St Georges B keep up fight for second spot in Leamington Table Tennis League

Mark Jackson secured a maximum and steered Mark Rose to a 12-10 in the 5th match deciding doubles. Rose and Earl Sweeney added singles. Taran Dhillon won two for Council, Chris Brewer edged Rose 11-9 in the 5th but lost 8-11 in the 5th to Sweeney. Niall Herbert completed Council’s total.

Runaway leaders Lillington Free Church A posted a 10-0 win over 11th placed Wellesbourne. Lee Dorning, Sam Weaving and Rex Wong were nonetheless made to work with Pete Barrow taking Wong to 5 and Alan Cotton extending his game with Weaving to 5.

Oxhill did themselves a power of good at the bottom with a timely victory over Colebridge A which lifts them 10 points clear of relegation. Anthony Gorman starred with a hat-trick, Tony West added two and Brian Hobill overcame Michael Browne 16-14 in the 5th. Gorman and Hobill bagged the doubles.

Colebridge’s response came through Mike Rinnhofer (2) and Omar Khan (1). Free Church C also picked up useful points against a strong Rugby A side, going down 4-6. Daniel Stone, a junior in his first season at this level, has won 8 of his last 9 singles. In this match he took the prized scalp of Matt Outhwaite as well as Luke Smith, and pushed Ryan Lines to 4. Chris Blowey and Tom Hunt bagged singles with Blowey going down 9 in the 5th to Lines. Lines (3) and Outhwaite (2) combined to pocket the match winning doubles.

Rugby B are comfortable in mid table and pipped Free Church B 6-4. Adrian Pilgrim won his three and won the crucial doubles with Tomas Jacko 11-7 in the 5th. Jacko won two. James Berry (2), Tom Brocklehurst (1) and Greg Swan (1) recorded Church’s points.

After being on the end of a big defeat in their last match at the hands of WCC Bears, Division 2 leaders Nomads Aces bounced back to show title winning form as they eclipsed Eathorpe B 9-1. Andy Davies and Simon Nolan were unbeaten in singles and doubles and Tony Thomas won twice, losing 8-11 in the 5th to Mark Bastick. The unpredictability of table-tennis showed with Bears suffering a 7-3 defeat on their trip to Colebridge B. Rizwan Akbar posted three, Jason Rainey and Andrew Rowland adding two apiece. Paul Calloway won twice in return and guided Chris Hughes to the doubles.

Flavels are second and pipped Warwick University A 6-4. Shivam Kapur won 3 for the victors and pinched the double with Sam Bradley, 11-9 in the 5th. Bradley and Luke Hobbins won singles. Alexander Nicholas and George Thorn shared the students’ total. Free Church D sit in third and beat Eathorpe A 6-4.

Marius Morariu proved a thorn in Church’s side winning his three, including a 12-10 in the 5th win over Jeff Harris and taking the doubles with Pete Titmas.

All the Church players notched braces, namely Harris, Owain Jones and Harry Purewal. WCC Coots got home 8-2 against Free Church E to move into 5th. Cliff Jackson and Arun Yogi held maximums and Mark Freeman added one. He also partnered Jackson to an 11-9 in the 5th doubles success.

Whitnash B 61 from 15 Warwick Uni A 60 from 17 FC E 52 from 14 Eathorpe B 37 from 16

Rugby D whitewashed Free Church G in Division 3, the leaders securing all the points through Pablo Caldas, Martyn Lilley and Chris Maddox. Second placed Whitnash B also gained a maximum haul when facing Ashorne A.

Len Coonan, Tamas Nemeth and Paras Tejani kept up the pressure. Third placed Flounders triumphed 7-3 over Nomads Dragons. Andy Caine and Steve Proctor were hat-trick stars and Jeremy Sampson beat Catherine McAuley 11-9 in the 5th. Jon Waters and Jill Weaving won singles in reply and McAuley and Weaving won the doubles. Nomads Codgers edged Moreton Morrell Tennis Court Club 6-4.

Kannan Nithi continued his 100% campaign for Moreton and Doug Holden contributed one but Les Hoggins (2), Richard Miles (2) and Kevin Finn (1) put Nomads in sight of victory which Hoggins and Miles secured with an 11-9 verdict in the doubles. Eathorpe C defeated WCC Dinos 8-2. John Ablett was a triple winner and Darren and Daniel Hadley both won braces. The Hadleys, father and son, won the doubles.

Colin Astbury won two in response. In a re-arranged match Moreton Morrell again fell short of the winning post, losing 7-3 to Free Church F who are currently second.

Morgan Page won his three for Church, Nick Newman chipped in with two and Mark Singleton added one. Newman and Page took the doubles 3-1 though set 4 resulted in a 19-17 scoreline. Doug Holden (2) and Lloyd Pettiford (1) were responsible for the tennis club’s points.

We are now 4 weeks in to the Spring campaign of the 2-side League. Autumn Champions, Ashorne A, have made a good start in an effort to retain their crown in Division A and completed a comprehensive 5-0 win over promoted Radford A. Richard Grover and Alexandros Plianos were the successful duo.

Rugby G moved into second spot in Division B after beating basement team Free Church K 5-0. Bernard Burke and Katsuko Nagata wrapped up the points. Rugby trail leaders Radford C by 4 points. Fourth placed Radford B overcame third placed FISSC 3-2 but still sit a couple of points behind them.

Boye Cho won her two and Mo Eissa added one, losing to Neil Mudie 7-11 in the 5th. However, the Farmers pocketed the doubles 3-0 with Malcolm McCulloch joining Mudie.

Division C leaders Free Church J dropped their first point in their opening 4 matches when defeating Free Church M 4-1. Ankit Sharma kept his 100% record and won the doubles with single winner David Wedgbury.

Fifteen year old Johan Pretorius had the distinction of being the first player to dent J’s progress. Second placed Free Church L retained that spot despite going down 2-3 to a strong Warwick University B side.

Church chose to call the doubles first and it paid off as Eshan Dhesi-Dabb and Tudor Draghici went 1-0 ahead.

However, Senthoran Perananthan won two in reply and Aarathy Thusyanthan won one, coming from 0-2 down against Dhesi- Dabb. Draghici played very well to beat her in a close, exciting match to keep the score respectable. Free Church N powered to a 5-0 eclipse of struggling Eathorpe H. Susheel Gupta and Jacob Sherratt took the points.

Another Free Church team, FC O, sit top of Division D. They defeated their P team 4-1. Keerthi Bakthisaran played impressively to win her two and partnered her cousin, Manas Krishnan, to the doubles.

Krishnan won once but tasted defeat for the first time against Paul Emberson who was winning for the first time. Free Church Q claimed all 5 points against Eathorpe I. Thirteen year old Anay Aroon and 11 year old Campbell Turner are highly thought of by the Free Church coaching team.