Guildford Table Tennis News Week 5

Published on: 19 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 19 Oct, 2019

By John Diggens

In the Senior League it was cup week and a welcome return to local TT by ex-Guildford Men’s Singles Champion Steve Woodgate.

He performed well for Merrow E against Godalming E in a 5-1 win in the Intermediate Cup.

Adrian Cretu.

A feature of the evening was the only point won by the home side when Adrian Cretu beat high flying Max Flint in four sets.

Max Flint.

It was a thriller with Flint’s fierce attack and Cretu’s dogged retrieving before countering with great effect.

Most of the cup matches played were fairly one sided but there were exceptions. In a Vets Cup match between Godalming D and Aftermath B with the score at 4-3 to Aftermath, Godalming’s Steve Day took on Simon Turner and lost in a desperately close affair at 9 in the fifth.

This was after being down 2-0 and 9-5 up in the fifth game. A real topsy turvy affair! We were hence denied a final clash between the unbeaten Brian Mitchell and Steve Pearce.

Closest match of the lot was in the Hammond Cup where there was a match between the very old and the very young, including rising stars 12-year olds Jack Lui and Dan Goodsill, who already delight with their range of skills.

An aging Bramley G side, including your correspondent, just edged out the Merrow J team, 5-4, the match going to the wire. In the penultimate encounter Lui took out David Kemp at 8 in the fifth leaving ‘man of the match’ Alan Osgood to clinch things with a win over newcomer to the League, Ed de Ory.

Guildford Junior League (Apertura) Round 1, report by Adam Laws

The Guildford Junior League (Apertura) got under way on October 9 at Christ’s College. Eight teams are competing in the league: EJJ, Ash and Alex, Merrow Hawks, Merrow Demons, The Thunderbolts, Farnborough Flames, VM and the Looters.

There were many fantastic rallies in the all Farnborough clash – Farnborough Flames vs the Thunderbolts, for whom Kyle and Anton Kepa managed to win two singles matches each.

The Flames hit back in the doubles – Anna Soteras and Charlie Everingham combined to defeat Kyle and Eddie Wheeler 3-2.

The closest match took place between Ash and Alex and VM, who ended up winning 3-2. Vlad Cretu took his two singles and Thomas Alderton added a win over Ashley Minoo. Ashley partnered Alex Evans to a deciding set doubles win and Alex added a win over Thomas.

The two Merrow teams started impressively: The Hawks ended up 4-1 winners over Team EJJ, for whom Joss Beedie started brilliantly with a 3-0 win over Max Swindells. However that was as good as it got for them as Max and Jai Dhillon proceeded to take the remaining rubbers.

The Demons also won 4-1. Dan Godsill scored 100% with two singles wins and a doubles victory with Jack Liu. Liu added a win over Sasha Dow but was unable to get past Aidan Crouch in a tight 3-1 defeat.