Draycott Dinosaurs end domination of Students teams

STUDENT domination of the Loughborough and District Table Tennis League has been ended in some style by Draycott Dinosaurs.

Vastly more experienced Draycott triumphed over the youthful talent of Loughborough University as they romped to the First Division title by 10 points.

Key to their success was remaining unbeaten in the all-important clashes with their nearest rivals Students B, winning one and drawing twice. They also had two wins and a draw against Students C who finished 27 points adrift of the champions in third spot.

Strength in depth was important, too, as all nine players they fielded made positive contributions.

Topping the lot was Tanuj Kohli who headed the league’s averages with 95 per cent. He was only denied what would have been a perfect unbeaten record from 20 sets by Samuel Pang, of Students C.

Javier Goh was equally as consistent with 11 victories out of 12. The other player who appeared most frequently was Malcolm Truman who finished on 50 per cent.

Strangely, the only team who lowered Draycott’s colours were Charnwood Aggressors who finished bottom of the table. That night, however, showed how dangerous they were with Geoff Parsons (59 per cent) in their side.

Infact Aggressors won five of their 18 matches, illustrating the strength of the top flight.

Students B relied much on Xingling Luo (76) and Max Flint (62) to keep their challenge afloat. In a division featuring three Student side, it was one particular local derby that effectively ruined their chances when they were beaten 6-0 by Students C.

Sandor Koch (87) and Ayush Buche (62) were on duty that night but their squad of eight players couldn’t quite live with Students B and Dinosaurs over the whole season.

The two promoted Draycott sides both performed creditably to finish fourth and sixth respectively.

Dinkies were reinforced by David Broner (91) who lost out only to Kohli and Billy Shi out of 24 sets. League chairman Jordan Tweed (23) and Jessica Birbeck (22) were their other main players.

Dragons fielded six young players of whom Billy Shi, Winston Hill and Eddie Fletcher all won 50 per cent.

They were split in the table by Students A who were also a highly competitive squad led by John Strang (70). Toby McLewin (65) and Ella Barnard (50).

Parsons was usually partnered by Shan Gao (30) in an Aggressors side who emphasised the gulf in class between Loughborough’s top two divisions.

In theory, next season will see the top division competed for by only two clubs as Draycott also provided the champions of Division Two.