OCA A represented by their best team of Matt Mulley, Mark Mulley and Paul Lucas returned to winning ways in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League by beating Danbury B 8-2. Matt Mulley was undefeated for OCA A whilst Sam Lowman impressed for Danbury. He beat Mark Mulley 11-3, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8.
Six scorecards for division two this week which reflects the fact that this division has 12 teams. Where’s a the best place to start ?………. Second placed Danbury D were held to a draw by Hatfield Peverel A. There was a first defeat for Danbury’s Sanjay Saptarshi who missed out 2-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 12-14 to Martin Archie who bagged a fine hat-trick of wins. Archie also defeated David Gatheral 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8. Leaders Galleywood A took advantage to pull further ahead by beating Chelmsford C 9-1. Ever-presents James Hicks and Gary Brignall were both unbeaten whilst Victor Chan was on target for the losers with a 11-7, 11-7, 16-14 win over Steve Kerns. It was honours even between Danbury E and Writtle C. No one player remained undefeated, and Dick Wyman excelled for Danbury E. He beat both John Webber (11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11, 11-6) and Gary Ward (12-10, 3-11, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10). Evergreen John Holland was on commanding form as he led Galleywood B to a 7-3 win over Maldon A – a team they have struggled against in the past. Not this time. Holland beat Brian Riedling (11-4, 11-5, 11-6), Dawn Baldry (11-8, 11-8, 13-11) and Hamish Innes (11-7, 11-6, 11-3). OCA C ran out 8-2 winners over a two-man OCA B side. Mick Richardson was undefeated for the C side whilst Berti Makoli picked up two wins for the B team. The fast-improving Nikita Tkachuk won his three singles as Chelmsford D edged out Writtle A 6-4. Tkachuk was poised at 2-2 against Paul Sturton but he made no mistake in the decider, powering to a 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 7-11, 11-1 success.
Danbury G stay top in division three after beating a two-man Danbury F 6-4, although they have played a game more than Danbury F and third placed Hatfield Peverel B. Alan Scammell defeated Steve Buer 7-11, 2-11, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10 in the closest game of the night. Hatfield Peverel B ran out 6-4 winners against Chelmsford F in a match where five games were decided in the fifth end and Chelmsford won four of them. Neil Freeman was unbeaten for Hatfield Peverel with wins over Andy Swales (9-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5), Luke Richardson (11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5) and Alex Tkachuk (11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9). Ryan Pitt, so impressive in division one last week wasn’t the first player to suffer the “curse” of the Press Officer. He was beaten by both Charlie Donald (aged 11) (6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 16-14. 9-11) and by Aiden Lees (aged 14) (11-9, 4-11, 1-11, 9-11) although Malcolm Henstock’s trio of wins ensured that Writtle D won 6-4 against Chelmsford E. Aiden Lees had to pull out all the stops to beat the wily Peter Layzell (11-6, 13-11, 8-11, 7-11, 13-11). Team work, in this case two wins for each of Malcolm Storey, Neil Thompson and Dave Moles enabled Writtle E to beat Danbury K 7-3. None of them were able to beat Denis Balic.
Division four is low scoring and Hatfield Peverel C jumped into second place (with 28 points) by beating OCA E 7-3 although with six games on the board they have played more games than all of their opponents. Connor Payne, in his first game of the Season was undefeated with wins over David Newman (7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-5), Russell Hall (11-4, 11-5, 13-11) and Farooq Ahmed (7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6). Having used nine players to date Hatfield Peverel C are on target to set a record for the largest number of players to turn out for a team in a Season. Full marks to their Team Captain – Andy Simmonds for making efforts to turn out a full team each week. Danbury L also won 7-3, and Dave Powell led them to victory over Galleywood C. Powell beat Will Goodchild, the most successful of the Galleywood players (11-9, 11-1, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5).
Division five leaders Highwood C (Nicola Pippen, Melanie Bonnett and Keith Fitz John) scored an impressive 10-0 win over Maldon C. Nicola Pippen won all three of her games in a deciding set. She beat Ross Wheeler (6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6), Kym Eames (11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9) and Ella Sach (8-11 11-9, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6). Danbury N are second and they beat Writtle F 7-3. Dave Smith won his three singles and he was well supported by Steve Martin and Graham Naggs who both won twice.
Danbury Dragons (Alex Wilson and Oliver Martin) beat Buttsbury Bulldogs 5-0 in Junior division 1A, their first win of the season.
Chelmsford Cougars (Atharv Srivastava and Pankil Sharma) beat Danbury Griffins 5-0 in Junior division 1B. They lead the way with 15 points from four matches.
Highwood A were narrow 5-4 winners against their club mates Highwood B in the Handicap KO Cup. Roger Patient ((handicap of 51) won his three singles to keep the B team in contention. With the match tied at 4-4 Keith Pallett (36) scored his second win with an emphatic 21-7, 21-10 victory over Martin Goddard (47). Buttsbury C – Francesca Hart (22). Freya Hart (20) and Calum Walker (34) were 7-2 winners against Butttsbury D. Callum Walker gave his team a winning start by beating Will Fullerton (21) 15-21, 21-18, 21-14. Chelmsford F are also safely through to the next round. Alex Tkachuk (51), Cleon Fernandes (40) and Dion Fernandes (37) defeated Buttsbury A 5-2. Cleon Fernandes sealed the victory by getting the better of Oscar Hutt (38) 21-13, 21-19.
Steve Kerns Press Officer Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League