Eathorpe A boost promotion hopes in Leamington Table Tennis League

Elliott Hey, Marius Morariu and Kieran Podbury were in no mood to relinquish points with Morariu fighting back from 0-2 down to defeat Harbinder Singh.

Leaders WCC A overcame 2 player Flavels 9-1. Taran Dhillon, Niall Herbert and William Panes won all the contested singles, though Panes squeezed home 12-10 in the 5th against Shivam Kapur. Sam Bradley and Kapur did land the doubles to avoid the whitewash.

Third placed Free Church D overcame fifth placed Whitnash 8-2. Stefan Birca and Daniel Shaw posted 7 of the points and Chris Jones won one. Richard Smith and Paras Tejani scored for Whitnash. Seventh played eighth when Free Church E hosted Colebridge B. The visitors won 6-4 when Dean Hicks and Andrew Rowland recorded two wins apiece. Jason Rainey added one and steered Rowland to the doubles. Radu Draghici and Sam Groom shared Church’s points.

Division 1 leaders Lillington Free Church A extended their lead to 12 points with a game in hand, over second placed WCC Bats. Church felled third placed St. Georges B 9-1. Lee Dorning and Rex Wong won singles and doubles and Sam Weaving bagged two. It was left to Mark Jackson to gain the consolation. Fourth placed Rugby B had to settle for a draw when entertaining Free Church B.

Adrian Pilgrim won three and joined Tomas Jacko, who won one single, to take the doubles. Daniel Stone and Monika Tomaszek grabbed braces for Church with Greg Swan chipping in with one. Sixth placed St Georges A won 7-3 at Wellesbourne but the home team provided the player of the match in the form of Pete Barrow who recorded an impressive hat-trick. Harrison Allwood, Gary Jackson and Mark Rose won their other singles and Allwood and Rose landed the doubles 11-9 in the 5th. Bottom team Oxhill, gave themselves a great chance of joining other teams in mid-table after beating Wellesbourne 7-3. Tony West starred with three wins and Anthony Gorman and Dave Ramsey added braces. Pete Barrow won two for Wellesbourne losing to West, 6,-9, -14, -10 but guided Alan Cotton to a 12-10 in the 5th verdict in the doubles. This was followed by an 8-2 success over Nomads Aces, West again winning his three, aided and abetted by Chris Brewer and Gorman who both won twice. Simon Nolan got both points for Aces.

In Division 3 the main interest centred on the contest between second placed Radford C who faced sixth placed Moreton Morrell. It featured the two top players in the Division and resulted in Padipat Pluemworasawat guiding Radford to an 8-2 win as he beat Kannan Nithi 9,5,15, the latter’s first defeat in Leamington for two seasons. Gary Edwards and Martin Gallauer each won twice and the victors took the doubles. Leaders Free Church F had to settle for a draw against a battling Nomads Dragons. Nick Darwen won his three for Church and Mark Singleton, on his birthday, won two. Jon Waters (2), Jill Weaving (1) and Mike Weaving (1) plus the doubles forced the draw. Ashorne A in third look dangerous and beat bottom side Eathorpe C 9-1.

Richard Grover and Alexandros Plianos were responsible for 7 of the points and Steve Handsley contributed two. John Ablett got the consolation. Nomads Codgers are 4th and defeated Ashorne B 8-2. Richard Miles and Kim Wong won their singles and doubles and Kevin Finn won once. Jim Goodwin and Martin Hamer responded. Free Church G took all 10 points from WCC Dinos but there were some close tussles nonetheless. Alex Bosworth’s treble was relatively smooth but young Bethan Jones won two 5 setters and Chris Bosworth got home 11-9 in the 5th against Jason Grey.

With one match to play Eathorpe D cannot be caught in their quest for the Division A title. Darren Hadley and Toby John accounted for fifth placed Radford A 5-0 without conceding a set. Radford B have a great chance of finishing as runners-up after beating bottom side Rugby E 4-1. Diosdado Alferez won two, Charles Brookes notched one and the duo won the doubles. Harbinder Singh got the consolation.

In Division C relegation threatened Rugby G have been transformed by the arrival of 11 year old Shaneli Wickmananayaka who has won 7 of her 8 singles. In her team’s match with Eathorpe E she won her two and the doubles with Grace Newman in a 4-1win.

Free Church K have secured the title with a match to spare, eclipsing Free Church L 5-0. Alfie Green and his brother Otis, who was making his debut at this level, won 5-0.