Table tennis: Magnall and Shaw on fire for Arbory

With the festivities over, the players were back in action last week with the return of the Fun 88-sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis Association competition at the NSC.

This was the 11th round, so we are now half way through the season.

Arbory ​​B (6), Tower A (3)

With Arbory ​​B one place above Tower A, this was a draw that the away team had to win.

It was a closer affair than the scoreline suggests, with five games going to a fifth ending, with Arbory ​​winning four.

Mike Bayley must have felt like he was struggling because his three games went to fifth place, but none went his way. Still, all credit to Arbory, as this pulls them out of the relegation zone.

John Magnall won all three of his matches: four against Ken Mitchell and five against Bayley and Dave Parsons. The latter did well to claw his way back into the match against Magnall, but ultimately fell short by the narrowest of margins: 4-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11.

Amit Lanin also played well for the home side, beating Mitchell in three and Bayley 11-9 in the fifth. But Parsons stopped the youngster from completing a hat-trick with a masterful three-end win.

Dan Levine had a great win in five against Bayley, but came up short against Mitchell and Parsons.

Tower B (0), Arbory ​​A (9)

Tower B are firmly rooted at the bottom of Division One, so this was another tough task for them.

Sonja Shaw shone for Arbory, scoring a great hat-trick with wins over Simon Radcliffe, Steve Curtis and Dario Mazzotta.

Mike Tamarov and Jason Quirk had no problems and didn't lose a match between them. These nine points consolidate Arbory's third place.

Travelers A (9), Strathallan (0)

Travelers A extended their lead at the top of the table to six points with this impressive defeat of a decent Strahallan team.

Scott Lewis and Liam Chan were in typically dominant form, with none of their opponents taking them to a fourth game – truly impressive stuff.

Malcolm Cummings' match against Julian Briercliffe was the only one that bucked the trend, but Cummings used all his reserves and cunning to beat the score 11-8 in the fifth end.

Ramsey A (7), Travelers B (2)

Credit to Ramsey for continuing to put pressure on Strathallan and it is notable that they are still in touch with the leaders even though the margin is now six points.

Adam Teare in particular was in good form, comfortably beating Malc Lewis, Will Shooter and John Shooter in three runs.

Duncan Alexander also defeated Lewis, but in four close ends. His match against Will was particularly exciting and with the score level at 8-8 in the fifth end, the Ramsey player pulled out all the stops to make it 11-9.

Becky Taylor also got a tough test from the young Shooter, but managed to beat him 11-8 in the final match. She followed that with a three-end win over Lewis, but could not make any impression against John and lost in two straight.

JRTE Marketing A (6), Ramsey C (3)

Darren Smethurst was once again invincible in this draw with three solid wins for JRTE.

Steven Carridge recorded a hard-fought victory for JRTE over Darren Shaw, only to reach 11-8 in the fifth. He and Paul Mitchinson added a further three points to secure the six points.

For the away side, Keith Herrington did well to record wins over Mitchinson and Carridge in four games, with Martyn Howard beating Carridge in four games.

Travelers C (5), Desmond's Douglas A (4)

Travelers were without Dave Lovelady due to injury and will unfortunately be out for the rest of the season.

It was therefore a difficult assignment for them against third-placed Desmonds.

Paul Mathieson-Nelson started the new year positively, taking two points against Desmonds Russ Kent on three and Brandon Montgomery on five. The latter fought hard, but Mathieson-Nelson used all his determination to make it 14-12 in the fifth.

Keeran Chan was the star of the night for Travelers with three great wins against Montgomery in four, Kent in three and Neil Ronan in the fourth.

The third member of the Travelers team was young Luke Begley and although he played well he was brushed aside by Desmond's experienced trio.

JP Banaag made an appearance for Arbory ​​and recorded two brilliant wins against a tough Peel side.

He powered his way past Ken Hegarty in a very close five-setter and similarly against Stu Perry, also tagging him in the fifth.

But Jon Taylor-Burt was in no mood to let Banaag get three wins and really thwarted him effectively. He mixed his serves and did not allow any room for maneuver, allowing him to close the match decisively 11-8, 11-9, 11-3.

Ramsey B (7), Boom C (2)

Wael Kassim was player of the evening again for Ramsey, taking all three wins.

However, it was not plain sailing for him: Kevin Drewry was in excellent form and only fell short 9-11 in the fifth.

Kassim swept past Rob Wright in three runs before being pushed hard by Dave Bufton, but opened up an 11-9 lead in the fourth end. Bufton made up for that by beating Adrian Slater in five runs.

Will Dalugdugan was back on the island on a break from university and Ramsey was happy to welcome him back for a week.

His match with Bufton could not have been closer, with the latter winning the score 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9. But Dalugdugan got back on track and passed Drewry and Wright in four runs.

Travelers D (5), Ramsey D (0)

It was smooth sailing for top-ranked Travelers D, with Maurice Campbell and Margaret Forsyth settling all their matches in three points against Ramsey duo Pat Halliwell and Tony Sewell.

This win extends Travelers' lead at the top to 14 points and places them as firm favorites for promotion to Division Two even at this early stage.

JRTE Marketing B (1), Travelers E (4)

Henry Weaver and Eban Moore are showing strong signs of improvement each week, playing excellent table tennis for Travelers in often tight situations.

Henry had a very close battle with Gary Skillicorn, going through at 11-4 in the final end, and had an even closer battle with Anil Paul before making it 11-9 in the fifth.

Paul suffered more pain at the hands of Moore, who took the victory 11-9 in the fifth. As some consolation, Paul and Skillicorn took the doubles in three runs to win their only point.

Ramsey E (5), Travelers G (0)

Teddy Clayton recorded two wins for Ramsey E, as did Ben Hulbert in this draw against youngsters Tom Taylor Burt and Max Doyle.

But it wasn't plain sailing for the home side, with Taylor Burt and Doyle showing signs of improvement and displaying good play.

– The Isle of Man Table Tennis Clubs' Friday evening training sessions resumed last week between 7pm and 9pm. Competitive players and newcomers are all welcome – 5 per adult or 3 per junior.

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