22nd September-07
GARETH HERBERT TURNS ON THE STYLE

TTK Greenhouse’s Gareth Herbert, still one of the country’s most inventive and talented players produced the strongest performance in the second round of British League Premier Division matches. The scores speak for themselves and Gareth was relatively untroubled as he beat Ellenborough’s Lorestas Trumpauskas 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 and Jon Nilsson 11-2, 11-6, 11-8. The match itself was closer and with Andrew Rushton beating Thomas Bennborn (11-9, 11-4, 11-6) and Lorestas Trumpauskas (11-9, 11-7, 11-9) the result rested on a hum-dinger of a game between Henry Medellin and Thomas Bennborn. On paper you would have favoured the Swede as he had shown his prowess in the morning by scoring an excellent win over Oxford no. one Jing Wei. However, it was Medellin, clearly very comfortable against chop and float who appeared to be on the way to victory as he surged into a 9-5 lead in the fourth game. Was Bennborn beaten ?. Amazingly not , and by tightening his defence to an even higher level Bennborn edged his way back into the match. Thomas eventually won 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 and the match finished tied at 4-4.

Drumchapel Glasgow I retained top spot as they hammered Oxford Fire Place Centre I 8-0. In a display of real strength Ryan Jenkins, Sau Ayemojuba, Stephen Jenkins and Ian McLean only dropped two ends. McLean needed four ends to get the better of Eddie Roofe 11-6, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9 and he completed the rout with a 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 success against Daniel Ives. Sau Ayemojuba gaves glimpses of what he is capable of as he beat Jing Wei 11-5, 11-6, 12-10 and in his second singles he really entered “the zone” as he hammered Eddie Roofe 11-6, 11-8, 11-0.

Sycamore gave it a “real go” against BATTS Team Peniel I and will be slightly disappointed that they eventually missed out 5-3. BATTS new signing Shuying Xue, (who was playing for Hartlepool in Division Four North last season) made a spectacular Premier Division debut as she beat Shaun Marples 11-4, 11-5, 11-5. Craig Bryant added to this success by beating Matt Kenny 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 and Ritchie Venner played his part as he beat Chris Brown 11-6, 12-10, 11-9. Few people would have given Jason Ramage much chance against John Holland but in one of the surprises of the day the all-action Ramage produced a flawless display to win 11-8, 11-8, 11-8. Sycamore were revitalised and Shaun Marples made his mark by beating Craig Bryant 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5. Shuying ensured that BATTS would take a point as she beat Chris Brown 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9 but this was “touch and go” with Chris’s powerful hitting causing the diminutive Chinese star all sorts of problems. The last two matches were also tense encounters with Matt Kenny getting the better of John Holland 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 to give Sycamore a chance of taking a point. Jason Ramage gave it 110% effort against Ritchie Venner but it wasn’t to be and ice-cool Ritchie sealed a victory for the Essex side with a 11-8, 11-3, 6-11, 14-12 victory.

The Champions DHS London Progress I gave another display which had “we won’t be surrendering our title without a real fight” written al over it as they beat Urban Progress I 7-1. Terry Young, Jason Sugrue and Jiang Zhi Tao were all unbeaten with Jiang Zhi Tao giving the impression that he “has a lot left in the tank”. Costas Papantoniou never gives in without a fight, but, he couldn’t challenge the smooth-flowing Chinese star at all. Jiang won 11-4, 11-4, 11-2. Egle Adomelyte was Urban’s sole winner and what a good win she achieved as well, beating Marco Essomba 11-7, 11-9, 11-9.

Steve Kerns Press Officer
British League