Chelmsford A have taken the lead in division one of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League.

However, Chelmsford A had little to celebrate as they were well beaten 8-2 by Liberal A and second placed Maldon A who have a match in hand remain the heavy favourites to retain their title.

Four times M&G Investments Chelmsford Men’s Singles champion, the evergreen David Cole, was undefeated for Liberal and he beat Eddie Ogbebor – Chelmsford A’s best player – 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7).

Ogbebor made his mark for the Chelmsford A team. He beat the very impressive Gracie Edwards (and you can definitely expect her to be a major contender for the Ladies’ Singles title in this year’s M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed Championships) 3-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8) as well as Keiran Lally by a last-gasp 3-2 (11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9) scoreline.

The leaders Writtle Excalibur A are unbeaten after 10 matches in division two. They didn’t however have it all their own way against third-placed Danbury C where they were held to a draw. Ace defender Ian Whiteside beat all three Writtle players 3-1. He downed the challenge of Lee McHugh (11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9) and then Richard Storey 11-6, 13-11, 10-12, 13-11 and he completed a magnificent hat-trick of wins by beating Matthew Brown 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11- 6.

Chelmsford B stay second. They ran out 8-2 winners against Liberal C. Robert Shrimpton was undefeated for Chelmsford whilst Liberal’s Robin Armstrong impressed for the losers. He beat Victor Chan 3-1 (11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4).

Chelmsford D were the week’s big winners in division three. Jarek Pietraszuk and Wiktor Delimat were both undefeated in their 9-1 win over Danbury F. Jarek rounded off what was a very productive evening for the Chelmsford team with a 3-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8) victory over John Robinson.

Writtle Excalibur B are on a rich vein of form and they beat Chelmsford C 7-3. Louis Brown led the way with a hat-trick. Chelmsford’s Richard Baxter was involved in two close fifth- setters. He missed out to Phil Smith 8-11, 13-11, 4-11, 11-7,11 11-13 but he defeated Connor Payne 14-12, 7-11, 1-11, 11-9, 11-8.

Maldon C ran out 7-3 winners against Chelmsford D. Team-work was the order of the day here with Roger Hance, Ev Lucas and Brian Riedling all winning twice.

Division four leaders Danbury G had a night they will want to forget against third-placed Writtle Excalibur C. After a run of eight successive wins Danbury never looked like winning this match and it was Steve Sigs (two wins), Dave Moles (two wins) and Neil Thompson (three wins) who dominated. Thompson fought back from 2-0 down to beat League President Norman Smith 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7).

Maldon D relied on a solid team performance to beat Danbury J 7-3. Mervyn Perriman, Bryan Speller and Tom Elder all won twice. Speller fought back from 2-0 down get the better of Eamon Hall 3-2 (6-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9).

The match between Writtle Excalibur D and OCs E finished tied at 5-5. Nat Ravlic won his three singles for the Old Chelmsfordians side.

Chelmsford F stay top in division five. Jon Dyson led them to a 7-3 win over Hatfield Peverel D. Dyson was also unbeaten as Chelmsford F defeated Galleywood B 8-2. The match between Amanda Hogger and Mark Glenister looks to have been the pick of the evening’s action. Glenister edged home 3-2 after a really hard fought encounter (13-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10, 11-9).

Highwood A are their closest challengers but they fell back. They were hard pushed to beat Highwood B 6-4 and they were held to a draw by Chelmsford H. Newcomer Dusan Doszkoty made a big difference here. The Chelmsford star won his three singles. He had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Francis Whitbread 3-2 (11-5, 10-12, 12-14, 12-10, 11-8).

Dusan Doszkoty was also unbeaten in Chelmsford H’s 6-4 defeat to Chelmsford G. Michael Whelpdale sealed the victory for Chelmsford G in the last game of the evening. He beat Ben Jackson 3-2 (11-9, 15-17, 11-12, 11-5, 11-7).

Keith Fitz-John was on top form and he led Highwood B to a 8-2 win over Anglia Ruskin University. Taku Nerutanga came through over five hotly contested ends against Keith Pallett (14-12, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9).

The CLICK divisions have been reformatted. Galleywood Eagles are off to a good start. They beat Galleywood Hawks 4-1. Aidan Noguchi and Rio Tiplizki won all four singles although Noguchi had a “scare” against Charlie Craig. He had to save a match point in the fourth end before he ran out a 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5) winner.

Black Notley Barracudas also won 4-1. Nicholas Grice led them to victory against Chelmsford Wildcats. Emilie Guilloux picked up the soles Chelmsford success. She beat Patrick Sweeney 3-2 (11-5, 13-11, 8-11, 4-11, 11-8).

West Maldon shaded it against Danbury Dragons 3-2. William Moore won twice. He beat Connor Hall 3-1 (12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9) and Ewan Hynd 3-1 (11-13, 11-5, 12-10, 11-7).

In the Open KO Cup Chelmsford B secured an impressive 5-0 win over Chelmsford C. Victor Chan made his mark with an excellent 3-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3) win over Waseem Quereshi whilst Jarek Pietraszuk did well to beat Jan Fuller in four (10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 11-6).

Danbury C (Dave Hancox, Eamon Hall and Allan Steel) made no mistake against Maldon A in the Division four Knock Out Cup. They won 8-1. Shirley Carroll impressed for the losers with a quick-fire 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-9) victory against Eamon Hall.

OCs A (Adam Yardley, James Mitty and Harry Rogers) ran out 8-1 winners against Danbury A in the Junior Knock Out Cup. Connor Hall did well to beat Adam Yardley 3-2 (6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7) for Danbury’s sole success.

All Junior players who have entered the Junior Handicap event at this year‘s M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed Championships should note that this event has been moved to Friday 26 January 2018 at the Melbourne Sports Centre – the Chelmsford Club’s Home venue. Book in at 7pm for a 7.15 start. If the event hadn’t been switched from the actual Tournament weekend the substantial increase in the number of entries would have led to a possible mid-night finish on the Saturday.