Weekly Press Report - Week 16

Headline: 'Table Tennis League leaders all extend leads'      

The latest round of fixtures of the Fun88 sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis League took place last week with a resumption of play after the half term break. The positions are becoming clear in each Division now. It was business as usual for Travellers A who extended their lead in Division 1 and are now 20 points ahead of their closest rivals Ramsey A. In Division 2, Tower B are now 11 points clear of Peel A, and in Division 3, Copy Shop E are 12 points clear of Ramsey F with a game in hand. The top 2 teams in Divisions 2 and 3 will be promoted, and the bottom two teams in Divisions 1 and 2 will be relegated. 

 

Division 1

 

Copy Shop A (2) Travellers A (7)

Brian Crellin scored both points for Copy Shop, defeating Malc Lewis and Malcolm Cummings, but was unable to make an impression against Scott Lewis who won the match in 4 games. Ege Niyazi gained valuable experience playing up from the third division. He played well in each of his matches and took a game off Malc Lewis before Malc went up a gear. Sasha Thomas was Copy Shop's third player and he also looked to have played well against Cummings and Lewis in particular, taking a game off each. Travellers were dominant then, apart from Crellin's determined play. 

 

Arbory (5) Ramsey (4)

Jason Quirk did well to take all 3 points for Arbory against tough Ramsey opposition. He breezed past an off-colour Chris Holland in 3 games, then was highly effective against Duncan Alexander in what was a rare defeat for the Ramsey player. Quirk's third match was against Adam Teare who made a rare but welcome appearance for Ramsey. Quirk was trounced 11-4 in the first game, then reversed that score in the second. The final 3 games were close with Quirk prevailing 11-8 in the 5th. Teare also had an epic 5 set battle with Mike Tamarov which was settled in spectacular style 15-13 in his favour in the final end. A valuable yet narrow win for Arbory takes them within 5 points of Ramsey in the table. The battle for second place may well go the wire.

 

Ramsey B (5) Tower A (4)

Ramsey B fielded Tim Baker alongside William Dalugdugan and Glenn Callow for this fixture. Both teams are clear of the relegation zone but there was no shortage of effort in this tie. Simon Radcliffe stepped up for Tower from the B team, and showed exactly why Tower B have been so successful this season in Division 2, by being Tower's most successful player on the night. He edged past Callow in 3 tight games 14-12, 12-10, 11-6. He then had an even stiffer challenge against Dalugdugan, who pushed him to a 5th set decider in what looked to be an extremely tight match. Radcliffe also pushed Tim Baker hard but was defeated 9-11, 14-16, 9-11 in the end. Baker was in his usual excellent form and swept past Ken Mitchell in 3 games, whilst MIke Bayley put up a tremendous fight against him before finally going down 11-6 in the 5th. Bayley took his point in the 4th end against Dalugdugan. 

 

Strathallan (9) Desmonds Douglas (0)

Julian Briercliffe, Andy Patterson and Wayne Taylor were in no mood to give up any points against bottom of the table Desmonds. Jim Travers and Russell Kent turned out for Desmond's, but forfeited 3 points as they were without a third player. All matches were settled in 3 games, and whilst there were pockets of resistance from Messrs Travers and Kent in certain games, it was not enough to get close enough to threaten the experienced Strathallan trio.

 

Ramsey C (0) Travellers B (9)

John Shooter, William Shooter and Malc Lewis were in dominant form for Travellers against Ramsey's William Dalugdugan, Ryan Holland and Adrian Slater. 10 year old Ryan continues to flourish under the expert guidance and coaching of Dad Chris, and indeed as part of the excellent Junior Development programme. He played up from the third division in this tie and his opening match against Malc Lewis was particularly notable. Ryan played amazingly well to be 2 games up before Lewis adjusted his tactics and managed to edge the match 17-15 in the final game. A tremendous performance then from the youngster, and Lewis must have breathed a huge sigh of relief at the end of this match! Lewis also had a 5 set battle with Adtrian Slater but again managed to pull through in the 5th end. William Shooter had an excellent win against Dalugdugan 9-11, 12-10, 14-12, 11-6. 

