Battle of pace-setters in Leamington Table Tennis League ends in a stalemate

St Georges A’s Laurence Sweeney’s brace included a very rare defeat for Free Church A’s Lee Dorning. Tony Deren added one, as did Damon Fenton with Fenton and Sweeney taking the doubles. The Church star was Rex Wong, the Division’s youngest player, who landed a treble to Dorning’s double.

Second placed St Georges B overcame Colebridge A 7-3. Mark Jackson and Mark Rose were unbeaten for Georges in singles and doubles, Jackson pipping Craig Allen 11-9 in the 5th. Allen, Michael Browne and Mike Rinnhofer were all single winners in response.

Rugby A are going well in 5th and defeated 11th placed County Council A 8-2. Ryan Lines and Matt Outhwaite accounted for 7 of the points with Luke Smith adding one. Taran Dhillon and Niall Herbert shared Council’s tally.

Free Church B and C fought out a draw. James Berry led the way for B with a hat-trick, Chris Ho won once and joined Berry for the doubles. Chris Blowey and junior Dan Stone won braces in reply, Stone pipping Greg Swan 11- 9 in the 5th, and Ming Fan won once.

Leaders Nomads Aces trounced Colebridge B 8-2 in division 2. Simon Nolan bagged 3 and Andy Davies and Tony Thomas chipped in with two wins apiece. Nolan and Thomas landed the doubles. Jason Rainey and Andrew Rowland secured Colebridge’s points with Rowland just losing to Thomas 11-8 in the 5th.

Third placed WCC Bears fell 3-7 to Flavels. Trevor Bradley’s two wins saw him pip Chris Hughes 11-9 in the 5th, Luke Hobbins’ pair of victories included an 11-8 in the 5th win over Clive Irwin and Shivam Kapur also won twice as well as taking the doubles with Bradley. Irwin (2) and Hughes (1) replied.

Rugby C won 8-2 against Whitnash A. Daryl Burgess and Marina Ndumengo won their singles and combined to secure the doubles 11-9 in the 5th. Peter Ratcliffe won one. Richard Smith and Paras Tejani responded.

In Division 3, second placed Free Church F were held to a draw by their H side. H’s Nick Darwen was rampant, posting a triple and Deva Bakthisaran lent good support with two wins. Susie Swan was F’s mainstay with two and Nick Newman and Mark Singleton added singles. Newman and Singleton collected the doubles.

Rugby E, in 10th, demolished 6th placed Moreton Morrell Tennis Court Club 9-1. Hurshvardan and Jack Kuomi won trebles, Grace Newman won twice and joined Kuomi for the doubles. Pablo Smith got the consolation. Ashorne A got their first win of the season in impressive style whitewashing WCC Dinos. Jim Goodwin, Richard Grover and Martin Hamer were the responsible trio.

Rugby D are third after a 9-1 success at Eathorpe C. Dave Cox and Martin Lilley were unbeatable in singles and doubles and Chris Maddox provided the other two points. Darren Hadley scored for the villagers.

Ashorne B lead Division A, crushing Eathorpe E 5-0 through Richard Grover and Alexandros Plianos. Eathorpe F overcame Rugby F 4-1 with Mark Bastick and Marius Morariu winning all the singles. Marina Ndumengo and Jo Outhwaite won the doubles.

Bottom side FISSC edged Flounders 3-2 despite Steve Proctor nailing his two singles. Robert Bartowski and Neil Mudie held singles and won the doubles 3-1.

Performance of the week in Division B came from Free Church L. The bottom side lost narrowly to second placed Radford A 2-3 with young Shivam Gupta playing exceptionally well to win his two. Gary Edwards and Ian Ogden won singles and took the doubles.

Top side Free Church I marched on for their 6th successive win, overcoming third placed Rugby G 4-1. Sam Groom maintained his 100% record and won the doubles 3-1 with Alex Bosworth who won one. Katsuko Nagata grabbed the consolation.

Another surprise in this division saw 5th placed Free Church M topple 4th placed Free Church K 4-1. Finn Bradley won his two, Alfie Green won one and the pair of cadets bagged the doubles. Matt Hayes stopped the rot.

In Division C second placed Radford B won 4-1 against third placed Free church J. Mo Eissa won twice and pocketed the doubles with Boye Cho. Phil Booth was the consolation winner.

Warwick University B lead division B and got home 3-2 against Free Church O. Michael Walsh is unbeaten in this division and maintained that record as well as steering Hubert Pawlusinski to the doubles 3-1. Manas Krishnan and Gopi Srinivasan replied.

Free Church P got their second victory of the season overcoming their Q team 4-1. Dhiren Modi won two, daughter Vishwa chipped in with one and the pair won the doubles comfortably. Anay Aroon grabbed Q’s point.

On the representative front Leamington Veterans A began their Midland League campaign with two 3-7 reversals. Mark Jackson won two singles in each of the matches against Nottingham A and Birmingham A. Alan Cotton provided a single against Nottingham and joined Jackson for a winning doubles against Birmingham.

Leamington’s B team thrashed Tamworth 10-0 courtesy of Nilton Green, Brian Hobill and Earl Sweeney but lost out to Shrewsbury 3-7. Tom Brocklehurst played in the second match and enjoyed two excellent wins. Nilton Green added the other point.