Table tennis: Ramsey loses ground to Travelers in the battle of the titans

Week seven of the Fun88-sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis Association competition saw the resumption of singles in Divisions One and Two, with the usual singles and doubles in Division Three.

Travelers A (6), Ramsey A (3)

Second-placed Ramsey A had a chance to close in on leaders Travelers A, but instead lost ground.

Despite Liam Chan still missing, Travelers were able to call on John Shooter, who was a more than capable replacement and dutifully won two of his matches against Becky Taylor and Chris Holmes.

Scott Lewis was again undefeated and remains the beating heart of Travelers A. Holmes took a match away from him, but otherwise Lewis had no problems.

Malcolm Cummings then recorded a stunning four-run victory against a deviant Taylor. However, he could not make any impression against Duncan Alexander and lost in two straight.

Alexander was also successful against Shooter, the attacking southpaw who overcame the experienced Shooter 12/14, 11/9, 11/6, 11/9.

Finally, Chris Holmes recorded a brilliant win over Cummings, triumphing 11/8 in the fifth with some great attacking shots to the wings.

Boomboom B (3), Boomboom A (6)

Mike Tamarov was Arbory ​​As rock with another clean sheet, winning against John Magnall in five end (from two down), Amit Lanin in four and Dan Levine in three.

Teammate Sonja Shaw added a point by coming back from a match behind to beat Levine 3-1.

Malcolm Lambert played for the A team again and acquitted himself again admirably with two brilliant wins. In a close match he got past Levine 5/11, 11/5, 12/10, 12/10 and then scored a great victory over Magnall, outsmarting him in four.

Tower A (3), Travelers B (6)

Dave Parsons secured a hard-fought but valuable victory for Tower over Malc Lewis in five runs, before sweeping aside Keeran Chan in four runs.

Ken Mitchell also outwitted Chan to win in the fourth end. He had two match points in the fourth against Lewis, but the wily Travelers player thwarted him by winning the match 13/11 and the fifth 11/9.

The star of the night was the ever-improving Will Shooter, whose down-the-line backhand counters ensured he didn't drop a game all night against the hapless Mitchell, Parsons and Mike Bayley.

Keeran found some solace by beating Bayley in their fourth end.

Tower B (0), Strathallan (9)

Tower B fell victim to a rampant Strathallan team of Julian Briercliffe, Andy Patterson and Wayne Taylor.

Simon Radcliffe took a match from Briercliffe in their four-setter, but otherwise it was plain sailing for Strathy, who continues to climb the table.

Ramsey B (5), Travelers C (4)

Wael Kassim replaced Ramsey again with two excellent wins against Paul Mathieson-Nelson and David Buck, each in four ends.

Geoff Ball added two more points by beating Buck in three points and then recorded a remarkable win over the hard-to-beat Mathieson-Nelson.

Player of the evening was again Dave Lovelady, who remains undefeated this season. His toughest encounter was against Kassim, but Lovelady used all his experience to get past the Ramsey youngster 11/9, 10/12, 11/9, 11/3.

JRTE Marketing (4), Peel A (5)

Darren Smethurst was always going to be the silver lining for JRTE in Division Two with his excellent table tennis credentials.

After a ten year hiatus, he has come back with a bang and has only been defeated once, netting a further three points in this draw.

That said, Stu Perry gave him a good run for his money, placing him in fifth place before crashing out in the final with 7/11. Jon Taylor-Burt also took a game away from him.

JRTE's Paul Mitchinson had a great match against Ken Hegarty, securing a win against expectations in 11/6, 9/11, 11/4, 10/12, 11/7.

Ramsey C (0), Desmonds Douglas (9)

The Ramsey C trio of Martyn Howard, Keith Herington and Geoff Burchill are a strong team on paper, but they were no match for an even stronger Desmonds company.

Brandon Mointgomery, Neil Ronan and Sasha Thomas were simply too strong for Ramsey, with just three games leading to a fourth-place finish.

Boomboom D (2), Boomboom C (7)

JP Banaag once again showed what a good stand-in he is for the D team with excellent wins against Dave Bufton and Rob Wright.

Bufton pushed him all the way, but fell in the fifth end on 9/11.

JP was stopped by player of the evening Kevin Drewry, who proved to be too difficult for him and took it 11/7, 10/12, 11/7, 11/9. Wright did well to add two points for the visitors, beating Liav Lanin and Bob Borland.

Travelers G (2) Travelers F (3)

Thomas Taylor-Burt was the star of this tie, gaining two points by beating Sydnie Weaver in four runs and Rhys Bufton in a tight five-setter.

However, Taylor-Burt and Max Doyle couldn't quite match the skills of Weaver and Bufton and lost the doubles in three runs.

Ramsey E (0) Travelers E (5)

Henry Weaver once again showed how far he has come this season by beating Saul Tumblety and Teddy Clayton to maintain his 100% record.

Weavers teammate Eban Moore is also making good progress and the young left-hander showed great determination to take both of his wins in the fifth end, with both matches seeing some close games.

The boys then added a valuable fifth point and recorded a 5-0 victory.

JRTE Marketing B (5) Ramsey D (0)

Newcomer Anil Paul did well to make it two wins for JRTE with a three-set win over Pat Halliwell and a four-set win over Tony Sewell.

Gary Skillicorn did the same without dropping a match, and he and Paul combined well to win the doubles 11/7, 11/6, 11/7, resulting in a 5–0 win.