Hollington Academy A improved their position at the top of  Division One of the Hastings & District Table Tennis League as they beat Saints B 8-2 with Basher Obeyed and Nathan Darby unbeaten.

Academy’s two nearest rivals, Saints A and Bexhill A met and Bexhill moved level with Saints with a comprehensive 7-3 win thanks to a Lewis Mayhew maximum and two wins for Martin Kellaway and David Rayment. Dave Butler won twice for Saints and picked up a crucial doubles win with James Winchester to save a point .

The foot of the table promises some tense contests this year and Bexhill B fought out a 5-5 draw with Tackleway A which took almost four hours to complete. No player dominated the match with two wins for Andy Summers and Yotza Krstic (Bexhill) and for Roy Funnell (Tackleway).

Another epic encounter saw Tackleway C gain their first win when they edged out Tackleway B 6-4 with three wins for Roger Pingram and two for Danny Rickaby.

Tigers A made it four wins on the trot in Division Two with a gripping 6-4 win over Bexhill F where they had a Dave Mitchell maximum and two wins from Roger Smith.

Bexhill staged an impressive comeback from 0-4 down to level at 4-4 before Tigers kept their nerve, culminating in Smith’s defeat of Frank Brown at 11-9 in the fifth.

Tigers head the table but are being matched by Bexhill E who also kept up an unbeaten start with an 8-2 defeat of Bexhill H in which Pam Winter and Tina Beaney were unbeaten. This was a real contest with four of the E sides wins coming from close five-game wins.

Hollington B moved ahead of Bexhill H at the bottom with a creditable 5-5 draw with Monarchs A. Kieran Gibbs and Amelia Long won two each for Hollington but three wins for Monarchs’ Andrew Edwards kept them in the match.