The new season of the Bolton and District Table Tennis League kicked off last week. The top contenders both had wins, with Ramsbottom Town A beating Flixton Cricket Club B 20-12 helped by a nine points maximum score from Michael Moir. Flixton Cricket Club A had a 21-15 win over Wharton with a nine from Adam Thompson. Radcliffe Cricket Club turned over newly promoted Hilton B 27-10 with all players obviously on maximum points. Little Lever Cricket Club A got off to a good start with a 25-10 win over Ladybridge A with Graham Jeffries and Ron Durose both scoring nine. A closer score had Hilton A win 22-18 against newly promoted Ramsbottom Town C despite a resisting nine from Sandy Choong. Ramsbottom Town B beat an effectively two-man team 19-11 due to a player ineligibility.

   In Division One, brand new team in the league, Wigan TTC, stormed off with a 23-8 win over Farnworth Social Circle A with nines from Paul Clark and Daniel Watkinson. Newly promoted Polonia Club B also kicked off with a successful 20-13 win over Heaton Cricket Club A assisted by a nine from Lukasz Serdiuk. Coburg who just missed out on promotion last season went down 19-11 to Ramsbottom Town D. Relegated Burning Desire made their intentions plain kicking off with a maximum 27-3 result over Hilton D. Little Lever Cricket Club B had a good win 23-14 over Hilton C assisted by a nine from Roy Costello and Wingates beat Meadow Ben A 19-13 thanks to a nine from John Bradbury.

   Division Two’s newly promoted Hilton F started with a 21-16 win over Farnworth Social Circle B assisted by a nine from last year’s junior team’s star Nathan Donaldson. A new team Polonia Club B beat Ladybridge B 23-13 with a nine from Vojtech Sanc. St. Paul’s Peel who finished third last season beat Heaton Cricket Club B 22-11 with an expected nine from Lee Devenport. Last year’s mid-table teams Meadow Ben B lost to Bolton TTC 21-14 thanks to a nine from Nayem Alam. Hilton Top Spinners overcame newly relegated Hilton E despite a resisting nine from Matthew Kennedy.

   Newly relegated to Division Three, Farnworth Social Circle C opened their account with a storming 27-1 win over Albany as did relegated Meadow Ben C with a 27-1 win over Meadow Hill B. Polonia Club C had a good 24-11 win over Hilton G assisted by a nine from last year’s most improved player of the season Karolina Mucha. Meadow Hill A had a maximum 27-9 win over Meadow Ben D. Closer matches saw a two-man Farnworth Social Circle D with a 17-15 win against Hilton H helped by a nine from Peter Walker and Irlam Steel beat Ladybridge C 19-13 assisted by a nine from David Yates.