Table Tennis: RI ‘D’ pull off surprise draw against Holgate (From York Press)

Table Tennis: RI ‘D’ pull off surprise draw against Holgate

9:30am Saturday 28th January 2012 in Table tennis By John Temple

Relegation-threatened RI ‘D’ pulled off a surprise draw at Holgate ‘A’, who have only lost one match this season in division one of the Northern Power York and District Table Tennis League.

Filip Wojtkowiak was unbeaten, while Alan Balmforth put his injury problems behind him to win two singles, and was narrowly beaten 12-10 in the final game by Tony Reed, having held two match points.

Ian Stansfield and Ashley Hodgson saw leaders Coneysthorpe ‘A’ to a 7-3 win over Crescent ‘B’.

Although Keith Webster played well to pick up a couple of singles wins, his Shepherds ‘A’ side went down 7-3 to a Jon Wooldridge-inspired Bootham ‘A’, who followed up with a narrow win over Coneysthorpe ‘B’.

University ‘A’ extended their lead at the top of division two with a 9-1 thrashing of Crescent ‘C’ with Senri O’Hara and Rudy Huang in top form.

Rich Harrison excelled as Bootham ‘C’ proved too strong for Crescent ‘C’, winning 7-3.

Ady McClaren was the key man as Bootham ‘B’ edged out a stubborn CE Electric/Bootham, though the electricians bounced back with an 8-2 thumping of BT ‘A’, Dave Robinson excelling.

Dave Simpson and Nathan Taylor guided Shepherds ‘B’ to an 8-2 win over BT ‘A’.

In division three, Marian Broadbent produced a fine performance to beat Mick Surtees, only his second defeat of the season, but it was not enough to stop a Paul Kozyra-inspired Shepherds ‘C’ taking the contest 8-2.

Richard Leafe and Ivan Guilliatt were on form as RI ‘F’ thumped Bootham ‘E’ 9-1, while Andy Bevan and Adam Schober-Thompson were unbeaten in a 7-3 win for University ‘B’ at Holgate ‘E’, though they were held to a draw at Bootham ‘E’.

Nigel Baker was in charge as Shepherds ‘D’ overcame Aviva ‘A’ 7-3, with the losers narrow winners over BT ‘B’, despite three singles wins from Jim Stevenson.

Matt Ayres was in top form as Bootham ‘D’ edged home from RI ‘G’, but lost narrowly to Aviva ‘A’.

In division four, RI ‘J’ extended their lead at the top with an 8-2 success at Aviva ‘B’, where Richard Morris and David Dunn were on top.

A depleted Thornton-le-Clay went down to their first defeat of the season, 7-3 at the hands of Holgate ‘F’, despite Trevor Percival’s three singles wins.

John Mothersill and Norman Smithson of RI ‘H’ were undefeated in a 9-1 toppling of Hartrigg Oaks.

Good displays from Sammy Wojciechowski and Chris Megone helped RI ‘I’ to an 8-2 win over RI ‘K’.