Weekly Press Report - Week 10
'Festive Cheer for Peel as they close gap on Travellers in Division 2’
The 10th round of fixtures of the Fun88 sponsored IOM Table Tennis Association league saw a resumption of singles play in Divisions 1 & 2 prior to the festive break. Highlights of the action is summarised below, with full match results and statistics to be found on our website at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM
Division 1
Strathallan (0) Ramsey A (9)
Ramsey A were in Scrooge-like mode in this tie, with no leeway given to a decent Strathy side. Becky Taylor was pushed to a 5th end by both Andy Patterson and Neil Quane but on both occasions showed her fighting qualities, pulling through 11-9 and 11-3 respectively. Her Ramsey teammate Adam Teare vanquished the attacking Quane in 3 ends despite a strong effort from the Strathallan attacker. He took 4 ends to see off Patterson and Julian Briercliffe. Ramsey’s third player Duncan Alexander was taken to a 4th end in each of his 3 matches, but also showed his quality at the right time, to take all 3 points. Ramsey now sit just 4 behind top of the table Travellers A.
Tower A (1) Travellers A (8)
Tower were up against it in this tie, but Mike Bayley provided some festive cheer for the embattled home side by impressively beating Malcolm Cummings in 5 ends, to take their only point. Cummings got back on track by defeating Ken Mitchell in 4 close ends, and Dave Parsons in 3. Dave Lovelady played up for the A team and was hugely impressive in out-foxing the Tower trio without dropping a game. Liam Chan was back in action for Travellers and blasted the hapless Tower players off the table to take another 3 points.
Arbory B (8) Tower B (1)
Arbory B had been hovering above the relegation zone prior to this tie, so needed a big performance here - and that’s what they got. Tower were unable to cope with John Magnall, Dan Levine and Malcolm Lambert, apart from Steve Curtis’ impressive 4 end victory over Lambert. Dan played extremely well with his closest win being over Simon Radcliffe, which he took in the 5th end.
Travellers B (6) Arbory A (3)
Traveller’s Will Shooter had a tremendous 4 end win over Mike Tamarov, who had only previously lost once this season. Will added a further point by defeating Sonja Shaw in 3, but could not repeat his heroics against the wily Jason Quirk, losing in the 4th end. John Shooter was impressive once again in his 3 wins, the closest of which perhaps was against Quirk. Malc Lewis played well in his 3 matches and came away with 1 win against Sonja.
Division 2
Arbory C (4) Travellers C (5)
The home side were down to 2 players, so were unfortunately 0-3 down before they started. Dave Bufton and Kevin Drewry therefore did extremely well to extract 4 points from top of the table Travellers C. Drewry played superbly against Keeran Chan, winning 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10. He added another point by defeating Luke Begley in 3. Dave also had a fantastic week, beating the usually impregnable Paul Mathieson-Nelson 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8. Paul was also pushed hard by Kevin but managed to edge it 11-9 in the 5th end. Chan also managed to salvage some pride, doing well to defeat Bufton in 4 ends.
JRTE A (5) Arbory D (4)
The home side got back on track with a full team this week and snatched a valuable 5 points. Indeed, it was Arbory’s turn to be down to 2 players, immediately forfeiting 3 points. Darren Smethurst picked off 2 wins in 3 ends against Malcolm Lambert and Mike Levine. JRTE’s Cameron Millar did really well to push Malcolm to a 5th end before the experienced Arbory player stepped up a gear to take the match 11-7 in the final end. Levine was ruthlessly efficient in taking his 2 points against Mitchinson and Millar in 3 ends apiece.
Ramsey C (2) Ramsey B (7)
Ramsey B continued their good run with another useful 7 points. Wael Kassim stampeded his way past Martyn Howard and Keith Herrington 3 ends, and edged past Darren Shaw in 4. Adrian Slater had an extremely close match against Martyn, nicking it after 4 ends 11-9, 13-11, 10-12, 11-9. Martyn then claimed a good win for the C team over Lisa Lord in 3 ends, as did Keith Herrington a tough 5 set tussle.
