Hatfield Peverel B top the table in Division Three of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League and they made it nine wins out of 10 by beating Chelmsford B 8-2. Neil Freeman was their king-pin with three wins, whilst Gordon Fairchild and Guy McKenzie both won twice. Ryan Gooday impressed for the losers with a fine 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 13-11) victory over Gordon Fairchild.

Chelmsford C were indebted to Chris Denyer, who won his three singles in his side’s 6-4 victory against Hatfield Peverel C. Alastair Brown showed his usual resilience to beat Paul Nicol. He fought back from 2-0 down to triumph 3-2 (5-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9).

Danbury B, the Division Two leaders, scored their seventh win of the season by beating third-placed Danbury C 6-4. Combination-bat ace Andrew Halling (14 wins out of 15) led the way with a hat-trick whilst Sid Dorn won twice.

Liberal, led by an undefeated Hector Rogers, beat Elmtree Excalibur C 6-4. Rod Maclennan
made his mark for the Elmtree side with a last-gasp 3-2 (4-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5, 15-13) victory over Robin Armstrong.

Maldon D, the champions-elect in Division Four beat Writtle 8-2, their 10th win of the campaign. Ciaran Whelan and Colin Napper were both undefeated whilst Writtle’s Tom Griffiths and Andy Fox both made their mark by beating Steve Scholz. In fact, Scholz came very close to failing to get his name on the score sheet, as he had to dig deep to beat Brian Steward 3-2 (6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 13-
11) in the last game of the night.

OCs F remain in second place and they beat Danbury K 6-4. Tom Barker and Peter Windley both won their three singles. The consistent Windley remains their best player with 27 wins out of 32.

Adrian North was another three-time winner as he led OCs E to a 7-3 success against Danbury J.  Charles Yeung won twice, and both times he had to fight very hard, beating Rob Kneale 3-2 (11-8, 11-8, 14-16, 11-13, 11-9) and Trevor Palmer also in five (11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9). Danbury H beat Elmtree Excalibur D 7-3. Dave Goody and Craig Foster were both undefeated.

In Division Five, third-placed Chelmsford F (Richard Upson, Richard Baxter and Mike Pitt) eased to a 10-0 win over Galleywood D, whilst Hatfield Peverel D (Ron Biggs, Barry Evans and Peter Taylor) beat Chelmsford E 8-2. Adam Pitt was a two-time winner for the Chelmsford side.

All players and spectators are reminded that the World Championships of Ping Pong take place at the Alexandra Palace over the weekend of January 24 & 25. This promises to be a thrilling spectacle as 64 top players from around the world vie for supremacy and a very sizeable prize-fund with “sand-paper” bats.  Tickets can be ordered from www.seetickets.com

Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
January 12, 2015