The 2019 Central Essex Summer Table Tennis is under way. League Organiser Ken Sheard reports more teams taking part than ever before with five adult divisions and two junior divisions.

Chelmsford sides both made winning starts in division one. Chelmsford A (Rob Shrimpton and Wiktor Delimat) ran out 4-1 winners against Cold Norton A. Shrimpton dominated proceedings, beating Neil Want 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9) and Dick Wyman 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9).

Chelmsford B also won 4-1, beating OCs B. Waseem Qureshi was undefeated whilst Peter Windley beat Mike Johnston 3-1 (8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7). Johnston came through a real test against Charles Yeung, finally triumphing 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 12-10).

Division two produced two 3-2 results. Danbury A beat OCs D. Chris Buer led the way with a 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-8) win over Mike Hayes and a 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-6) success against Tom Barker.

Ramsden B had Paul Mullley to thank for their victory against OCs C. Mulley won a tricky five ender against Richard Baxter (13-15, 16-14.11-5, 9-11, 11-3) and suitably inspired by that victory he raced to a 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-4) win over David Porter.

Danbury D impressed in division three by beating Chelmsford D 5-0. Ewan Hynd from the CLICK League excelled and he beat David Parker 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6) and Gordon Fairchild 3-0 (11-6, 1 1-4, 11-8). David Gatheral was also undefeated although he had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Fairchild 3-2 (2-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 15-13).

Danbury C also won 5-0. They overcame Cold Norton B with Dan Piggott and Eamon Hall carrying all before them. Chelmsford B began their campaign with a 4-1 win over Ramsden D in a match where four games were decided in a fifth set. Adi Kamma won twice which included a 3-2 (11-1, 11-7, 8-11, 6-11, 13-11) success against Tony Ayliffe.

Galleywood B ran out 3-2 winners against Ramsden Bell House B in division four. Mark Glenister was unbeaten for Galleywod and he fought back from 2-0 down to get the better of Kevin Willis 3-2 (10-12, 11-13, 11-5, 11-5, 16-14).

OCs E (Faroq Ahmed and Dave Newman) beat Galleywood A 4-1. Galleywood’s Nathan Blore and Ron Salton combined well to win the doubles 3-2 (11-9, 5-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8) after falling short in the singles.

OCs F also won 4-1 against Chelmsford F. Mick Richardson remained undefeated whilst Luke Richardson downed the challenge of Sarah Austin 3-2 (11-3, 11-9, 11-13, 17-19, 11-3).

OCs G made a flying start in division five. They beat ARU Rhinos 5-0. The match between Josh Peasgood and Mubarak Sulaiman was the pick of the action with Peasgood surging clear in the fifth end to win 3-2 (7-11, 12-10, 12-14, 14-12, 11-3).

Chelmsford Pumas beat Danbury E 3-2 in division six. Joachin Mapes was undefeated for the Pumas and this included his marathon 3-2 (13-15, 11-8, 15-17, 11-9, 11-5) win over Jenson Davis.