Ruckinge bottom after tense decider

Table tennis

Ruckinge C are bottom of the Ashford & District Table Tennis League, Division 2 after losing against Sportsmen A.

Julian Thorne beat Richard Wright 3-1 in the opening singles and Howard Brightling saw off league chairman David Twiddy 3-0 to extend the Sportsmen’s lead.

It was 3-0 overall when Douglas Ho beat Alan White but Ruckinge then mounted a comeback.

Wright won a decider against Brightling to register their first point and that was followed by wins for White and Twiddy against Thorne and Ho respectively.

However, in the final round of singles, wins for Ho and Brightling swung things back in the Sportsmen’s favour before Thorne saw off Twiddy 14-12 in a decider.

The win moves Sportsmen A up to third.

Ruckinge D were beaten 8-1 by title hopefuls Ashford TT A.

Colin Bingham lost 14-12 to Russell Swain and Dean Burfield needed a fifth leg to beat Daniel Simmons, who did spare Ruckinge a 9-0 whitewash when he beat Swain 3-1 in the final singles.

Ashford are fourth, with games in hand over the teams above them, while Ruckinge are just ahead of their C team in seventh.

Postling C continued their promotion bid with a 6-3 win over Hamstreet A.

Newcomers Postling made a good start with Terry Roome, Nigel Standfield and Stephen Powell all proving too strong for Stuart Whorlow and Anthony Bodle.

Hamstreet’s third player, Ben Browne, put in a manof-the-match display as he dropped just two legs in wins against Roome, Standfeld and Powell.

Postling are six points clear of Challock B, who have a game in hand, while Hamstreet are tucked in mid-table.

Meanwhile, Ashford C started their Kent League campaign by taking on an experienced Maidstone team of Julie Parker, Jill Shipton and Richard Brashford.

Shipton was player-ofthe-match as she claimed three wins, including coming from two legs down to beat Luke Bingham 3-2.

Parker and Brashford both beat an under-par Mike Galvan but Ashford battled back for a draw, thanks to two wins each for Hrvoje Crnko and Bingham. Ashford B start their Division 2 campaign away to Sittingbourne next week.