Desmonds Douglas (2) Peel A (7)
Desmonds had gained good momentum in recent weeks to place themselves in a solid third position in the table. However they were without one of their regular heavy hitters Brandon Montgomery, and were up against second placed Peel A. The away side therefore took advantage of this and claimed another hugely impressive 7 points to take them to within a single point of leaders Travellers C. Jon Taylor Burt was again rock solid for Peel, beating George Tsioutsioulis in 3, and Neil Ronan and Russ Kent in 4 - albeit he was pushed hard by Russ and Neil. Ken Hegarty had a great week too, with 3 superb wins for Peel - seemingly without being troubled. Peel’s Stu Perry appeared to be a little off-colour, losing out to Ronan and Kent in straight ends, but saved his best for last in defeating Tsioutsioulis in 3.
Division 3
Travellers G (0) Travellers D (5)
Maurice Campbell and Margaret Forsyth claimed maximum points once again by each defeating Tom Taylor Burt in 3 ends, and adding a further 2 due to Max Doyle having to forfeit.
Ramsey E (1) JRTE B (4)
Adam Clayton claimed a hard earned point for Ramsey E by defeating Gary Skillicorn in 4 ends. It went JRTE’s way other than that, with Steven Carridge defeating Adam in 3 ends, and Teddy in 4. Gary added a further point for JRTE but was pushed hard by Teddy, just edging it 13-11 in the 5th end. The doubles was taken by Gary & Steven in 4 ends.
Travellers F (2) Travellers E (3)
It was good to see such a closely contested match between 4 young improving Travellers players. Sydnie Weaver was superb once again with a hard fought win over Eban Moore 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 13-15, 11-7, before impressively defeating her brother Henry in the 4th. Rhys Bufton backed her up well but could not get past Eban or Henry, losing out in 4 in both matches. The doubles was a little topsy turvy, but Henry & Eban combined really well to take it 11-3 in the 5th end. Another really win this for Henry and Eban.
The next practice / drop-in session is Friday 10th January 7pm-9pm. Follow local table tennis via our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TableTennisIOM or at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM
Picture 1: 13 year old Luke Begley has stepped up to Division 2 this season playing for Travellers C (photo courtesy of Malcolm Lambert)
Picture 2: the evergreen Pat Halliwell playing Ramsey D in Division 3 demonstrates that table tennis is a sport for all ages (photo courtesy of Malcolm Lambert)
Ken Mitchell
The 10th round of fixtures of the Fun88 sponsored IOM Table Tennis Association league saw a resumption of singles play in Divisions 1 & 2 prior to the festive break. Highlights of the action is summarised below, with full match results and statistics to be found on our website at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM
Division 1
Strathallan (0) Ramsey A (9)
Ramsey A were in Scrooge-like mode in this tie, with no leeway given to a decent Strathy side. Becky Taylor was pushed to a 5th end by both Andy Patterson and Neil Quane but on both occasions showed her fighting qualities, pulling through 11-9 and 11-3 respectively. Her Ramsey teammate Adam Teare vanquished the attacking Quane in 3 ends despite a strong effort from the Strathallan attacker. He took 4 ends to see off Patterson and Julian Briercliffe. Ramsey’s third player Duncan Alexander was taken to a 4th end in each of his 3 matches, but also showed his quality at the right time, to take all 3 points. Ramsey now sit just 4 behind top of the table Travellers A.
Tower A (1) Travellers A (8)
Tower were up against it in this tie, but Mike Bayley provided some festive cheer for the embattled home side by impressively beating Malcolm Cummings in 5 ends, to take their only point. Cummings got back on track by defeating Ken Mitchell in 4 close ends, and Dave Parsons in 3. Dave Lovelady played up for the A team and was hugely impressive in out-foxing the Tower trio without dropping a game. Liam Chan was back in action for Travellers and blasted the hapless Tower players off the table to take another 3 points.
Arbory B (8) Tower B (1)
Arbory B had been hovering above the relegation zone prior to this tie, so needed a big performance here - and that’s what they got. Tower were unable to cope with John Magnall, Dan Levine and Malcolm Lambert, apart from Steve Curtis’ impressive 4 end victory over Lambert. Dan played extremely well with his closest win being over Simon Radcliffe, which he took in the 5th end.
Travellers B (6) Arbory A (3)
Traveller’s Will Shooter had a tremendous 4 end win over Mike Tamarov, who had only previously lost once this season. Will added a further point by defeating Sonja Shaw in 3, but could not repeat his heroics against the wily Jason Quirk, losing in the 4th end. John Shooter was impressive once again in his 3 wins, the closest of which perhaps was against Quirk. Malc Lewis played well in his 3 matches and came away with 1 win against Sonja.
