Goons 1 show off title credentials

IN DIVISION One of the Table Tennis League, one of the leading contenders for the title Goons 1 have been in scintillating form since the Christmas break, writes Mike Holt.

They defeated Queen’s Mira by 9 sets to 1 and followed this with a similar score line away against Hit and Hope A and then walloped X-Cat 2 10-0 to rocket themselves into contention for the title.

Meanwhile their main competitors for the trophy X-Cat 1 had a 10-0 win over G Wad A, following this up with another maximum score against Hit and Hope A.

Third-placed G Ward B had a comfortable win over X-Cat 2 winning by 9 sets to 1. They lost ground in their next game however when they found their own G Ward A team too strong going down by 6 sets to 4. Andy Spring (G WA) being player of the match.

G Ward A suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Queen’s Mira losing by 7 sets to 3. This was a closer match than the scores indicates, with no fewer that eight of the sets going to either four or five games.

There was more good news for the Juniors in the Borough when several local school sides took part in the regional finals of the school team championships at Grantham.

Pride of place goes to the Burbage Junior Girls under 11 team who won the regional event and will play in the National Finals at Wolverhampton on Sunday, April 3 with three other Regional winners from across the nation.

Huge congratulations to a team of Grace, Amelia, Amber and Isla - all of whom displayed skill, calmness and teamwork as they beat teams from Derbyshire 6-2 and Yorkshire 7-1. We wish them well. They are the first Girls Under 11’s team from the county to reach the finals. Well done girls!

Also there were very good performances from Burbage Junior Boys u11 - who came 2nd equal - losing one match to a strong Notts team and then drawing with a Yorkshire team and Leicester GS u13 girls who came 3rd against Staffs and Yorkshire schools losing 3-5 both times.