{"id":3237,"date":"2024-11-09T14:02:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-09T13:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=3237"},"modified":"2024-11-09T14:17:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T13:17:16","slug":"kamma-the-comeback-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/2024\/11\/09\/kamma-the-comeback-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamma the comeback King"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With all games going to form this week in the Burnham & District Table Tennis League, the drama came in the individual battles.  Fambridge remain sitting pretty at the tip of the league pyramid following a comfortable 8-2 dismission of Cold Norton C.  Mark Stones was the dominant player for Fambridge with an unbeaten evening across singles and doubles.  He was taken all the way to a deciding leg by the youthful Sam Lowman but came through 11-6.  But that was only the beginning for the Cold Norton talisman as he next took on and defeated Fambridge Supremo John Poysden and then came from behind to deny Gary Young his hat-trick with a 5 set marathon victory dance.  Young and Poysden won their other matches against Dick Wyman and Tim Cramphorn to complete the scoring.  Cold Norton B remain in the running and this weeks 7-3 margin of victory over a very strong Mapledene B side will help their cause.   A strange set of scores for this one with each of the Mapledene stars winning a singles point but strangely all against different players \u2013 so at least everyone went home with a win under their belt.  The Cold Norton trio of Eric Green, he\u2019s here he\u2019s there he\u2019s everywhere Sam Lowman, and Captain Dan Anderson all won 2 singles and Green and Lowman combined for the bonus doubles point.  Mapledene\u2019s Colin Chatfield beat Lowman in straight sets for some healthy ranking points, David Jacob squeezed past Anderson in 5 sets, and Keith Willett held on miraculously for a very long and hard fifth set victory over Eric Green.  Willett almost made it two wins in another 5 setter with Anderson but lost out 12-10 in the decider having had match point at 10-9 \u2013 you bet he\u2019d like to play those 3 points again!  In the final top division encounter of the week the winners podium wasn\u2019t really the focus of discussions as the two bottom sides faced off in an all Woodham encounter.  Woodham C were going extremely well and took a 3-2 lead courtesy of the enigma that is Adi Kamma.  Kamma came back from 0-2 down against both Dan Patynski and Eamonn Hall to win both matches in 5 sets and each 5th<\/sup> leg was very comfortable at 11-2 \u2013 what excellent form.  Hall made up for that early loss to Kamma with an unexpected dominant tactical display against Graham Briggs to even the scores going into the break.  Whatever was said to the Woodham B side must have done the trick as they then rattled off the next 4 matches to complete the scoring for a welcome 7-3 victory.  The B team\u2019s Harry Sawford finally broke the Kamma duck despite a Kamma-comeback in the 3rd<\/sup> leg that had the bookies in a tizz. The Woodham B team have now finally registered their first league win of the season, but the wait goes on for the beleaguered C team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title race in Division 2 is hotting up as we have 3 contenders starting to pull away from the peloton.  Maldon A continue to dominate all their matches and this week overcame the defences of a well stacked Mapledene C trio.  Lloyd Bennett-Smith showing great form for his hat-trick, with wingmen Colin Napper and Hamish Innes chipping in with a brace of wins each.  For Mapledene Tony Ayliffe proved the most stoic of combatants with deciding set wins over Napper and Innes.  Woodham D leapfrog into second place following their 10-0 whitewash over Blackwater B early in the week, although the scoreline doesn\u2019t reflect the quality of the play from the Blackwater team on the night.  Woodham\u2019s Mal Henstock was the player of the match as his quirky style was enough to throw his opponents and force error after error.  Henstock was backed up by young Peter Harverson and his ferocious leftie loops, and the not so young Eamonn Hall with his more measured approach.  For Blackwater Simon Quelch almost stole the opening point of the night but finally fell to Hall in the dying points of the deciding set, and Gary Smith had a mighty battle with Harverson in a match he lost 3-0 but actually had game point in all 3 legs for a 11-13, 19-21, 10-12 loss \u2013 but great entertainment for the crowds watching on.  Stow Maries A have a few games to catch up but will be in the mix come the reckoning weeks.  This week they travelled the short distance to Cold Norton D \u2013 and in a smash and grab raid that didn\u2019t take long they stole away all 10 points.  Hat-tricks all round for the talents of Richard Storey, Gary Brignall, and Tim Pulham, with only Pulham\u2019s victory over Neil Want going the full distance.  Be warned they are up and running and on the march.  Neil Freeman was the star player in the drawn tie betwixt Stow Maries B and Blackwater A \u2013 a result that bumps Stow B off the bottom of the table.  Freeman won all his singles and added the doubles with Alan Scammell as his partner. He didn\u2019t have it all his own way though as Stow\u2019s Peter Hance took their match all the way to 5 sets before Freeman could complete the task.  Hance won his other 2 matches against Scammell and Roger Slade, a feat repeated by the hard-hitting Nicky Reece-Ford.  Dave Marsh completed the scoring with a straight sets win over Slade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some decisive action in Division 3 this week but perhaps less so for the early leaders Maldon C who were pegged back a bit by Woodham E\u2019s very own Superman \u2013 Mr Allan Steel.  Steel by name steely by nature as Woodham\u2019s top player was unscathed in his singles this round against Maldon C dropping just a solitary leg along the way.  Alas this was not enough to force the victory with key wins for Maldon\u2019s Marty Englander and Brian Riedling against the pocket rocket that is Chris Crooks leading to a Maldon 6-4 overall win and this keeps them in top spot for now.  St Lawrence are still trying to make up lost ground from a few poor results in the opening weeks of the season and this week they registered an 8-2 triumph over Blackwater F.  Dave Bateman went unbeaten and team-mates Mike Pratley and Mike Burton only lost to Andy Simmonds both in 4 sets.  Blackwater C overcame the majority of the Maldon E pressure this week with a team-worked 7-3 win, but none of the Blackwaterians could outdo the guile and skills of the dogged John Leavett.  Leavett had to work extremely hard to overcome his opponents with plenty of deuce legs along the way including a fifth set 12-10 victory over Chris Rolison.  So Rolison and his crew of Phil West and Jacqui Treacy each won 2 matches, with Rolison and West combining for the extra doubles point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 1 \u2013 Hat-trick man Mark Stones in action at Fambridge this week<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 2 \u2013 Gary Young with 2 wins for Fambridge to keep them at the top of the league .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 3 \u2013 Adi Kamma (Woodham C) plays catch-up against Dan Patynski (Woodham B)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 4 – Woodham B\u2019s player of the match Dan Patynski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 5 \u2013 Maldon A\u2019s unbeaten leader \u2013 Lloyd Bennett-Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pic 6 \u2013 Maldon E\u2019s hero of the week \u2013 John Leavett<\/p>\n\n\n\n