Guildford Table Tennis News Week 6

Published on: 28 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 28 Oct, 2019

Report by John Diggens

This past week in the Guildford Table Tennis League your correspondent witnessed a cracking encounter between top Premier sides Burymead B and Merrow B with the Shackleford side winning 6-4.

Richard Tanner.

Richard Tanner starred with a faultless display of the art of table tennis; his touch play a joy to behold.

Julie Lawrence.

There were two matches, both won by Merrow in five scintillating sets, Graham Faulkner edged out Julie Lawrence at 16 in the fifth and Richard Seymour similarly won at 13 against Tim Goodship.

Richard Seymour.

A high class quality battle; ping at its very best!

Division One saw a welcome return of two Premier stars of yesteryear, Dave Gilham and Steve Woodgate, to the local game.

Gilham got a couple for Merrow D in an 8-2 win over Godalming F where Dave Halfpenny starred!

Woodgate got a maximum for Merrow E in a 7-3 win against Aftermath A. A glimpse at the scorecard reveals that he will soon be back to something like the form that won him the Guildford Men’s Singles Title in 1978-79 and 1979-80.

Linda Makepeace.

In Division Two, Bramley B moved clear of the bottom with a welcome 6-4 victory over Godalming H, courtesy of three from a rejuvenated Linda Makepeace; Joe Melchionno got a brace.

In Division Three, a surprise result was the 5-5 draw gained by College E over high flying Merrow F.

Richard Knight was the main reason, in his first outing for the team, by stamping his authority on the match and comfortably taking three singles and the doubles with Melvin Rose.

Division Four and Bramley G lifted themselves clear of bottom spot with a 7-3 victory over Woking E who were seven places above them at the start of the match. Alan Osgood was the ‘main man’ in this success.

The Guildford Junior League Round 2 saw Merrow Hawks rising to the top of the league with a commanding 5-0 win over Farnborough Flames.

The match, however, was closer than the scoreline suggested. There were two matches that went to a deciding game and both went the way of the Hawks: Max Swindells defeated Ben Everingham 11-3 in the fifth and Max partnered Jai Dhillon to victory in a tight doubles match 11-9 in the fifth against Ben and brother Charlie.

Three teams sit equal with eight points. VM impressively defeated the Looters 5-0; Vlad Cretu and Thomas Alderton went undefeated against Sasha Dow, Quentin Pritchard and Aidan Crouch.

Aidan and Quentin came closest to a win for the Looters. They teamed up in the doubles to take VM to a fifth end but narrowly missed out 11-8 in the decider.

The Thunderbolts and Merrow Demons also won 4-1 in near-identical scenarios. All those teams’ players won their singles but fell short in their doubles matches.

The Thunderbolts’ Anton Kepa and Eddie Wheeler missed out 11-9 in the fifth against Ashley Minoo and Alex Evans, and the Demons’ Dan Godsill and Jack Liu succumbed to Elliot Latham and Joss Beedie 11-8 in the fourth. Earlier on, Kyle Kepa, Anton, Jack and Dan had each won their singles.

Click here for the Guildford Table Tennis League’s website.