Table Tennis has returned to the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League after the 2020-21 Season had to be abandoned following the Covid induced break. The League has retained it’s five senior divisions and refreshingly it also has three junior divisions which commence shortly. Doubles play has been retained in League play, something that is no longer the case in the neighbouring Braintree League.
It has been quite a while since we have had an all teenage line-up in division one of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. The Chelmsford B side of Josh Bickles (aged 15), Harry Buckle (17) and Charlie Craig (17) powered to a 10-0 win over Danbury C. They will be joined by Shirish Basant Rai and should do well this year in a division one which is missing the 2019-20 winners – Maldon A. Danbury B were impressive 8-2 winners over Chelmsford C. Newcomer Matt Stringer was undefeated and he set them on their way with a last gasp 11-8, 9-11, 11-2, 8-11, 12-10 victory over Simon Jarvis in the first game. Simon Jarvis fought back with wins over Dan Anderson (3-2) and Sam Lowman (3-1). The match between OCs A and Galleywood A finished tied at 5-5. OCs powered into a 3-0 lead and then found themselves pegged back to 3-3, so perhaps a draw was a fair result. OCs’ Rob Burton produced a display which can’t be bettered. All three of his games were decided at deuce in the fifth end. Burton fought back from 2-0 down to beat James Hicks 12-10 in the fifth end, but lost to Gary Brignall at 14-12 in the decider. He rounded off an excellent evening’s work with a 14-12 in the fifth end win over Steve Kerns. Gary Brignall and James Hicks both excelled by beating Terry Dowsett.
Division two is often very closely matched. From the look of this week’s results that could be the case this year as well. OCs B drew 5-5 with Danbury G. No player stayed undefeated. Kevin Worthington and Trevor Carter both won twice for Old Chelmsfordians whilst Eamon Hall and Sanjay Saptarshi both bagged two wins for Danbury. Kevin Worthington sealed the draw for OCs by beating Eamon Hall 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6 in the last game of the night. Chelmsford D edged out Danbury F 6-4 after a hard-fought game. Alan Scammell won his three games for the Danbury side but Adi Kamma and Sudheep Kamma “balanced the books” with two wins apiece. Saul Chivers beat Denis Balic 11-5, 12-14, 5-11, 11-9, 19-17. Quite a tussle !. Danbury E ran out 7-3 winners against OCs C. Neil Want was unbeaten for Danbury and this included a 11-8, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 11-9 victory over Mick Richardson, another nail-biter. Hatfield Peverel A were 6-4 winners against Writtle B. Martin Archie led the way with three impressive wins and he concluded an excellent evening’s work by beating Phil Smith 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9 in the last game of the evening.
Division three saw all three games decided by 6-4 scorelines. Galleywood B led by the redoubtable John Holland beat Chelmsford E. Adi Kamma won twice for Chelmsford and this included fighting back from 2-0 down to get the better of Colin Blore 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8. Chelmsford F beat Danbury H, good going as all three of their players lost to Gordon Gatheral. In the game of the night Gatheral hung on to beat Nikita Tkachuk 14-12 in the decider, after Tkachuk pulled back from 10-6 down. It was a similar story when Danbury K beat OCs D. Danbury K came out on top even though Richard Baxter remained undefeated for the Old Chelmsfordians side. Baxter completed his hat-trick with a 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 12-10 win over Peter Hance in the final game of the match. Mo Hardy had to pull out all the stops to beat Farooq Ahmed 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 4-11, 12-10.
Danbury L are the early leaders in division four. Mervyn Perriman, James Gatheral and Denis Crapnell were 9-1 winners against Chelmsford G. Newcomer Vasile Barbulet was the sole winner for Chelmsford with a 11-6, 11-5, 11-13, 6-11, 11-8 win over James Gatheral. Writtle E beat Galleywood C 8-2. Ian Hockley led the way with a hat-trick and this included a 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-4 success against Colin Blore, Galleywood’s best player. Highwood A are also off to a winning start. Melanie Bonnett led the way as they beat OCs E 6-4. Melanie got the better of David Newman 3-11, 12-10, 11-6, 14-12 to secure the win for her side.
Hatfield Peverel D have made a flying start in division five. Deb Ginn, Kath Little and Davinia Brazier powered to a 9-1 win over Danbury N. Deb Ginn and Davinia Brazier both bagged hat-tricks whilst Kath Little only missed out to Dan Wise. OCs F led by David Bishop’s hat-trick were 6-4 winners against Hatfield Peverel E. Bishop had to work hard to secure his third win, before he pinched the victory by beating Gary Simmons 11-4, 9-11,11-4, 10-12, 11-8 in the last game of the evening. Chelmsford J’s Peter Davenport, Jacqui Smith and Paul Bullock all won twice as they beat Danbury M 6-4. Paul Thirkettle picked up two wins for Danbury M. Maldon C ran out 7-3 winners over Buttsbury after Andrea Alleyne had led the way with an undefeated performance.
Jan Fuller, the 2018-19 runner-up in the Ladies Singles at the Chelmsford Closed Championships (and who has recently moved to Norwich) was a triple medallist in the 2021 ITTF Parkinson’s World Table Tennis Championships played in Berlin in September. Gold was achieved in the Ladies Singles with wins over Silke Kind (Germany) 11-7, 12-14,11-9, 11-9 in the Semi-Final and against Margie Alley (USA) 16-14, 11-8, 11-7 in the Final. Jan also won a Silver medal with team-mate George Chan in the Mixed Doubles and a Bronze medal in the Ladies Doubles with Chile’s Digna Lopez-Abarca.
Steve Kerns / Press Officer / Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League