Desford Village’s first team continue to rule the roost in Division Two of the Leicester & District League, their latest result an 8-2 beating of one of the teams vying for the runners-up spot, Abbots Road, who had Vishal Parmar winning their two sets.
Tony Smith emerged undefeated for Desford while Malcolm Truman and Neil Matthams each contributed a couple to keep the team 10 points ahead.
Second are Knighton Park IV who had to work very hard to gain full points against Electricity III in a 6-4 success and it was mainly down to Osman Bawa who won all three for the Park. Andy Searle and Mike Lapworth each snapped up one, the latter winning his 12-10 in the fifth, before Bawa and Searle put the match to bed by taking the doubles in five games.
One point behind KP are Desford Village’s second team who completely overwhelmed a strong looking Fleckney 10-0. Paul Bumpus, Kevon Parker and Matthew Briggs were taking no prisoners and look very strong contenders to join their own first team up a division.
The other team hanging on to the promotion shirt tails are Holwell Sports II who defeated Goons 8-2 and are four points off second. Dave Roche and Tony Fox both won a maximum while Mike James won one on this occasion, losing to Scott Robinson and Anton Thomas.
Abbots Road II came down to earth with a bang this week in Division Three after defeating previous second team Knighton Park V 10-0, this time losing 6-4 to Winstanley Wizards who are further down the chart but could still make up enough ground to gain promotion with results like this. Dave Seeds and Jack Kermode both took two while Mick Box won one, the first two securing the doubles in five. All six players got something out of it as Richard Lee notched a pair for Abbots, Raju Rahul and Hardik Patel one each.
Meanwhile leaders, Knighton Park VIII, were making hay while they could by defeating Nomads 8-2 when Armadeep Gudela won his customary three with Simon Aldis and Martin Pember supplying two each in support. Laszlo Kocsis won Nomads’ two while Mark Clay lost all three at 11-7 in the fifth.
The aforementioned Park team that previously lost heavily to Abbots were beating their own fifth team 8-2 to maintain contact at two adrift of Abbots who are seven behind the leaders. For Park Ruben Dehnen and Dave Mountain were both undefeated while Chris Parmar-Saville took two.
All six players gained something in the 5-5 draw between Electricity IV and Goons II when Paul Hinson and Steve Harrison both won two for the latter, John Jacques one. For the Sparks Sheriff Makhani took a couple and one each for Chris Woodward and Dave Greasley, the latter two won the doubles in five for the share.
Lutterworth maintained their six points lead at the top of Division Four with a 7-3 victory over Nomads III who were disappointed after drawing their first encounter. Doing the damage were Kevin Jones and Mike Eastell who both emerged undefeated in singles and doubles.
Syston Casuals III made sure they lost no ground in second position by defeating Desford Village III 8-2, Like Blair winning the two for the losers. He couldn’t get by Ian Lockington who notched a maximum while Tony Monteiro and Nick Bishop each supplied two.
Abbots Road in third position did lose ground when they drew 5-5 with Winstanley Wizards II for whom Ben Cooke took an excellent three and well backed by two from Elly Bajarias. It was a team effort from Abbots with Dave Rana two, Ketan Patel and Eiz Eddin Al Katrib one apiece and the doubles.
Individual pride of place came from Knighton Park VIII’s Michael Parker who won all three against players graded above himself when his team beat Blaby and Whetstone 7-3, Roma Morjaria taking two and Alex Randle one. Tom Phipps won two for Blaby.
A shock for the leaders in Division Five, Knighton Park’s 10th team, when their own ninth team saw them off to the tune of 8-2 with Paul Ducksbury and Ayman Gabbar three apiece and Abe Lam two, beaten by Tony Scarborough. The winners leapfrog into first in a tight division.
Abbots Road IV are now second after beating Desford Village IV 6-4 but had to fight all the way when mother/daughter combination, Gillian Wisdish and Gemma Hargrave each won two for Desford. Kishen Mistry led the way home with a well constructed maximum and then won the doubles in five games with Kushel Metha after the latter and Steve Sullivan each provided a vital singles.
Neal Smith who learned his table tennis in front of a television screen with a simulating devise last year is growing into his first “real” season, supplying his second successive maximum for Knighton Park XI in their 5-5 draw against Winstanley Wizards V, David Cooper and Jeanette Stevenson one each. For the Wizards Matt Weedall and Khalid Uddin each scored two.