Thurrock completed a memorable Singles and Doubles double as more than 100 older Black men came together in Grays for O5BM’s 2nd Annual Older Black Men Community Table Tennis Championship — an event subsequently featured on BBC Look East.
The Over 50s Black Men Forum (O5BM) celebrated another major milestone on Saturday, 22 August 2026, as more than 120 people, including over 70 players, gathered at the Civic Hall in Grays, Thurrock for the 2nd Annual Older Black Men Community Table Tennis Championship.
Bringing together representatives from O5BM community centres, the Championship combined competitive table tennis with a much wider celebration of physical activity, healthy ageing, friendship, inclusion and community connection.
The story reached an even wider audience when the Championship was featured on BBC Look East on Sunday, 23 August 2026.
The television report captured the energy of the day, showing older Black men competing, supporting one another and demonstrating what community-led physical activity can look like when it is built around trust, enjoyment and belonging.
O5BM’s Chidi Umeano was also interviewed as part of the BBC report, helping to highlight the wider purpose behind the Championship and the role that community table tennis is playing in engaging older Black men around health, wellbeing and social connection.
Thurrock Crowned 2026 Double Champions
Competition throughout the day was keen but friendly, with Thurrock, Thamesmead, Stevenage and Luton South reaching the semi-final stages across the Singles and Doubles categories.
It proved to be an exceptional Championship for the home team, Thurrock, who completed a memorable double by winning both the Singles and Doubles titles.
O5BM extends its warmest congratulations to the victorious Thurrock team: Demola Ali, Edward Amusan, Tayo Alabi, Kunle Fayemi, Dele Odubanjo, Kenny Alatise, Chris Folorunso and Gbenga Abidekun. Their achievement was particularly special with the Championship being hosted in Thurrock, allowing the home team to celebrate both titles in front of fellow members, friends and supporters. A huge congratulations to every member of the Thurrock team on an outstanding performance and on becoming O5BM’s 2026 Singles and Doubles Champions.
Thamesmead Finish Runners-up in Both Categories
O5BM also congratulates Thamesmead, who enjoyed an excellent Championship and finished as runners-up in both the Singles and Doubles categories.
The Thamesmead team consisted of Henry Ulzen-Plange, Adewale Oke, Mayo Adel, Akin Akiboye, Abdullahi Galadima and Gbenga Rimo. Reaching both finals was a significant achievement and reflected the quality, commitment and competitive spirit demonstrated by Thamesmead throughout the Championship.
Congratulations also go to Stevenage and Luton South, who reached the semi-finals and contributed to an excellent standard of competition throughout the day.
2026 Championship Results
Singles
- Champions: Thurrock
- Runners-up: Thamesmead
- Semi-finalists: Stevenage and Luton South
Doubles
- Champions: Thurrock
- Runners-up: Thamesmead
- Semi-finalists: Stevenage and Luton South
While the medals and titles were keenly contested, the spirit in which the Championship was played was equally important — competitive across the tables while supportive and celebratory throughout the wider O5BM community.
A Special Medal Presentation
The Championship concluded with the presentation of medals to the successful teams.
O5BM extends its sincere thanks to former councillors Mr Joglur Rahman and Srikanth Pajala for joining us and presenting the winners’ medals for singles as well as to Mr Tony Owolabi – Past Chairman, Table Tennis Section, Ikoyi Club 1938, Lagos, Nigeria for presenting the doubles medals.
Their participation helped provide a fitting conclusion to a day celebrating not only sporting achievement but also community, friendship, healthy ageing and the visibility of older Black men through sport. O5BM is grateful to them for taking the time to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our players.
More Than Table Tennis
For O5BM, the annual Championship has always been about considerably more than trophies and medals. At the heart of O5BM’s community table tennis programme is a simple principle: Men may initially come for the table tennis, but many stay for the friendships, the community and the wider support around their health and wellbeing.
Weekly sessions provide an accessible and enjoyable form of physical activity while creating trusted spaces where older Black men can meet regularly, develop friendships, reduce isolation and engage naturally in conversations about their health. Older Black men remain relatively underrepresented in mainstream discussions around both sport and healthy ageing.
The Championship presented a very different and positive image: more than 100 older Black men active, competitive, visible and supporting one another. O5BM seeks not only to raise awareness of the health inequalities affecting older Black men, but also to demonstrate the strength, resilience and potential already present within communities.
Putting England’s Men’s Health Strategy into Practice
The Championship strongly reflects several of the priorities set out in the Government’s Men’s Health Strategy for England, the country’s first long-term strategy dedicated specifically to improving the health and wellbeing of men and boys. One of the important principles behind the strategy is the need to meet men where they are, bringing prevention and health engagement closer to the places and communities in which men already feel comfortable.
That closely reflects O5BM’s approach. For many participants, the first point of engagement is not a clinic or a formal health intervention. It is a table tennis table. Sport provides an enjoyable, non-clinical environment in which men can become more physically active, build relationships and gradually engage in wider conversations about their health and wellbeing.
The strategy also places emphasis on prevention, physical activity, reducing health inequalities and strengthening social and community networks.
These principles are visible throughout O5BM’s community model. Weekly table tennis provides men with somewhere to go, people they know and a community that notices when they are absent. The annual Championship then brings those local relationships together on a much larger scale.
O5BM therefore believes the Championship demonstrates how the ambitions of the national Men’s Health Strategy can be translated into practical community action: meeting men where they are, increasing physical activity, strengthening social connections and creating trusted routes into wider health and wellbeing support.
