Table tennis round-up: New season kicks off for 102nd year

The Reading and District Table Tennis League kicked off again last week for its 102nd year. 40 teams will contest over 4 divisions.

In division 1 defending champions Kingfisher A got off to a flying start pushing aside Sonning Common & Peppard A 10-0 where Martin Adams, Hari Gehlot and Dmitry Khakhamov did not give up a single end. The commoners recovered to take a 6-4 Victory over newly promoted OLOP B with Ed Lush the only unbeaten player on the night.

Sonning Sports A are likely to challenge this season and their campaign started with a 7-3 Victory over OLOP A – as expected Rob Hansell was unstoppable but his colleague Dave Croucher succumbed to Mike Childs 0-3, who in turn lost out to Nick Sears. OLOP A followed up with a 10-0 victory over Kingfisher C with Harry Yeates and Nigel Keedy joining in the fun, although Gordon Cho expertly put aside OLOP B the previous week to earn Kingfisher C a 6-4 opening victory.

Two of last season’s relegation contenders fought out a tight encounter at Tidmarsh A who hosted Tilehurst RBL A. It just favoured the hosts 6-4 with Antony Baker, Duncan Groves and Rob McMillan winning two each on an evening where no player remained unbeaten.

Potential favourites Kingfisher B and newcly promoted Tidmarsh B will get their campaigns underway soon.

In division 2 likely promotion contenders Kingfisher D started the season with an 8-2 win over Tilehurst Royal British Legion B with Eyup Odemis getting a maximum in a match which was closer than the scoreline suggests. Our Lady of Peace C and promoted Sonning Common and Peppard C fought out a 5-5 draw with Jeremy Willis getting an impressive maximum for the Sonning Common team. Springfield A beat Kingfisher F 8-2 with Mat Hickman winning three for Springfield, his maximum included recovering from two games down to beat Huseyin Cihan Celik in five close sets.

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Then Kingfisher D backed up their opening by sealing a 9-1 win at Sonning Common and Peppard D with maximums from Akeel Mir and Eyup Odemis. Another team who have started the season strongly are Springfield A and they had their second win overcoming Tilehurst Royal British Legion B 7-3 with a fine maximum from Captain Jason King and two good wins from new signing Stephen Leggett. Promoted Our Lady of Peace D went down 7-3 to Kingfisher E with new signing Martyn Cantale getting a good maximum for the Kingfisher side. Likely promotion contenders Sonning Common and Peppard B had a 7-3 win at promoted Sonning Sports B. Simon Berry got his customary maximum for the Sonning Common team but he was taken to five close sets by Paul Savage.

The Division 3 season opened with a set of competitive matches. Tidmarsh C recorded a strong 9-1 win away to Sonning Common and Peppard D, with Ian Wu, Simon Craig, and Stuart Craig contributing to the result. Oliver Bonser picked up the single point for the home side. At Kingfisher, Pangbourne WMC edged out Kingfisher G 6-4, with Clive Taylor winning three, while Steven Woolnough and Houron Tsun provided resistance for the hosts. Elsewhere, Sonning Sports C and Kingfisher H finished level at 5-5. Huseyin Cihan Celik secured three wins for Kingfisher, while Grant Baartman and teammates kept the match balanced for Sonning Sports. The week concluded with Springfield B and Tidmarsh D also drawing 5-5, Ray Webb achieving a treble for Tidmarsh. The opening round of fixtures showed a mix of clear wins and evenly matched contests.

Finally our first look at division 4 – First up Springfield C hosted a two-player Kingfisher I who came away with a 4 – 6 win thanks to a maximum from Mick Mitcham and 2 wins for Moto Mitcham. OLOP I vs Sonning Common and Peppard E resulted in two maximums for Pat Daniels and Fitz Licorish as the hosts came away 8-2 victors. Sonning Sports hosted the next pair of matches with their D team losing out 4-6 to OLOP G team, whose Anudeep Shivaram was in fine form. Their E team shared the spoils with OLOP H 5-5 with the only unbeaten player being OLOP’s Siddant Dongare.

Then OLOP F opened their account with a great 10 – 0 win over Sonning Common & Peppard E – Their strong trio was Abhishek Saraf, Gopi Ponnapalli and Anish Shukul. Kingfisher I failed to follow up on their opening night victory, going down 2-8 to Sonning Sports E where JC Leung remained unbeaten. Siddan Dongare secured consecutive maximums, joined by Michael King, as his OLOP H side won 8-2 over Sonning Sports D. An All OLOP clash ended 6-4 to their I team against G, largely thanks to a second maximum from Pat Daniels. Tilehurst RBL C started their campaign to a friendly 5-5 draw against Springfield C, whose Richard Sabberton-Coe remained unbeaten on the night.