Headline: 'Travellers A take Division 1 Table Tennis title'       

 Travellers A are Fun88 IOMTTA Division 1 title winners with a week to spare, and will be crowned champions after this coming week's final week of fixtures. This result is almost identical to last year's league result with Ramsey A likely to be runners up as they were last year. The team's principal members throughout the season have been Scott Lewis, Liam Chan and Malcolm Cummings, with some assistance from David Lovelady, John Shooter and Malc Lewis who played up for them from time to time. Congratulations to them for a magnificent achievement, based not only on skilful play, but also through great teamwork. Last week's fixtures can be summarised as follows. 

Division 1

 Travellers B (4) Ramsey A (5) 

John Shooter had a highly successful week for the home side, blasting his way past Ramsey's Chris Holland, Duncan Alexander and Chris Holmes. He out-foxed left hander Alexander in straight sets, and then came from 2 games down against Holland to claw his way back and gain a great win. Finally he managed to sweep aside Chris Holmes, albeit each game looked close. Malc Lewis added a valuable point by beating Holmes in 4 games. William Shooter played well again and took a game off Alexander, and his games against Holland were each very close. A good 4 points then for Travellers B, whilst Ramsey edge towards the runners up spot. 

Travellers A (8) Arbory (1) 

A notable result here with Travellers sensing that victory would seal the championship, as it has. Scott Lewis was in supreme form, sweeping aside Khayee Vinas, Jason Quirk and Mike Tamarov. Liam Chan did likewise, albeit he encountered some stiff resistance from Vinas, and Quirk in particular. Malcolm Cummings had a tremendous 5 set tussle with Tamarov before coming out on top, taking the 5th game 11-8. He had a similar battle with Quirk, but the Arbory player just managed to close out the match on this occasion in the 5th. Arbory are likely to be third in Division 1 but this will be decided in next week's final fixture.  

Desmond's Douglas A (3) Copy Shop A (5)

Desmond's were only able to field 2 players for this tie, as were Copy Shop A. Russell Kent had no joy against unbeaten Sean Drewry, losing in 3 games, and then to step up player Malcolm Lambert who did well to take the match in 4 games. Tommy Cowin had a very good win against Lambert in what was a rather close match, finally settled 12-10 in the 5th. 

Tower A (1) Strathallan (8) 

Strathallan fielded Julian Briercliffe, Andy Patterson and Neil Quane for this tie and always looked stiff opposition for Tower. This was not helped by Dave Parsons suffering a back injury in the second game against Patterson when it was 1 game apiece, and having to retire from the entire tie, thus handing Strathallan 3 points. Our good wishes to Dave for a swift recovery. In the remaining action Ken Mitchell came from 2 games down against powerful counterhitter Quane to make a match of it, only to succumb 8-11 in the 5th end. Will Bayley used his great backhand to outhit Quane however for a well earned Tower point. He also came close against Patterson, having been 2-1 up after taking the 3rd game 17-15. Patterson then modified his tactics and blasted his way past Bayley with some fine play, to take the final 2 games in more routine fashion. Briercliffe was his usual efficient self, breezing past Mitchell and Bayley in 3 games.  

Ramsey C (3) Ramsey B (6) 

Glenn Callow had a great win for the B team over fellow junior star William Dalugdugan, sweeping him aside in impressive style 11-7, 11-6, 12-10. He did likewise against Adrian Slater. Tim Baker was the B team's only other player and he made short work of Dalugdugan, Slater and Glenn's brother Charlie. Glenn won the battle of the Callows in a relatively close affair, taking the match 12-10 in the 4th end. The win seals safety for Ramsey B and Division 1 action for them next season, whilst unfortunately consigning Ramsey C to Division 2 alongside Desmond's Douglas. 

Division 2 

Tower C (0) Tower B (10) 

Tower C were only able to field 2 players for this tie in the form of Steve Curtis and Barry Jenkins, however Tower B were ruthless in this demolition job. Graham McFarlane, Dario Mazzotta and Simon McFarlane steam-rollered their way past the opposition to take the 10 points, and a highly deserved Division 2 title - and promotion to Division 1 where they surely belong. Coming into the final week of fixtures they have 135 points compared to Peel A's 120.  

