E-BATT and Burton take the Premier titles

E-BATT Colebridge boys and Burton Uxbridge Girls are the Junior British League Premier Division champions.

They finished top of the pile after Weekend 2 at Derby Arena. Pictures from the weekend will be uploaded on our Flickr page later this week.

However, the manner of their victories was rather different – while Burton romped to the title with a perfect record of 10/10, E-BATT shaded it by a point ahead of both Fusion and Cliffedale Chandlers.

Charlotte Bardsley, whose next stop is the Copper Box Arena for the Team World Cup, was the lynchpin for Burton as she won all 20 of her matches across the two weekends.

With back-up from Mollie Patterson (17/20), Megan Gidney and Katie Holt, it meant the margin of victory was an emphatic seven points, with Ellenborough Girls in second place.

Ellenborough in turn were a point ahead of London Academy, having fought back from 3-1 down against their opponents to claim a draw in the eighth round of matches. Kate Cheer got the crucial equalising point in five sets against Natalia Ianau (8-11, 12-10, 11-3, 5-11, 11-8).

The other team to finish in the top half of the division was XLNT Draycott firsts.

Premier B was won by Fusion, who claimed victories in all five matches on Weekend 2, including three 5-1 margins after the division split, courtesy of Tiana Dennison, Alva Themner and Sophie Barlow – Themner boasting a 100% record of 10/10 for the weekend.

The winning E-BATT squad receive the trophy from Sandra Deaton (picture by Chris Rayner)

The Boys’ Premier was an altogether closer affair. The top four after Weekend 1 duly remained in those places when the division split, E-BATT having 12 points and Fusion, Cliffedale and BATTS 10 each.

E-BATT ended the hopes of BATTS with a 6-0 result in Round 8, while Fusion and Cliffedale drew 3-3 – the latter coming from 3-0 down to force a draw as Shayan Siraj and Olly Tyndall won in five against Joseph Hee and James Smith respectively.

Round 9 was the crucial set of fixtures and both finished 3-3. E-BATT saw opponents Cliffedale take the lead three times, but on each occasion E-BATT levelled, making it 3-3 as Gaurav Aravind beat Siraj 3-1 (11-9, 11-13, 11-5, 11-8) in a high-class match which attracted a good following.

Gaurav Aravind takes on Shayan Siraj (picture by Chris Rayner)

Fusion also fought back three times against BATTS in the other match, meaning E-BATT could not be caught, making their 4-2 defeat by Fusion in Round 10 irrelevant – except that it kept the winners in second place ahead of Cliffedale, despite the latter defeating BATTS 4-2.

Premier B saw XLNT Draycott finish a point ahead of Ormesby.

E-BATT’s Thibault Bailliet topped the averages with 18/20, one better than Joseph Hee of Fusion. Also contributing to the champions’ cause were Aravind, Israel Awolaja and Dylan Curry.

Boy’s Division 1 saw Dublin A clear at the top with nine wins and a draw, finishing five points ahead of runners-up Halifax A. It was Halifax who denied Dublin a 100% win rate, earning a 3-3 draw in the last round of fixtures thanks to a double by Josh Weatherby.

In Division 2A, Sycamore Rasen clinched the title in the last round of fixtures, beating Kingfisher 5-1 to reach 14pts and ensure a two-point cushion ahead of Britannia Ipswich, with Kingfisher a point further back.

Division 2B saw Cardiff City finish on 16 points to win by two from XLNT Draycott II – building up enough of a buffer to mean their 4-2 defeat by Draycott in Round 10 did not matter.

Division 3A saw an unbeaten record, though a slightly strange one in that Bishop Auckland won four and drew six of their fixtures.

They had an identical record to the first weekend, with two wins and three draws, finishing two points clear of Bribar St Neots.

In Division 3B, it could scarcely have been closer between the top two as Lillington and Formby finished on 17 points each, the former claiming the title on countback.

Formby had led after Weekend 1 with a perfect record, with Lillington two points behind. Both dropped points against Ormesby III – 3-3 on each occasion – and that meant Lillington’s 4-2 win over Formby in the final round got them above their opponents. They were never behind, Ricardo Bolanos winning his two matches.

Horsham Spinners were unbeaten in claiming Division 4A, eight wins and two draws keeping them ahead of Ulster. The two teams drew 3-3 in the final round, Owen Brown winning the final match for Horsham to clinch the title.

In 4B, Hunts Boys went into the weekend with 5/5 and a three-point league, but two defeats – to London Academy II and Dublin B – meant they took the title by just a point ahead of those teams, Dublin ending in second on countback.

Click here to view the final boys’ league tables

Click here to view the boys’ player averages

Swerve took the title in Girls’ Division 1, finishing three points ahead of Ellenborough B. They had enough in hand going into the final match between the two teams, but in the event they came from 3-1 down to force a draw as Nicole Scott won two.

In Division 2, Fusion II overturned a two-point deficit behind Ulster after Weekend 1, beating the Northern Ireland team 4-2 in Round 9.

They still needed a favour from Ashford Brunswick in the final round, Ashford also beating Ulster 4-2 and allowing Fusion to take the title by defeating Swerve B 4-2.

Division 3 saw unbeaten champions in the shape of XLNT Draycott III, drawing three times on Weekend 2 to end with six victories and four draws, their 16-point haul leaving them three ahead of Bribar St Neots.

Click here to view the final girls’ league tables

Click here to view the girls’ player averages

Author: via Table Tennis England
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