Strength in depth in table tennis league

THE strength of this year’s First Division in the Loughborough and District Table Tennis League is highlighted by the struggles of newcomers Sawley Nags.

Despite having an excellent squad, including several players with title winning medals to their name, Nags were rooted to the foot of the table at Christmas with one draw and eight defeats.

And that run continued on Thursday evening even though the home side were strengthened by Wayne Glossop playing in the doubles against high flying Draycott Dinosaurs.

Glossop took part in two rollercoaster five game sets against Andrew Portlock and Anthony Brown but was narrowly unable to partner first Dave Pegg, then Dave Fox to victory.

And Draycott’s cliffhanging 12-10 success in the final game of the night was enough to clinch a hard-earned 4-2 triumph and condemn Nags to yet another disappointment.

Portlock was the player of the night with two convincing singles wins to extend his personal 100 per cent record to six sets. Both Pegg and Fox managed to beat Brown, but Nags remains nine points adrift of Thringstone A.

They suffered in much the same fashion against Draycott Diamonds as Lucy Vernon and Helena Dicken won both doubles to keep their title flame burning with a 4-2 away win.

Sujatro Ghosh and Xi-Long Huang powered Students B to the summit of Division Two in a competitive clash with Unicorn Curlews. Justin Ho was the player of the match with two wins for Curlews who remain in fourth spot.

Charnwood Foxes and Students G remain neck and neck at the top of Division Four after both returned after the holiday break by taking maximum points.

Max Cherry and Alex Boon steered Foxes to a 6-0 win over Charnwood Eagles, whilst Toby Dickens took his unbeaten run to 16 sets as Students overpowered Charnwood Gladiators.

Packington Pirates were another team to hit six at the expense of Sawley Tested. Matthew Neil’s double helped Students F to beat Draycott Debutants 4-2.