News From The Guildford Table Tennis Association March 2023

Published on: 17 Mar, 2023
Updated on: 17 Mar, 2023

Report by Steve Day

In Division Four top spot is shared by Merrow G and Merrow H, both on 76 points.

They are closely followed by Challoner B on 73 points who have only played 13 games. This is despite them losing 4-5 to Aftermath C, where Frank Roberts turned back the clock winning all three of his matches.

The race for promotion couldn’t be much tighter. Abinger B and Godalming J prop up the division. Max Swindells is still top of the averages with 96.67% (29/30).

All change at the top of the Premier Division, with College Hill A and Merrow B taking over from Godalming A, who slip to third.

College Hill are in a great run of form, illustrated by their three victories in February, which included a 6-3 win over rivals Godalming A.

Jake Buckley.

Individally, Jake Buckley is having a fine season with 20 wins out of 24, as is teammate, David Woodacre.

Merrow A or Merrow B are favourites for the title as both teams have games in hand over their rivals.

The B team beat their A team 6-3 thanks a maximum three wins for Richard Seymour. Adam Laws is still top of the averages but he can’t relax as Phil Snelson is closing the gap.

It’s a similar story in Division One, with Challoner A moving to the top followed by Aftermath A.

Godalming C drop to third but have three games in hand over the leaders.

It was a mixed month for Abinger A as they were routed by Challoner A but then beat second placed Aftermath A. Chris Pullinger’s form has been the mainstay for their rise up the table and his absence from the Challoner match was heavily felt.

The same could be said of “Mr Consistent”, namely Trevor Sanders of Aftermath A.

In Division Two, Ash are still top although their lead has been trimmed to a mere 14 points mainly due to their closest rivals Godalming F, defeating them 5-4. Youngsters, Siddie Pillai and Anay Gandhi starred taking three and two games, respectively.

Sasan Bigdeli stepped up from Division Four to replace Shane Karunakaran but despite a great effort was unable to register a win.

Merrow E are at the bottom with only 33 points from 15 matches. Bramley B’s Nick Gould tops the averages on 85.19%

Bramley C still lead the way in Division Three, and now have a massive 26 points advantage over second placed Merrow F.

Shock result of the month was bottom of the table, Godalming H’s victory over third placed Emmanuel.

Robert Martin won all his three matches and was well supported by Katy Snelson and James Scott who won two each. Stephen Schofield’s two wins for Emmanuel stopped a complete rout.

Action from the Guildford Tennis Association’s Junior league.

Guildford Junior League (Clausura) – Round 2 Report by Adam Laws

All to play for in the final group match!

Team DOT maintained their lead in the Guildford Junior League with a tight 3-2 win over JEMS.

Thomas Ashworth and Oscar Snelling of team DOT raced into a 3-0 lead. Thomas won twice against Daria Rudovskaia and Jack Silley and then Oscar added a win over Jack.

Daria pulled one back with a win over Oscar to reduce the arrears to 3-1. In the doubles, DOT went 2-0 up but JEMS fought back to win the doubles 3-2 with scores of 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10.

Merrow Merlins went level with JEMS on five5 points after they scored a 4-1 win over the Big Shots.

The ‘Shots took an early lead as Curran Kulkarni defeated Nathan Faulkner 3-0.

However the Merlins came back well thereafter. Both Nathan and Evan Faulkner scored 3-0 wins over Kabir Kulkarni and they combined to win the doubles.

The highlight of the match was Evan’s excellent 11-9 in the fifth victory over Curran Kulkarni.

A quick reminder that entry forms for our Annual GTTA Closed Tournament are now available on our website – https://guildford.ttleagues.com/

It’s a great fun event where you can test yourself against the best; why not give it a go. You, too, could be as happy as 2022 Doubles Winners, Richard Seymour and John Robinson.