Division 2
Arbory C (4) Travellers C (5)
The home side were down to 2 players, so were unfortunately 0-3 down before they started. Dave Bufton and Kevin Drewry therefore did extremely well to extract 4 points from top of the table Travellers C. Drewry played superbly against Keeran Chan, winning 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10. He added another point by defeating Luke Begley in 3. Dave also had a fantastic week, beating the usually impregnable Paul Mathieson-Nelson 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8. Paul was also pushed hard by Kevin but managed to edge it 11-9 in the 5th end. Chan also managed to salvage some pride, doing well to defeat Bufton in 4 ends.
JRTE A (5) Arbory D (4)
The home side got back on track with a full team this week and snatched a valuable 5 points. Indeed, it was Arbory’s turn to be down to 2 players, immediately forfeiting 3 points. Darren Smethurst picked off 2 wins in 3 ends against Malcolm Lambert and Mike Levine. JRTE’s Cameron Millar did really well to push Malcolm to a 5th end before the experienced Arbory player stepped up a gear to take the match 11-7 in the final end. Levine was ruthlessly efficient in taking his 2 points against Mitchinson and Millar in 3 ends apiece.
Ramsey C (2) Ramsey B (7)
Ramsey B continued their good run with another useful 7 points. Wael Kassim stampeded his way past Martyn Howard and Keith Herrington 3 ends, and edged past Darren Shaw in 4. Adrian Slater had an extremely close match against Martyn, nicking it after 4 ends 11-9, 13-11, 10-12, 11-9. Martyn then claimed a good win for the C team over Lisa Lord in 3 ends, as did Keith Herrington a tough 5 set tussle.
Desmonds Douglas (2) Peel A (7)
Desmonds had gained good momentum in recent weeks to place themselves in a solid third position in the table. However they were without one of their regular heavy hitters Brandon Montgomery, and were up against second placed Peel A. The away side therefore took advantage of this and claimed another hugely impressive 7 points to take them to within a single point of leaders Travellers C. Jon Taylor Burt was again rock solid for Peel, beating George Tsioutsioulis in 3, and Neil Ronan and Russ Kent in 4 - albeit he was pushed hard by Russ and Neil. Ken Hegarty had a great week too, with 3 superb wins for Peel - seemingly without being troubled. Peel’s Stu Perry appeared to be a little off-colour, losing out to Ronan and Kent in straight ends, but saved his best for last in defeating Tsioutsioulis in 3.
Division 3
Travellers G (0) Travellers D (5)
Maurice Campbell and Margaret Forsyth claimed maximum points once again by each defeating Tom Taylor Burt in 3 ends, and adding a further 2 due to Max Doyle having to forfeit.
Ramsey E (1) JRTE B (4)
Adam Clayton claimed a hard earned point for Ramsey E by defeating Gary Skillicorn in 4 ends. It went JRTE’s way other than that, with Steven Carridge defeating Adam in 3 ends, and Teddy in 4. Gary added a further point for JRTE but was pushed hard by Teddy, just edging it 13-11 in the 5th end. The doubles was taken by Gary & Steven in 4 ends.
Travellers F (2) Travellers E (3)
It was good to see such a closely contested match between 4 young improving Travellers players. Sydnie Weaver was superb once again with a hard fought win over Eban Moore 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 13-15, 11-7, before impressively defeating her brother Henry in the 4th. Rhys Bufton backed her up well but could not get past Eban or Henry, losing out in 4 in both matches. The doubles was a little topsy turvy, but Henry & Eban combined really well to take it 11-3 in the 5th end. Another really win this for Henry and Eban.
The next practice / drop-in session is Friday 10th January 7pm-9pm. Follow local table tennis via our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TableTennisIOM or at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM
Picture 1: 13 year old Luke Begley has stepped up to Division 2 this season playing for Travellers C (photo courtesy of Malcolm Lambert)
Picture 2: the evergreen Pat Halliwell playing Ramsey D in Division 3 demonstrates that table tennis is a sport for all ages (photo courtesy of Malcolm Lambert)
Ken Mitchell
Author: Tim Baker via Isle Of Man Table Tennis Association
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