BBC Look East Shines a Spotlight on Older Black Men
The Championship received another significant boost when BBC Look East featured the event in its Sunday evening television coverage on 23 August. The report showcased the atmosphere at the Civic Hall and helped take O5BM’s message around physical activity, healthy ageing and social connection to a much wider audience.
The coverage represents an important step in increasing the visibility of older Black men within mainstream sport and health reporting. It also builds on previous BBC coverage of O5BM’s community table tennis work in Luton, reflecting growing media interest in O5BM’s community-led approach.
Supported by Sport England and Encouraged by the ITTF Foundation
The 2026 Championship was supported by Sport England, reflecting a shared ambition to enable more people to become physically active through accessible and inclusive community opportunities. This year also marked an important development in O5BM’s relationship with the ITTF Foundation. Ahead of the Championship, O5BM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ITTF Foundation, under which the event was formally recognised as: “Encouraged by the ITTF Foundation.”
The relationship forms part of O5BM’s developing engagement around Table Tennis for Health and shared principles of safe, inclusive and accessible participation. The ITTF Foundation also provided table tennis balls to support O5BM’s community activity. The combination of Sport England support, ITTF Foundation recognition and mainstream BBC television coverage represents an important milestone in the continued development of O5BM’s community table tennis programme.
Thank You to Table Tennis England
O5BM would also like to express its sincere appreciation to Table Tennis England for the moral support, encouragement and continued interest it has shown in O5BM’s community table tennis journey. Their encouragement has been valuable as O5BM has developed table tennis from weekly community sessions into an increasingly visible programme centred around physical activity, health, inclusion and social connection. We are particularly grateful for Table Tennis England’s willingness to help raise awareness of the Championship and for continuing to champion the contribution grassroots community organisations can make to increasing participation in the sport. We look forward to continuing to build the relationship as O5BM’s community table tennis network grows.
Partners Making Community Sport Possible
The success of the Championship was made possible through the contribution of a number of organisations and individuals. A special thank you goes to Impulse Leisure, which provided the subsidised venue and table tennis tables for the Championship in Grays. Their support helped create the environment in which more than 100 older Black men could come together for an unforgettable day of sport and community.
O5BM also extends its sincere appreciation to City Bridge Foundation, whose funding supports four O5BM centres across London. That investment enables older Black men to access regular community-based physical activity and provides trusted spaces where friendships can develop, isolation can be reduced and conversations around health and wellbeing can take place.
The success of the annual Championship is built upon this regular work happening week after week across O5BM’s community centres.
Tackling Loneliness Through Community
One of the less visible but most important outcomes of O5BM’s work is the creation of genuine social connections between men. Loneliness among older men does not always present itself obviously. Retirement, bereavement, children leaving home or the loss of workplace networks can gradually reduce opportunities for regular social interaction.
Men may not necessarily say: “I am lonely.” But they may say: “I am going to table tennis.” Regular participation creates something simple but powerful: somewhere to go, people who expect to see you and a community that notices when you are absent. The Championship brought those individual local relationships together on a much larger scale.
As one of the participants said: “Attending this for the second year has been very emotional for me and has given me a sense of purpose and a reason to live. I will become a more active volunteer for O5BM”
Demand Already Outgrowing the Championship Venue
The response to this year’s Championship was so strong that the event became over-subscribed. Attention is therefore already turning to the next annual Championship.
O5BM is exploring the possibility of moving to a significantly larger venue and the longer-term ambition is for the Older Black Men Community Table Tennis Championship to become a major annual community sporting occasion, attracting teams and supporters from an increasing number of locations across the UK.
Thank You to Our Community and Partners
O5BM once again congratulates our 2026 double champions, Thurrock, our double runners-up, Thamesmead, and semi-finalists Stevenage and Luton South. Most importantly, our sincere thanks go to every older Black man who participated in the Championship. Seeing more than 100 older Black men come together in one place to compete, remain physically active, renew friendships and proudly represent their local communities was the real achievement of the day.
O5BM would also like to acknowledge:
- Sport England for supporting the Championship and O5BM’s wider community physical activity work.
- The ITTF Foundation for recognising the Championship as “Encouraged by the ITTF Foundation”, developing the Table Tennis for Health relationship with O5BM and providing table tennis balls.
- Table Tennis England for its valued moral support, encouragement and help in raising awareness of the Championship.
- Impulse Leisure for providing the venue and table tennis tables.
- City Bridge Foundation for funding four O5BM community centres across London.
- Former councillors Mr Joglur Rahman and Srikanth Pajala and Mr Tony Owolabi for presenting the doubles medals for presenting the winners’ medals and helping us celebrate the achievements of our players.
- BBC Look East for taking the story of older Black men, community sport and healthy ageing to a much wider audience.
- Every volunteer, organiser, doctor, supporter and community member who helped make the day possible.
The trophies may have gone to Thurrock, but the enduring achievement of the Championship was seeing more than 100 older Black men together — active, competitive, connected and visible through community sport. As England puts its Men’s Health Strategy into practice, O5BM believes initiatives such as the Older Black Men Community Table Tennis Championship demonstrate what community-led prevention can look like in practice — taking physical activity, health and wellbeing to men in places where they already feel comfortable, connected and valued.
Older Black men. Active. Connected. Visible.
Strong Body. Strong Mind. Strong Income.
