News From The Guildford Table Tennis Association October 2022

Published on: 20 Oct, 2022
Updated on: 20 Oct, 2022

Report by Steve Day

The new season started during the week commencing September 19 with matches involving teams from all five divisions. As you would expect some matches that were due to be played on the Monday (September 19) were postponed due to the late Queen’s funeral.

Despite there only being two weeks’ worth of matches in the month there was plenty to be excited about!

Starting with Division Four, Challoner B and Merrow G ended the month joint leaders with 12 points each, after both teams had two 6-3 wins.

Christopher Ray starred for Challoner with six wins out of six for 100% record, as did Max Swindells for the Merrow team. Three teams share the bottom slot with just three points after playing only one match in September.

With a total of only four matches being played in Division Three, Emmanuel are at the top as the only team managing to play twice.

They won both their matches 5-4 with Stephen Schofield remaining unbeaten throughout. The redoubtable Fred Florance played for Emmanuel in both.

Woking B scored a hard fought 7-2 win over a young Godalming H team with Alex Bolychevsky victorious in his three. Four matches when to five games and four went to four games.

Ash started the season well with two victories in Division Two. The first an 8-1 thumping of Godalming E and the second a 6-3 win over College Hill C.

Hudson Foley won five out of his six games. Godalming F are in second place with 12 points compared to Ash’s 14 points. Anay Gandhi was the star performer for the Godalming team with six wins out of six.

The pace in Division One has already been set by Merrow D, although Challoner are close on their heels and have their usual strong squad.

Aftermath’s Mragaret Thirnton.

Aftermath A are tied second with Challoner. Kevin Bown’s transfer from Woking to Aftermath is already showing signs of strengthening their B team. Godalming C could also challenge for the top if they are able to field their strongest team.

Tim O’Reilly.

Godalming C started well with a 7-2 win over a two-man Abinger A. In the scramble to the bottom, Bramley A and Abinger A look favourites, College Hill B have a strong squad but, so far, only Tim O’Reilly (pictured above from a few years ago) has shown any real form, although Adrian Sharp has had some wins, too.

College Hill’s Richard Abbey.

The Premier Division has an unusual look to it with last year’s champions, Godalming A in seventh position after two matches. To be fair, it’s a much-changed team with only Adam Laws remaining.

Of the seven points won so far, Adam has scored six. I understand reinforcements are on their way!

Burymead A and Merrow A were joint top at the end of September with 12 points each. They were followed closely by Godalming B with 11 points.

Julie Lawrence and Phil Snelson.

In fact, right now, Godalming B look a lot stronger than their A team. Similarly, squad-wise, Burymead B look stronger than Burymead A. I’m sure this will be hotly debated in the Snelson household.

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