LEICESTERSHIRE TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION
LEICESTER LEAGUE
Unicorn won Division One of the Leicester League after some fine performances during the season from two players who moved over from Nottingham. Unicorn beat Arnesby 6-4 in their final match to put themselves twelve points ahead of second placed team, Ajax Wolvey. Unicorn have been spearheaded by Trevor Kerry, who won three, and Tim Sheppard who had two successes in this match. They finished the season on 89% and 88% respectively.
Ajax can be very proud of their efforts after coming up from Division Two the year before and would probably have won the title in any other year. They had all three players high in the individual averages: John Williams, Aiden Walsh and Mick Allsop.
Defending champions were Leicester Electricity and they went down 7-3 to Thringstone in their final match to finish third with Andy LeButt and David Grundy each winning one on this occasion. Matt Hobday was the man not playing this time.
At the other end of the scale Knighton Park second team looked absolutely doomed at the half way point but captain, Les Baker, had other ideas. He settled on some new rubbers and his form improved dramatically to lead his team of, otherwise, juniors to avoid the drop, including 11 points from their last five matches. Getting good experience were Adil Rashid, Aman Rashid and Eddie Lyons.
Individually it was the usual two way tussle between a pair who have been battling it out for many years: Dave Gannon (Abbots Road) and Thringstone’s Maurice Newman. On this occasion Gannon just tipped it on 95.5% to Newman’s 93.4%.
Knighton Park Thirds led Division Two from the starting pistol, coming out of the starting blocks very strongly and then maintained the momentum, never losing a match, and finishing the season 8 points clear. There were no easy matches as this division has been one of the strongest for many years. They played the same three players in all but one match, Reza Kiani topping the averages with a staggering 95%. Congratulations to this team and Kiani in his first league season. George McClurkin and John Underwood provided excellent support.
Newfoundpool have secured 2nd place and go back to the top flight, their doubles record was 90% wins and Steve Day is 4th in the averages with an 80% success rate. Unfortunately for this team Gareth Gan returns to China later in May and he has been a huge asset to them.
Syston are 3rd and just 2 points behind, it has been neck and neck for this team with Newfoundpool all season with their spearhead, Jason Woodfield, runner up in the averages with an excellent 83% and the team of just three, the other two John Szostak and Ian Wetherly, have played every match.
Regent Sports finish in a well deserved 4th position, but a whopping 16 points behind the top three. Martin Bolton is 3rd in the averages on 81% despite breaking his treasured bat during one match.
John Bowness (April 22, 2014)