'Top UK Coaches over for Table Tennis Coaching Weekend’             

The Island hosted 2 top table tennis coaches last weekend with training sessions taking place at Ramsey Grammar School and the NSC Friday to Sunday. England senior international and former Top 10 senior player Matt Ware, and former 4 times English Singles champion Kelly Sibley conducted the sessions, which were hailed a great success. This time, not only elite level players attended, but the sessions were also open to other league players.

Other than that it was business as usual with the latest round of the Fun 88 sponsored league. Highlights of the action is summarised below, with full match results and statistics to be found on our website at  www.tabletennis365.com/IOM

Division 1

Arbory A (5) Travellers B (4)

Arbory’s Mike Tamarov demonstrated why he has lost only 3 matches this season, with another flawless performance in this tie. He first dispatched Malc Lewis in 3 straight games, and then even more impressively saw off John Shooter, also in 3. He had a slightly tighter tussle with Will Shooter but defeated him in the 4th end with a scoreline of 11-8, 11-13, 11-4, 11-8. Shooter Snr had the measure of Jason Quirk though, galloping into a 2-0 lead, before losing the 3rd end, then taking the match in the 4th. Jason managed to defeat Will and Malc with little trouble to add a further 2 points for Arbory. Sonja Shaw could make no further inroads in her matches, but did take a game off Will.

Tower B (0) Arbory B (9)

Mission accomplished for Arbory B who needed as many points as possible from this tie to pull well clear of the relegation zone. This they did in great style with all matches being won in straight ends by John Magnall and Amit Lanin. There was one pocket of resistance for Tower in the form of Dario Mazzotta who took Dan Levine to a 5th nervy end, but the youngster did well to retain his composure to see off the tenacious veteran 14-12.

Travellers A (9) Tower A (0) 

The flip side of the above tie was that Tower A needed something out of this tie to retain their faint hopes of staying up. Those hopes were dashed very quickly with the explosive play of Liam Chan, Scott Lewis and Malcolm Cummings who dominated in this tie. Dave Parsons did however put up a good challenge for Tower, taking the first end off Lewis and only losing out in the 4th end 13-15. He also ran Cummings close and at 1-2 down looked close to taking the 4th end, only to lose out 12-14. All credit to Travellers A however, who now look unstoppable at the top of the table, as they seek to add yet another Division 1 title.

Ramsey A (7) Strathallan (2) 

A solid win for Ramsey A, but they are now 18 points adrift of table toppers Travellers A so look destined for second place - albeit that will be a superb achievement. Duncan Alexander notched up another 3 wins with only Neil Quane managing to steal a game off him. Becky Taylor defeated Wayne Taylor and Quane in straight ends, but was stumped by Andy Horne’s disruptive long pips style, and lost out 13-15 in the 4th end. Neil added Strathy’s second point with a superb win in 4 ends over Chris Holmes. Chris had fewer problems with Wayne and Andy, and secured 2 wins in straight ends

Division 2

Ramsey B (6) Ramsey C (3)

Geoff Ball was in great form in this tie, taking all 3 wins for the home side against Darren Shaw, Keith Herrington and Geoff Burchill. Adrian Slater was also playing well, and took his 3 wins with little trouble. The C team trio each managed to secure a point apiece against the unfortunate Lisa Lord, but she did put up a good fight in each of her matches, taking games off Darren and Geoff, before losing out 10-12 in the 4th end against Burchill. 

Travellers C (5) Arbory C (4) 

Keeran Chan was in sublime form for the home side, notching up 3 great wins. Jane Kneale nabbed a game off him but other than that he did well to win each match against quality opponents. Paul Mathieson-Nelson was also in good form for Travellers, defeating Jane in 5 close ends, and Kevin Drewry in 3 ends. He was unable to overcome Dave Bufton however, who once again demonstrated why he is such a tricky opponent, claiming yet another excellent win 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 15-13. Unfortunately for Travellers they will be without Paul for the remainder of the season as he undergoes knee surgery next week. Good luck to him with that. The win means that Travellers are now joint top with Peel A.

Peel A (6) Desmonds Douglas A (3) 

This was a huge opportunity for Desmonds to claw their way back into the promotion slots, with Peel sitting 7 points ahead in second place. Russ Kent did well to overcome Ken Hegarty in straight ends. Neil Ronan added a further point by defeating Stu Perry in 4 ends. Peel’s Jon Taylor Burt uncharacteristically took his eye off the ball after being 2-0 up, losing the next 3 to a determined Brandon Montgomery. Other than that, Peel did well to quash a quality Desmonds team. Ken did well to beat Brandon in a very closely fought match, taking it in the 5th end. He was also pushed hard by Neil but again straightened himself out in the 5th end to take the match.  

Arbory D (2) JRTE Marketing A (7) 

Darren Smethurst and Brian Crellin once again showed their quality for JRTE, galloping past Liav Lanin, Mike Levine and JP Banaag with few issues. Paul Mitchinson added a 7th point by defeating young Liav in straight ends.

Division 3

JRTE Marketing B (0) Ramsey E (5) 

Unfortunately JRTE could not muster a team in this tie so the match was forfeited in favour of Saul Tumblety and Teddy Clayton of Ramsey E.

Travellers D (4) Travellers G (1) 

Tom Taylor Burt made a major breakthrough in this tie with a very impressive 5 end victory over Margaret Forsyth 6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7. Other than that, Margaret, teamed with Maurice Campbell for the home side, were untroubled, albeit Tom and his teammate Max Doyle put up a good fight. 

Travellers E (2) Travellers F (3) 

Another successful week for young Sydnie Weaver who firstly beat her brother Henry in 3 ends, then saw off Eban Moore 12-10 in the 5th end of what was a very close tussle. The young players in Division 3 continue to improve week on week, and many will have benefited from the coaching sessions last week. 

Please support our practice sessions which continue each Friday 7pm-9pm. League players and newcomers are all very welcome - £5 per adult or £3 per junior.

Follow local table tennis via our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TableTennisIOM or at  www.tabletennis365.com/IOM

Picture 1: Top coaches Matt Ware (far right) & Kelly Sibley (far left), alongside some of the coaching weekend attendees (photo courtesy of Maggie Mulhern).

Ken Mitchell