Suggested Headline: Table Tennis League Action Resumes

One of the elder statesmen and stalwarts of Manx table tennis sadly passed away last week. Graham McFarlane will be sorely missed, first and foremost by his family and friends, but also by all who knew him through table tennis. Graham was an extremely talented player who only recently played for the Island in the Home Countries Veterans Tournament, and maintained a high playing standard well into his later years. He was also a good friend to all of us in table tennis, and to his Tower team mates in particular. He always took time to speak to people, and his smile and wit will be missed by all who knew him.   

League Action resumed after a 2 week break due to the Divisionals tournaments. Ramsey extended their lead at the top of Division 1, as did Travellers C in Division 2, and Travellers D in Division 3.

Division 1

Travellers A (1) Ramsey (8) 

Travellers A were missing Scott Lewis and Liam Chan and suffered a major blow to their title ambitions with this crushing result. Only David Lovelady, playing up for the A team, could muster a point for the home side when he beat Adam Teare over 5 games. Lovelady had an epic encounter with Duncan Alexander but this time lost in 5. Keeran Chan also played up for the home side and whilst he played well he could not make an impression against the in-form Ramsey trio. Chris Holland, Alexander, and Teare were dominant, and this superb result extends their lead at the top of Division 1.

Ramsey B (4) Travellers B (5) 

Becky Taylor had good wins against Malc Lewis, in 4 games, and Will Shooter in 5. She made a good start against John Shooter winning the first game 11-8, but could not keep the momentum going with Shooter senior winning the next 3 games, and the match. Shooter then had more straightforward encounters with Chris Holmes and Will Dalugdugan, winning both in 3 ends. Dalugdugan edged out young Shooter in 4 ends, but came a cropper against the experienced Lewis, fading away 6-11 in the 5th end. Lewis also went to 5 against Chris Holmes but this time was outplayed in the final end, losing the match. 

Tower A (4) Strathallan (5) 

Tower A fielded Paul Callow for his second outing of the season, and he did extremely well to see off Wayne Taylor in 5 ends after losing the first 13-15. He then had an epic tussle with young Ege Niyazi just being pipped 10-12 in the 5th. Ege did really well to adapt to Callow's defensive style. Mike Bayley had a good week, beating Ege in 3 ends, then just squeezing through against Taylor 11-9 in a tense final end. Ken Mitchell added a point for the home side by beating Ege in 4 ends. Julian Briercliffe secured the match win for the away side though with 3 solid wins. 

Tower B (2) Arbory (7) 

A minute's silence for Graham was held prior to this match. I am quite certain he would have wanted the match to continue and he would have had a smile and a wink for team mates Steve Curtis and Simon Radcliffe who manfully played on, and took 2 points from this tie. 

Peel A (0) Copy Shop A (9) 

Peel trio of Stuart Perry, Ronan Thompson and Ken Hegarty could make no impression against Copy Shop's young guns Sean Drewry, Ryan Holland, and Sasha Thomas. Perry did manage to take a game off Ryan and Thomas, but that was all. A really valuable 9 points then for Copy Shop, which pulls them up to 5th place, just above Strathallan. 

Division 2

Ramsey C (5) Desmonds Douglas B (5) 

Tim Baker was in dominant form yet again in this tie, taking his 3 matches against Neil Ronan, George Tsioutsioulis and Richard Hill in straight games. Adrian Slater added a point against Hill, but could not compete with Ronan and Tsioutsioulis, losing in the 3rd and 4th ends. Finally, Keith Herrington, playing up for the first time, played well but lost out to Hill in 3 ends, and to George and Neil in 3 ends. Tim and Adrian had no problems in the doubles, and took the match 11-4, 11-9, 11-6.

Desmonds Douglas A (7) Copy Shop C (3) 

Brandon Montgomery was in good form when he saw off Dan Levine in  3 ends, and Dave Bufton in 4. He could not cope however with the attacking style of David Stevenson and lost that one in the 4th end. Russell Kent had a similar experience, also falling to Stevenson, but this time in the 5th end. Tommy Cowin had 2 good wins, impressively taking out Stevenson 11-9 in the 5th, and against Levine in the 3rd. He then lost out to Bufton who played extremely well to take the match in the 4th end 13-11. The doubles went to Montgomery and Kent 11-1, 11-3, 10-12, 11-9 against Levine and Stevenson. 

Peel B (5) Copy Shop B (4)

Both teams were only able to field 2 players in this tie so both had 2 forfeited points. Jon Taylor Burt again played well for Peel, beating Sonja Shaw 11-9 in the 4th, but then fell to JP Banaag who was in superb form to take the match 12-10, 11-8, 11-6. Maggie Mulhern turned things upside down for JP however, and taking a superb win in 5 ends 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7. Maggie and Jon added a point, and the win, by taking the doubles in 3 ends.

Travellers C (10) Ramsey D (0) 

David Lovelady was again in tremendous form, demolishing his 3 opponents in straight games. Keeran Chan added further points by beating Lisa Lord, who was playing up in this tie, and Francesca Lord, both in 3 ends, with some close games being seen. He added a third point against Wilma Dalugdugan, but was pushed hard by the talented Ramsey player, with her challenge only petering out in the 5th end.  Finally Paul Matthieson-Nelson was his efficient self, taking 3 points all in straight games. David and Keeran then teamed up to take the doubles in 3 ends against Wilma and Francesca. 

Division 3

Ramsey E (1) Travellers D (9) 

Darren Shaw took a point by beating Jackie Gill in 3 ends. He had less joy against Grant Paterson, and after being 2-1 up 9-11, 11-9, 12-10, he then collapsed 1-11, 3-11 - hats off to Grant who must have switched tactics after the 3rd end! Darren then took a game off Adrian Tinkler but ended up losing in 4. Ian Barnes could not add any points in his 3 matches, nor could Caitlin Henery, playing up in this tie. She played well though and took a game off Jackie before falling in the 4th end. Doubles went to Grant and Adrian against youngsters Caitlin and Roland Bouchat. 

IOM Junior Development (4) Ramsey F (6) 

Young Luke Begley had a tremendous week, winning all his 3 matches. He was pushed hard by experienced players Pat Halliwell and Robin Burchill, but took both matches in the 3rd end. He then faced Geoff Burchill, and after a topsy turvy 4 games and tied at 2-2, he just squeezed through 12-10 in the final end. Liav Lannin also played well and took Burchill to a 5th end but could not match Luke's achievement, just fading away 5-11 in the final end. Max Doyle was the IOM Junior Development team's 3rd player, and whilst he played well, was unable to get past the experienced Ramsey trio. Luke and Liav then paired up for the doubles and had an impressive win in 5 ends over Pat and Robin, taking the match 11-8 in the 5th end. 

Junior Development North (0) Tower C (10) 

The Juniors had a tough assignment in this tie - Caleb Crowe, Thomas Taylor-Burt, and Ben Hulbert were up against the experienced trio of Mike Chapman, Barry Jenkins and Margaret Forsyth, and unfortunately were unable to take any points. Ben did well however to really push Margaret - only losing out over 4 games 12-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5