In Division 1, Owen Davies scored three for Elsworth 1 in their 8-2 defeat of Gazeley.   Joe Thorogood and Brian Freer chipped in with two wins each plus the doubles.   Gazeley’s Rob Wallis gained victories over Thorogood and Freer but Bela Szabo and Kin Choi Chan left empty handed.   Soham Comrades 1, despite having to call on two players from their second team, found themselves needing only the doubles to force a draw against the League leaders.   Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and Haddenham 1 ran out the winners by 6-4.   Earlier, Christian Mohan had won three, Patrick Mohan one and Kieran Mohan one, both players losing out to Tony Comiskey and Mark Lillyman.   The Fulbourn 1 team included a rare appearance by Jon Chapman who surprised everyone by winning his three singles against Fulbourn 2.  Two each  from Peters Zivtins and Ju Young were enough to give the first string’s score a convincing look although Max Schwiening beat both Zivtins and Young in five to get the "Twos" going before teaming up with Hamish Ryder for the doubles.   They won 14-12 in the fifth leg to make the final score 7-3 to the “Firsts”.   After slipping down the table in recent weeks, Soham turned out a strengthened team including both Clive Woollard and Andreas Elia to face the might of Ely.  Woollard secured a maximum three wins whilst Elia, despite suffering with a pulled back muscle, added another two, just losing out narrowly to Andrew Maguire from Ely, before the two combined to secure the doubles for a 6-4 victory.   Ely’s Hugo Brown and Howard Middleton gave good support to Maguire, all recording victories over Jay Johnson of Soham who was unable to build upon his success of the previous week.

Division 2 action saw the NCI roadshow roll on with a 9-1 thrashing of St Georges – in fact St Georges had to wait ‘til the doubles for their only success when Clare Macrae and Hement Joshi beat Kelvin Mitchell and Colin Taylor in three sets.   Other than that, Mitchell and Taylor, along with Howard Morley, kept Macrae, Joshi and Anne Chambers off the scoresheet.   Soham Comrades 3 held Impington to a draw even though Jeff Catlin enjoyed three comfortable wins for the Imps.   Mike Johnston added two more when, after losing to Martin Logan, he beat both Mark Sulman and Mick Foreman.   Amy Catlin had a most frustrating evening taking all her opponents to five sets but coming away without a victory.   In a particularly long match against Sulman she lost the fifth leg 15-17.   Logan and Foreman played very well to beat Jeff Catlin and Johnston in the doubles. 

In Division 3, the Leeks of Fulbourn 4 continued their purple patch with a convincing 7-3 win over Fulbourn 6.   Howard led with three wins, Tim two and David one, before Howard and David combined for the doubles.  Rob Powell was the mainstay of the "Sixes" with two wins, backed up by one from Duncan Gates.   Janet Nicholls of Soham Comrades 5 saved her team from a whitewash against Fulbourn 5 when she beat Micheal Boniface in four sets.   The remaining games all went to Andy Segar, Jamie Hampson and Boniface, denying Comrades another point although Pete Claringbold took Segar and Boniface to five sets and Melissa Rule also forced Hampson to a decider.   Ely 2 and Haddenham 3 played out a draw in record time, the match lasting only two hours.   Ely’s Karen Byford picked up her fourth win of the season.   Rob Pownall won all three and he and Byford won the doubles.

In Division 1, Gazeley visited Soham and came away with a 7-3 victory mainly due to three wins each from Rob Wallis and Bela Szabo.   Kin Choi Chan beat Martin Heyes in four to complete their score.   Soham’s points came from Jay Johnson, with a notable win over Kin, and Jon Audus who also beat Kin.   The Soham pair then joined forces to take the doubles.   Mirek Pazdzior was once again the mainstay for Soham Comrades 1, winning his three singles against Fulbourn 1 to earn them a 6-4 victory.   Two from Mark Lillyman and the doubles cut short the Fulbourn drive as Peters Zivtins, Marc Meunier and Nigel Bates all got the better of Syd Dunster, Bates also beating Lillyman.   Fulbourn 2 went to Soham Comrades 2 and went down 4-6.  Comrades’ usually unflappable Tony Comiskey struggled to beat Hamish Ryder,the match going to 11-9 in the fifth.   Harris Ryder was in good form getting the better of Martyn Hagon and Colin Gannon, while Hamish and Max Schwiening also scored one each.   The remaining games plus the doubles went to Comrades.

