Guildford Table Tennis League Week 17

Published on: 4 Feb, 2020
Updated on: 3 Feb, 2020

Guildford A and Guildford B competed in the premier division of the National Cadet League at Waterside table tennis club, Southampton, on January 26, writes Adam Laws.

Competing for Guildford A was Vincent Quiambao, Jamie Orton and Dan Godsill. Guildford B were represented by Anton Kepa, Jack Liu and Kyle Kepa.

Pictures of the young Guildford teams in action at the Waterside club in Southampton.

In Round 1 Guildford A started with a 4-2 defeat to Waterside B, but it could so easily have been a 5-1 win.

Vincent lost two matches in the decider, 13-11 to Jamie Klinger and 11-7 to Thomas Agombar, who also defeated Dan by the same scoreline.

Jamie and Dan got Guildford’s two with 3-0 wins over Max Harvey.

Guildford B had a baptism of fire, losing 6-0 to the strongest team in the league, Waterside A.

In Round 2, both Guildford teams lost 5-1. Guildford A faced champions elect Waterside A and gave a good account of themselves.

Dan did especially well to defeat Alfie Hills 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 to score Guildford A’s point.

Anton Kepa scored a hard-earned 11-9 in the fifth win over George Ackerley in their 5-1 defeat to Weymouth A.

Guildford B faced Waterside B in round 3 and achieved a near-identical result to the A team in a 4-2 defeat.

Both Jack and Kyle managed to get 3-0 wins over Max Harvey, while Jack was incredibly unlucky to lose 11-8 in the fifth to Jamie Klinger.

Guildford A managed a 3-3 draw against two-player DTTA. Vincent achieved a convincing 3-0 win over Joel De Grave to add to their two walk-over wins.

Interestingly, in Round 4, Guildford B scored a better result than the A team against DTTA.

The Kepa brothers, Anton and Kyle, both defeated Joel De Grave 3-1 to make the score 4-2. DTTA no.1 player Felix West won twice, as he did against the A team.

Guildford A truly got into their stride with a commanding 4-2 win over Weymouth A. Both Vincent and Dan were undefeated.

The final match was between Guildford A and Guildford B. Who would win the derby?

Vincent started with a 3-1 win over Jack. Jamie looked set to put the A team 2-0 up as he won the first two ends against Anton, but Anton stormed back to take the next three ends 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 to make the match score 1-1.

Dan and Vincent put the A team 3-1 up with straight sets wins over Kyle and Anton respectively, and Dan completed his brace with a skilful 3-1 win over Merrow team-mate Jack to put the A’s 4-1 up.

Kyle reduced the arrears with a solid 3-1 win over Jamie to make the match score Guildford A 4 – Guildford B 2.

Back to League matters, writes John Diggens, and in the Premier Division Godalming A have already hit the magic 100-point barrier and look home and dried in their bid for a third successive title.

Division Three saw lowly placed Bramley F score a good draw against College E, in which David Barraclough starred.

Godalming K and Farnborough Tennis ground out a 6-4 result for the Guildford-based club, only two points separate them with an outside chance of promotion. Geraint Herbert was unbeaten in the encounter.

In Division Four, Merrow G strengthened their grip on top position with a convincing 10-0 result over their H side.

Ryan Bowdier, Durga Ayral and Henry Evans look destined for Division Three next season.

The Merrow coaching scheme is certainly paying off for the village club. Godalming N cemented second place with a 9-1 win over their S side in another ‘local derby’.

John Robinson of the Merrow club recently reminded me of a documentary charting the history of table tennis.

It can be found on YouTube Time Shift 2007 called Planet Ping Pong. Well worth a look! Makes you yearn for the good old days of the game…