Cippenham Table Tennis Club: Men's Veteran Team Wins Galloping Division 2B Veteran Title

The first male veteran team of the Cippenham Table Tennis Club became champion of the galloping Division 2B British Veterans League.

The team has won its 10 games over the course of the season and with a total of 54-6 sets – three of the sets lost were reserve players called from the second team on the last day.

Their success earned the team promotion to Division One for next season.

The trio of Andy Trott, Martin Adams and Heri Gehlot was throughout the driving form. They beat Seasiders (Blackpool) and Dewsbury 6-0, then ended a great day with a 5-1 victory over local rivals Ashford.

A defeat by Gehlot against Steve Davis in the last meeting of the day was the only failure in an otherwise flawless performance.

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Cippenham promoted Tony Stead and Samson Bekele of the second team for a match each with Trott not available for the second day.

Stead added to his reputation with a win over John Poysden as Cippenham defeated South Essex 5-1 in the morning. Bekele couldn't match that against Foresters D, but that didn't stop the team from maintaining their 100% record with a 4-2 victory.

Trott finished the unbeaten season with Adams losing only once and Gehlot twice.

Cippenham's second team, consisting of Mike Rhodes and Paul Baker as well as Stead and Bekele, finished the first round of the games with a 3-3 draw against the Crusaders and a 5-1 victory over Ashford.

The points earned maintained fifth place in the 4A division, but meant that the team would play the last three matches in a group comprising the last four ranks in the division.

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PHOTO: Sue Hayes of Cippenham Table Tennis Club recorded three wins in the final round of Division One games.

The three games were all won easily to end a great weekend for the two Cippenham men's teams.

The late game saw another 5-1 victory over Ashford, and that was followed on Sunday with a 6-0 beating by Draycott and a 4-2 success against lower side Archway Peterborough II.

The four Cippenham players have won at least half of their games during the season – Bekele 64%, Baker 62%, Rhodes 56% and Stead 50%.

The results were not nearly as good for Cippenham’s women’s team, which played a bit out of depth in Division One.

Denise Weller, Mary Heffernan and Sue Hayes' team suffered a 6-0 defeat against Ashford but rebounded well to earn their only point from the first leg with a 3-3 draw against Milton Keynes. The three players contributed with a victory each in a much improved performance.

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The division was then divided with Cippenham, as the bottom team, placed in the bottom half for the last three games.

A 5-1 loss to the Irish Colleens with Hayes scored the only point, followed by a 6-0 loss to London-based Fusion B.

The season ended with another 3-3 draw with Milton Keynes – replicating the result against the same opponents a day earlier. This time it was Marry Heffernan who played for Cippenham with victories against Julie Snowdon and Sheila King while Hayes recovered from his fall twice to beat Dawn Pearce.

• A SUBFORCE Cippenham's missing solid Rob Hansell team fell in a row in the final round of Senior British League play.

Zero point of the day saw Cippenham drop two places to sixth position in the 4B national division, but is still far from the bottom. Anything other than a calamity will always see the team finish above the relegation points when the season ends in April.

PHOTO Young Cippenham Table Tennis Club star Shae Thakker claimed two wins in final round of senior British League

Three victories for team captain Martin Adams, including a double in tandem with Shae Thakker, and a solo success for Steve Munson was not enough to gain points in the match against Horsham Spinners. The end result was a 5-4 win for the Sussex team.

Adams and Thakker both beat Mark Collins while Thakker also beat Daniel Pound.