Early drama as cup teams Dare to win

Table tennis

There was plenty of drama in the opening round of the Canterbury & District Table Tennis Association’s Dare Cup team handicap knockout competition. All points, including the handicap, accumulate over 20 legs of singles and doubles with the winner the team with the most points in total. Division 2 side Chestfield Warriors 7 were handed a club derby and a 224-point handicap advantage against Warriors 4 from Division 1. Roger Jordan and Denis Cannon won all their games for Warriors 4 to reduce the deficit, while Linda Wickings of Warriors 7 faced husband John and was pleased to take a leg off him as the handicap proved to be too much for Warriors 4 to overcome and her side won by 85 points. Linda Wickings was also in action for Warriors 19, winning all her matches against Warriors 16 to help overcome a 245-point handicap and win by 64 points overall, with Adrian Millsted also successful in all his games. Herne Bay K and Faversham D of Division 3 were drawn against each other with Bay starting with a 105-point advantage. Charles Harman, Barbara Ayling and Josie Prowse for Herne Bay were pushed hard by Harry Hutchinson, Mike Ayris and Alan Culver. However, Bay moved into round two, winning by 88 points. Warriors 13 were home to Warriors 17 in an all-division 4 cup match with a 205-point advantage and although Peter Mccaig won all his games, Warriors 13 managed to stave off the efforts of his side to prevail by 86 points. An all-division 2 game between Blean B and Faversham C began with Blean having a 105-point handicap advantage over their visitors which they held on to throughout on their way to a 96-point victory. Faced with the prospect of overcoming a 322-point handicap, Paul Messenger, Gerry Allen and Mick Barwick, of Bay H from Division 3, won all the singles games at Division 4’s Warriors 15 to sit just 36 points behind the Warriors going into the doubles. Bay won the first leg 25-11 but those 11 points left the Warriors needing just three points from the second leg, which they achieved, to win a place in the next round. Warriors 5 from Division 2 gave visiting Blean C from Division 3 a 49-point handicap lead but Simon Howe won his three games to help overturn the deficit to lead by 23 points before the doubles and prevail by 32 points. The youthful Warriors 12 squad of Lewis and George Marsh and Rowan Brough from Division 3 pushed Division 2’s Bay F all the way with Graeme Sopp needing to win all his games to help ensure a 30-point win.