Teams returned to league action in the Hastings & District Table Tennis League with surprise defeats for top players in the top two divisions.

In Division One, joint leaders Hastings Academy A dropped a point in a 7-3 defeat of Academy D after an outstanding maximum from the D side’s Arthur Bracken when the teenager administered the second loss of the season to both Paul Barry and Nathan Darby, who won two each for the A side.

Bexhill A were unable to take advantage as they won by the same scoreline against Tackleway B after trailing 0-2.  Robert Warner, Ryan Warner and Martin Kapusta all won twice for Bexhill, as did John Dyson for Tackleway. Dyson’s win over Kapusta was only the youngster’s third defeat this season.

Bexhill C beat Hollington A 6-4 with a maximum from Graham Gillett and two wins from Andy Chapman while Ron Davenport won twice for Hollington.

Division Two favourites Academy E were relegated from the top flight last season after being hit by illness and injury and had a déjà vu moment against Tackleway E when they could only field two players and were held 5-5. Terry Dean and Graham Deeprose both won twice for the Academics but an excellent win for Tackleway’s Aaron Pain over Dean ensured a share of the points.

Tackleway C now lead by two points after an 8-2 win at Nalgo A where Adrian Goodrum was unbeaten and Mike Charter and Kevin Rowe both won two. Nalgo’s Paul Hyland lost his unbeaten record as he went down to both Goodrum and Rowe.

Bexhill E beat Academy H 6-4 with a Cameron Jones maximum and two for Pam Winter. Jamie Martin won two for the losers and his loss to Jones was his second of the season.

The lead changed hands in Division Three with Monarchs B going down 6-4 to Tackleway F. Peter Saunders won three for Tackleway and Andrew Edwards and Dave Turnbull both won twice for Monarchs.

Hollington E lead by two points after a 9-1 defeat of Tackleway G in which Sacha Ward and Yasar Akar were unbeaten and Tristan Hyland won two.