One of the tightest matches in the latest batch from the Leicester League came in Division Two when Knighton Park’s second team entertained Queens.

League Chairman Peter Wilson got KP off to a good start by beating Dave Daniels, but Queens fought back with Eileen Shaler beating Patrick Carton, before John Winsper got the better of Mike Lapworth.

Wilson was going well at this stage, winning against Shaler and then Lapworth and Carton both got into the act by defeating, respectively, Daniels and Winsper, the latter a tight four-gamer. Lapworth made it 5-2 by beating Shaler. Odds-on KP?

The eighth set was a cracker with Winsper pulling one back for Queen by beating Wilson 3-2 (6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8), Daniels defeated Carton and it was Daniels and Winsper who came good in the doubles to gain a share of the spoils at 5-5.

Abbots Road made an uncertain start to their Division One campaign in not being able to find a third player three times out of four, but they roared back to form against Desford Village when Dave Gannon scored his inevitable maximum.

But he needs back-up and he had it all the way when Omar Ahmed beat both Tony Smith and Jessica Birbeck, while possibly the star act was Fahed Sacoor’s win over Sohail Caratella to give Abbots a 7-3 verdict.

Meanwhile Knighton Park seconds were maintaining a position near the top of the table with a 6-4 victory at Arnesby, despite an excellent maximum by the home team’s Ian Brown. For Park Reza Kiani and George McClurkin both won two while Osman Bawa grabbed the other important singles, Park taking the doubles.

At the other end of the scale in Division Five there were some unusually high scoring results, the closest of which was a 7-3 win for Lutterworth Rotary against Knighton Park X when Mike Eastell and Simon Jones both emerged undefeated.

Regent Sports IV beat Abbots Road V 8-2. Julie Edwards is having an excellent season and playing well above her grading mark and in this match took her second maximum in a row including an early, what looked to be at the time, crucial victory over Dave Rana 3-2 (12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 16-14). This opened the floodgates with Gary Featherstone and Bob Smith both offering very good support with two each.

Another 8-2 result saw Eagles overcome Electricity VI when Eagles’ very enthusiastic secretary Zeljko Koncarevich scored his first maximum of the season which included a splendid win over Dave Silvester at 11-9 in the fifth. Silvester won both his team’s sets while Zoran Djorkovic and Boroslav Trivic both won two for Eagles.

Yet another 8-2 and this time a maximum to remain undefeated for Paul Ducksbury for Knighton Park XI against Nomads V. Offering good support were Aga Hirt and Angela Bowness, each with two.

In Division Four, the comeback king Ian Lockington won a very good three against Nomads IV in his third return to the sport in the last decade for Wigston Conservatives in a 6-4 victory, also helping Pete Garfield to a doubles success to seal the win.

Steve Andrews topped the Division Four averages when Nomads II were promoted last season and his serves are again proving a very big asset this term in Division Three as his maximum against Knighton Park VII showed, all three opponents struggling in this department. With Chris Weston weighing in with two and Trev Hawkins one, Nomads won this one 7-3.

John Bowness (publicity officer)
November 3, 2014