV Services main doubles, top seeds Dave White and Alan Salisbury, winners of this event in 2003 and 2004, will be keen to make it a hat-trick though they face tough opposition from second seeds Chris Hewitt and Graham Thompson. Other seeds are Ray Page and Dave Woodyatt (3) and Ann Barnes and Richard Smith (4).

Title holder Bob Trimble is seeded one in the Meredith Brothers veterans singles event for players aged over 50, with Dave Woodyatt (2), Ray Page (3) and Neville Meredith (4).

For the first time for many years the ladies singles has attracted a good entry of nine players. Last year's winner, division two player Beryl Shammon is seeded one with Ann Barnes at two. These players are likely to contest the final and Beryl will need to use all her many years' experience against Ann, who is currently 11th in the division one rankings.

The Roy Holland division one singles sees last year's winner Joe Higgs seeded one with Mark Jones (2), Mike Keeley (3) and Nigel Foreshew (4).

In the Ledbury Exhaust division two singles, the seeds are Steve Glazzard (1), John Hunt (2), Steve Baker (3) and Colin Dolding (4).

In the division three singles, sponsored by Clarke Roxburgh, the entry is once again boosted by players who have recently joined this division from the league's coaching club, run on Sunday evenings during the season at Dyson Perrins High School. The seeds for this event are Richard Cullis (1), Ray Davies (2), Ted Cates (3) and Stan Gin (4).

The division two doubles sees team- mates Steve Glazzard and Steve Baker seeded one, likely to meet stiff opposition from second seeds Ray Cooke and John Meredith and in the division three doubles, the top seeds are Bill Smith and Don James with Richard Cullis and Ed Palmer (2).

Jack Higgs is the top seed in both the junior singles, sponsored by Paytons Solicitors, and also in the cadet singles. Anthony Wiseman is second seed for the juniors and Ben Salisbury for the cadets.

Play starts at 9am and will be continuous throughout the day with the finals starting at around 6pm. Spectators are most welcome to watch the play from the Forum balcony.

Catering facilities will be available throughout the day in the Malvern Theatres complex serving snacks and hot and cold drinks from 10.30am and light meals from noon.