Peel A (4) Peel B (5)

This was another tie blighted by absent players unfortunately which meant that it was 2 versus 2. For Peel A, Ken Hegarty was ably assisted by Ronan Thompson. Hegarty was pushed hard by Nathan Evans and Maggie Mulhern, only defeating Evans 11-9 in the 5th end, and Mulhern in the 4th. The match between Evans and Thompson was extremely tight with honours finally going to Evans who squeezed through 11-9 in the 5th. The 4 points means that Peel A are guaranteed promotion as runners up, after a highly creditable campaign. 

Desmond's Douglas B (4) Travellers C (6) 

Invincible Paul Matthieson-Nelson continued his unbeaten run with yet another 3 points in this tie against Peter Russell, Neil Ronan and Richard Hill. Only Peter managed to take a game off him. David Buck added points for Travellers by defeating Hill and Russell, but he fell to Ronan in 2 straight. Finally Buck and Matthieson-Nelson added a further point by taking the doubles in 4 games against Ronan and Russell. 

Travellers D (1) Copy Shop B (9) 

Travellers D's Maurice Campbell and Jackie Gill were ably assisted by Junior Development Player Francesca Lord, who managed to beat John-Paul Banaag in 5 close games. Campbell put up a good fight in his matches against Sonja Shaw and John Paul Banaag, but was unable to avoid defeat in 4 games in each. His match with step-up player Dan Levine went to 5 games before young Dan pipped Maurice 11-9 in the 5th. Jackie Gill had a similar experience, falling  to Sonja and John-Paul, and to a triumphant Dan in 5 games. Levine also swept aside Francesca in 3 games, sealing a great night for him. 

Ramsey D (4) Copy Shop C (6) 

Kevin Drewry was star of the night for Copy Shop, with his haul of 3 points. He did so by defeating Charlie Callow, Wilma Dalugdugan and Sally Green. For the home side Sally Green had a superb, battling win against Darren Shaw in 5 games. Charlie Callow added a further point by also defeating Shaw in 3 games. Wilma had a very good win over Copy Shop's Rob Wright, taking the match 16-14 in the 3rd. Wright played well however to defeat both Callow and Green in 3 ends. The doubles went to Ramsey's Charlie and Wilma in a great win over the experienced pairing of Wright and Drewry - sealing the match 11-9 in the 5th. 

Division 3

Peel C (4) Ramsey E (6)  

In this highly competitive tie, Ramsey E just managed to take the honours, courtesy of Francesca and Lisa Lord, and Wilma Dalugdugan. Four of the matches went to a fifth game decider, and there was a record high scoring game. First up was Amit Lannin who managed to edge past Francesca in a tight 5 setter. Lisa Lord then reversed that, managing to pip Amit 12-10 in the final end. Wilma found herself 2 games down to Amit before giving herself a pep talk, taking the last 3 games 11-9, 11-5, 11-2. Amit's Dad Vlad had a tremendous night with 3 good wins over Lisa, Francesca and Wilma. In another extremely tight game for Wilma, she just lost out to Vlad 13-11 in the 5th end. Bob Borland lost to Francesca, Lisa and Wilma, but had some really close games within those matches. Francesca showed real determination and a will to win in her game with Bob, with the final 2 games going to her 20-18, 13-11! Finally the doubles went to Francesca and Wilma in 5 games against Vlad and Amit. 

Peel D (5) Ramsey G (5) 

Ali Ramirez of Peel D showed great determination to win 2 of his matches against Megan Lord and Henry de Silva. His battle with Megan ended in the 5th with Ali just managing to pull through 11-7. James Devereau and Liam Bibby both added points by beating Henry, with James and Ali taking the doubles. Martyn Howard for Ramsey played well once again, taking all 3 points and ensuring d the draw for Ramsey.

Ramsey F (2) Copy Shop E (8) 

Copy Shop E deservedly secured the Division 3 title with this win. Their success has been built on the consistently good play from Mike and Dan Levine, and Ege Niyazi. Within this tie there were some interesting scores however, with previously unbeaten Mike falling to Ryan Holland in 3 games - a highly creditable win for the youngster. Ryan then managed to also get past Dan in 4 games in another good win for him. He was unable to maintain that momentum however against fellow Junior Development Player Ege Niyazi, who took the match in 3. Match of the night perhaps was between Dan Levine and Matthew Bell with Dan taking it 11-4 in the fifth in a topsy turvy affair. Tim Tsitsos pushed Ege hard in his match before falling 11-7 in the 5th end. The doubles went to Dan and Ege in 3 games. Ramsey F have therefore sealed second place in Division 3, and have thus deservedly secured promotion to Division 2 alongside winners Copy Shop E.