 

Division 2 

 

Travellers C (5) Peel A (5) 

Paul Mathieson-Nelson again led the way for Travellers with 3 points, albeit Peel were sadly without a third player for this tie. He disposed of Stu Mason and Ken Hegarty in 4 games apiece to continue his astonishing record this season of 35 wins out of 35. Elsewhere in the tie, Hegarty and Mason both beat David Buck and Adrian Tinkler in 3 games. The doubles went to Hegarty and Mason against Paul and David - 11-9 in the 5th end. 

 

Peel B (3) Tower B (7)

Stuart Perry had a highly unusual but nonetheless impressive scoreline against Graham McFarlane with each game going to Perry 13-11. He had no joy against Simon Radcliffe however, going down in 3 games. Perry also had an extremely close match against Dario Mazzotta with the Tower player just prevailing in the 5th end 13-11. Nathan Evans earned a tremendous victory over McFarlane, edging it in the 4th end 11-9. Maggie Mulhern was unable to take any points but she did have a lengthy tussle with Mazzotta, who having lost the first 2 games, managed to change tactics and edged his way back into the match, taking it 11-6 in the 5th end. 3 points apiece for Mazzotta and Radcliffe was hugely impressive again against quality opposition.

 

Copy Shop C (8) Travellers D (2) 

Playing up in this tie for Copy Shop were Mike Levine, who is unbeaten in Division 3, and his son Dan. As well as bagging a hat-trick, Mike partnered Kevin Drewry to win the doubles in what was a tremendous victory over Travellers D. Both Drewry and Dan won two singles each by defeating Maurice Campbell and Jackie Gill, but succumbed to their Junior Development Player Ege Niyazi. Ege's only defeat was against the impenetrable Mike Levine who prevailed in the 4th end 13-11. 

 

Copy Shop B (5) Desmonds Douglas B (5)

Malcolm Lambert had 3 excellent wins in this tie to continue his winning run of late. He managed to take out Neil Ronan and Peter Russell in 3 games, with only Richard Hill managing to take a game off him before slipping to defeat in 4 games. John Paul Banaag and Sonja Shaw added a point each, both defeating Richard Hill. The doubles was the closest match in this tie and the point was secured in the 5th end by Ronan and Russell 11-8, after coming back from 2-0 down. 

 

Ramsey D (4) Tower C (6)

Tower C were without a third player in this tie, so did extremely well to salvage a win with sterling performances from both Steve Curtis and Barry Jenkins. They went on to win 6-4 against a decent Ramsey D side thanks to their doubles victory, a hat-trick from Curtis and 2 wins for Jenkins who lost in 4 sets to Nathan Walker.

 

Division 3

 

Ramsey E (10) Peel D (0) 

Francesca Lord. Mum Lisa, and Wilma Dalugdugan shone for Ramsey E in this tie. They showed no mercy to James Devereau and Liam Bibby who were the only players fielded by Peel D. Lisa had an epic tussle with James, but managed to prevail 12-10 in the fifth. Wilma and Francesca were relatively untroubled in their victories, and continue to show excellent and improved form. 

 

Copy Shop D (2) Peel C (7)

Dave Stevenson made a rare appearance for Peel C in this tie and his 3 points were decisive in securing the win. Bob Borland also bagged 3 points, albeit Copy Shop were only able to field Jake Saulnier and Pat Halliwell. The doubles went to Dave and Bob. 

 

Ramsey G (0) Ramsey F (10)

The young Ramsey players Ryan Holland, Tom Tsitsos and Matthew Bell were on fire in this tie and made short work of the unfortunate Geoff Burchill, Henry de Silva, and Megan Lord, and took the doubles. Tom's match with de Silva went to 5 with Henry putting up a tremendous fight against the youngster, only losing out 11-7 in the 5th end. The Ramsey F boys continue their march to promotion and bigger things next season. 

 

Picture 1 below narrative (credit to Malcolm Lambert): 'Steve Curtis and Barry Jenkins of Tower C had a winning week'. 

Author: via Isle Of Man Table Tennis Association
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