Success for Leamington's table tennis players at Warwickshire Schools’ team Championships

Warwick School won the Under 16 Boys event, beating Tudor Grange of Solihull 7-1. Starry Sheung, Rex Wong and Toby John all won twice and Lewis Baxter chipped in with a single.

Warwick School’s Under 13 team drew with Tudor Grange 4-4 but lost out on first place by virtue of countback. Atticus Westwood impressed with two wins and Eshan Dhesi-Dabb and Jamie Davies added singles. Finally North Leamington School were runners-up to Tudor Grange in the Under 19 Boys event losing 2-6 with Daniel Stone recording two impressive wins for NLS.

Lillington Free Church’s Susie Swan grabbed her first ever trophy at a National tournament when triumphing in the Under 15 Girls Consolation event at the Horsham Spinners competition. Susie beat two top 40 ranked England players to land the trophy.

In Division 1 Wellesbourne moved away from the bottom of the table with a draw at St Georges A. Pete Barrow led the way with an excellent treble, Alan Cotton beat Alan Hewitt 11-9 in the 5th and Steve Cull overcame Mark Rose 12-10 in the 5th. Two wins from Damon Fenton and the doubles with Rose kept Georges in it with Hewitt and Rose adding singles.

Colebridge A in third defeated 11th placed Free Church C 7-3. Craig Allen notched a hat-trick, Michael Browne won two 5 setters and Sam Henderson also won two. James Berry provided stubborn opposition grabbing two fine wins and steering Roald Myers to the doubles.

Second placed St Georges B drew with WCC Bats. Mark Jackson won his three and Tony Deren supplied a brace but Bats bounced back through Nilton Green (2), Simon Griew (1) and Martin Hunter (1). Green and Griew took the doubles 11-9 in the 5th.

Second placed Warwick University chalked up a 7-3 win over Free Church E in Division 2. Jamie Watkins-Rees took a maximum and won the doubles with Izzy Khan who won twice. Manveer Dhanjal secured the final point. Tom Fletcher (2) and Anthony Smith (1) posted 3 welcome points for E who are currently ninth.

Mid-table sides St Georges C and Flavels ended their match in stalemate. Shivam Kapur was a triple winner for Flavels and he guided Sam Bradley to the doubles, Bradley winning one. Alex Boyd (2), Steve Proctor (2) and Andy Caine (1) forced the draw.

Free Church D recorded their third win of the season when pushing Eathorpe A to the foot of the table after a 7-3 success. Jun Chung starred with a hat-trick, Daniel Stone posted two and George Barnes one. Walter Warburton replied with two, losing 12-14 in the 5th to Chung but winning 11-9 in the 5th against Stone. Marius Morariu added one but he and Kieran Podbury had to give second best to the Chung/Stone doubles pairing.

Third Division leaders Whitnash crushed Eathorpe C 10-0 Len Coonan, Richard Smith and Dennis Woodhead only dropping one set. Nomads Dragons emerged triumphant from their derby match with Nomads Codgers, 6-4 the winning margin. Despite a magnificent maximum from Richard Miles, the Dragons duo of Catherine McAuley and Jill Weaving bagged 2 apiece plus the doubles with Mike Weaving adding a vital single. Steve Kurle took Codgers’ other point.

Lillington Free Church G moved into third with a comprehensive 9-1 victory over Warwick University B, Nick Darwen and Chris Jones won 7 of the points with Joe Mills contributing two, losing to Emma Birch.

Division A is easily the most unpredictable in the League with all 6 teams capable of beating each other. FISSC are top but suffered a second successive defeat at the hands of Ashorne A who are 5th. Robert Bartowski won a single but the farmers lost the other 4 points to Alexandros Plianos (2), Steve Proctor (1) and the doubles. Second placed Free Church K fell 2-3 to third placed St Georges D. Radu Draghici and Lucy Duncan each won a single for Church but former top Church junior Colin Aston showed his class with a double and joined Dad Brian to clinch the doubles. Bottom side Rugby F had a 4-1 win over Free Church J. Dave Cox won his two, Jo Outhwaite defeated Daniel Martlew 11-9 in the 5th but fell to Keith Knott. Rugby took the doubles.

A first versus third Division B clash saw Eathorpe E start strongly against Free Church M with Daniel Hadley beating Yannic Fowler in an entertaining game before Darren Hadley had to comeback to beat Barney Holton in 5. Barney then held off Daniel with Darren having to play well to keep out Yannic. A 3-1 doubles win made it 4-1 to the leaders on the night. Bottom side Free Church L collared WCC Dinos 3-2. Richard Pittaway won his two and young Bethan Jones posted her first win at this level. Doug Lowe won once for WCC and helped Derek Harwood to the doubles.

Radford went to the summit of Division C with matches in hand after eclipsing second placed Ashorne B 5-0. Tamas Nemeth and Ian Ogden look guaranteed bets for promotion.

Ashorne C could catch the leading teams and did themselves a power of good when beating Free Church P 4-1. William Little won two, Jim Goodwin one and the pair held the doubles. 11 year old Eshan Dhesi-Dabb showed a terrific temperament and lots of ability to beat Goodwin 11-9 in the 5th

Free Church O sit a close third and took all 5 points against Eathorpe F through Alex Bosworth and Matt Hayes.

Eathorpe G won the Division D derby with their H team 4-1. John Attridge won two, David Hanson one and the pair pocketed the doubles. Siva Krishnamurthy got H’s consolation.