Division 2 action saw Haddenham 2 soundly beat Elsworth 2 by 9-1.   The Elsworth team of Stuart Humphrey, Tom Smart and Rich Smart didn’t get off the ground as Ed Emmerson and Ben Brown scored maximums backed up by two from Phil Emmerson.   Tom Smart scored Elsworth’s consolation point beating Phil Emmerson in four.   The Fulbourn 3 team of Tim and Tom Hands plus Mike Fricker beat Soham Comrades 3 by 8-2, after taking a 4-0 lead.   However, Marc Sulman played a heroic defensive game to beat Fricker in five and nearly did the same against Tom Hands, this time going down in five. George Wood also saved his best ‘til last when getting the better of Tim Hands, 14-12 in the fifth.   Impington failed to stop the march of NCI but certainly gave them something to think about - mainly due to three very good wins from Colin Adams.   Fred Leband kicked off with his game against Howard Morley but despite taking the first leg found Morley’s game just a bit too steady.   John Bray then beat Martin Cadman in five and Adams played really well to beat a lively Tony Whiting.   Leband found Cadman too strong and Bray found Whiting to be the same so after Adams’ next victory the match was poised at three-all.   Apart from Adams’ third win, the remaining singles and the doubles went to NCI to give them the match 6-4.

In Division 3, Fulbourn 6 beat Soham Comrades 5 by 7-3, Rob Powell winning three singles for Fulbourn but needing the fifth against both Pete Claringbold and Janet Nicholls.   He was supported well by two from Duncan Gates, against Nicholls and Melissa Rule, while Pat Lloyd also beat Nicholls 11-9 in the fifth.   Rule won 13-11 in the fifth against Lloyd to add to Claringbold's two wins to complete Comrades’ points.   A very close game saw Countess nonetheless beat Fulbourn 5 by an 8-2 margin.   Robin Gammon won his three singles quite comfortably.   Steve Jugg also won his three singles but needed the fifth against both Matt Gunton and Andrew Segar.   Steve Foulger chipped in with a win over Jamie Hampson before Gammon and Jugg took the doubles.   The Leek family, father Tim and sons Howard and David, playing as Fulbourn 4, visited Soham Comrades 4 and ran out the winners 7-3.   Chris Rule, Lito Jumilla and Mick Wells won one each but the rest of the scorecard went to the Leeks.

Entry Form for the Ely Tournament on Sunday 19th February at Ross Peers Sports Centre.

I have received notifcation from LTC that they are withdrawing from the League as they are unable to field a Team for personal reasons

Brian R Freer

Competition Sec

The player handicaps for the Newmarket Journal Handicap Cup & Plate are now available to view and download.

Soham Comrades 1 home night is Wednesday

Welcome to LTC! They are playing in Division 2 at number 5; their home night is Friday. They play at Littleport Sports Centre. Contact Mantas Paliulis.

Brian Mitchell's business phone number is incorrect on page 31, it is correct on page 6.

Haddenham 3 club captain is now Ben Nightingale: 07833 454118, email: b.j.nightingale (at) gmail.com

Download the handbook (includes all these amendments). The password is: Handbook2011

Do not forget to renew your ETTA membership! The processes will be much more efficient this season; you can renew via the ETTA website or send in a form to the league via your Club Secretary. If you register via another league, please amend your membership to show Ely as one of your leagues.

At the AGM, no-one was prepared to stand for the Match Secretary position. On behalf of the League, the Executive Committee approached Brian Freer primarily for information regarding how the fixtures are setup so that players in both the Ely and Cambs leagues avoid clashes. During this meeting, Brian offered to take on the Match Secretary position. The Executive Committee were very grateful for Brian's offer and all agreed that we could work together.

In Division 1, Haddenham 1 retained their Champions title by a clear margin from Soham.

