There were no shocks at the BATTS Club in Harlow in round five of the British League Premier Division as the three leading teams all won. Drumchapel Glasgow were the round’s big winners as they powered past BATTS I 8-0. Ryan Jenkins, Gareth Herbert, Terry Young and Stephen Jenkins gave nothing away. Even BATTS’s leading player Wang Zheng could make little impact. He lost 6-11, 9-11, 3-11 to Gareth Herbert and 7-11, 13-11, 7-11, 8-11 to Ryan Jenkins.
Leaders Barrow retained their 100% record by beating Ormesby I 6-2. Paul Drinkhall, Gavin Rumgay and Darius Knight gave nothing away as they picked up their six singles. Rumgay was taken to a fifth end by Michael Marsden but he made no mistake in the decider. Rumgay stormed home in the fifth end to win 10-12, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-2. Barrow’s no four, England no. 39 Bradley Evans was involved in both of the games that escaped his side’s clutches. He missed out 7-11, 9-11, 7-11 against England no. 13 Michael Marsden but his defeat against Karina Le Fevre, the England no. four lady was a bigger surprise. The England no. two Junior girl was a magnificent 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 winner.
Fusion, the surprise package of the first weekend, won again. England no. one Veteran Lorestas Trumpauskas won both of his singles, recording excellent wins against Omkar Torgalkar (3-1) and Kevin Dolder (also 3-1) whilst Sule Olaleye also picked up a double. He beat Stewart Crawford (3-1) and Kevin Dolder (3-1). Adelele Kaseem Adisa won his two singles, having to pull out all the stops to get the better of Kevin Dolder 4-11, 11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 15-13.
Westfield scored their first point of the Season, and it was well earned as well. Richard Andrews and Mark Simpson were outstanding. England no. 16 Richard Andrews scored a magnificent five set win over Po Huang Chen in his first singles, fighting back from 2-0 down to win 9-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 and he levelled the scores at 3-3 by getting the better of Ashley Wiiletts 9-11. 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6. England no. 41 England Mark Simpson gave Westfield the lead for the first time by getting the better of Colum Slevin 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6 but it wasn’t enough to earn a victory for his side. Daniel Basterfield beat Lewis Gray in five ends to ensure the points were shared.
There was a short break in play to launch the Table Tennis 365 British League Web-Site, which is linked to the ETTA main Web-Site. ETTA Chief Executive Richard Yule (joined by Operations Manager Bill Shearer) made reference to the huge amount of work that the Web-Site developer Chris Dangerfield has put into developing the functionality of the new Site. This includes the facility for live updates of results by Organisers, a substantially improved results and statistics service and the ability for teams to check that they are playing in accordance with the League rules. This includes having their Player Licence numbers and playing in the correct Ranking Order. With an improved “Help package” including video links available to Weekend Organisers it is hoped that all British League Organisers will be soon be in a position to utilise the services on this Site.