(The match between Haddenham 1 v Impington 1 was not played and declared void)

In Division 2, Comrades 2 showed efficient form throughout the season to hold off runners-up Fulbourn 3 who in turn managed to resist the late surge of Ely 2.

In Division 3, Fulbourn 6 impressively won twelve matches to take top spot with Elsworth 2 enjoying a good season to finish in second place.

The Newmarket Journal Handicap Cup was won by Soham Comrades 1, defeating Fulbourn 2 by 5-2.

The Handicap Plate was won by Fulbourn 3 beating Gazeley 1 by 5-3.

The 21-UP handicap cup was also won by Fulbourn 3 narrowly beating Ely 2 by 5-4.

The 21-UP handicap plate was dominated by Ellesmere 1 with a 5-1 victory over Soham Comrades 2.

Steve Annison, our web master, is asking for any enhancements, YOU, yes YOU would like to see in a future Table Tennis website.

Send your ideas to enquiries@slaassociates.co.uk

Andrew is compiling the history of the league between 1980-2010.

I would be very grateful if you have any final (or near final) league tables, cup and tournament results for this period.

These results will be added to the history of the league 1950-1980 and will be added to this website.

A very successful and enjoyable Closed Tournament was held at the Ross Peers Sports Centre, Soham on Sunday 20^th February.   Soham Comrades’ Mirek Pazdzior and Impington’s Tracey Sambrook both took home three Winner’s trophies as did Ed Emmerson in the Junior events.

Mirek was in superb form all day, beating Patrick Mohan in an exciting all-attacking semi-final and then beating Martin Freeland to gain the Mens Singles title.   He then teamed up with Martin to win the Mens Doubles against Liam and Kieran Mohan and followed this with another win against Liam in the final of the Veterans Singles – though Liam had some consolation in holding the Over 50s Singles for the fifth year running.

Tracey won the Ladies Singles against Amy Catlin.   She was then joined by Melissa Rule to take the Ladies Doubles and then by Liam to win the Mixed Doubles.

Ed Emmerson put in a good days work winning the Junior Singles and Handicap Singles and then the Junior Doubles with Ben Brown.   Ed also finished runner-up to Max Schwiening in the Under 15 Singles.   The Haddenham Club enjoyed a most successful day with eight members taking home a trophy. See their photo!

Full results:-

Mens Singles :   Mirek Pazdzior beat Martin Freeland.

Mens Doubles :   Mirek Pazdzior and Martin Freeland beat Liam and Kieran Mohan

Ladies singles :   Tracey Sambrook beat Amy Catlin

Ladies Doubles :   Tracey Sambrook and Melissa Rule beat Amy Catlin and Jannett Klinke

Mixed Doubles :   Liam Mohan and Tracey Sambrook beat Patrick Mohan and Jannett Klinke

Junior Singles :   Ed Emmerson beat Tom Bicknell

Junior Doubles :   Ed Emmerson and Ben Brown beat Howard and David Leek

Under 15s Singles :   Max Schwiening beat Ed Emmerson

Veterans Singles :   Mirek Pazdzior beat Liam Mohan

Over 50s Singles :   Liam Mohan beat Jeff Catlin

Unseeded Doubles :   Ju Young and Hugo Brown beat Fred Cheung and James Nicholls

Handicap Singles :   Ed Emmerson beat Kieran Mohan

Regular Players Singles :   Robin Gammon beat Melissa Rule.

Thanks from all to Peter Claringbold and his Tournament Committee.

Only one League match reported this week – and that was from Division 1, where a very sociable (but one-sided) evening saw Haddenham 1 beat their second string 10-0.   

At the ETTA AGM on 10^th July 2010, Rule Change Proposition 13 was carried, therefore, all Competitive Table Tennis will require the use of racket coverings of a brand and type currently authorised by the ITTF.

Here is the current ITTF LARC PDF document (list authorised racket coverings).

The ETTA is bringing Table Tennis in line with many other sports by introducing the requirement to be a paid-up member of the governing body in order to play table tennis at league standard and above.

The committee will be communicating via the club secretaries about how we are going to handle this new requirement and the membership forms in the coming weeks. Please contact them or the committee if you require further details or clarification.

You can Download ETTA membership form if you do not have a form yet.