Leaders Free Church fightback in clash at the top

Susie Swan who won two for Free Church F last week. she is Free Church's number one junior girl.

Adrian Pilgrim of Rugby secured the bragging rights when he defeated Church number 1 Lee Dorning 3-1. Pilgrim proceeded to post a treble but Church secured all the remaining 7 points through braces from Dorning, Jack Green and Sam Weaving and a doubles win from Dorning and Green in 5.

Fourth placed Rugby A squeezed past St Georges B, who are third, 6-4. Ryan Lines’s treble included a 5th set win over Mark Jackson. Matt Outhwaite added two for Rugby, one of which was a 5 setter against Mark Rose. Luke Smith beat Earl Sweeney. Georges bounced back with two wins for Jackson, one for Rose and the pair landed the doubles. Second placed St Georges A overcame Colebridge A 8-2.

Damon Fenton and Laurence Sweeney held maximums and Gary Jackson beat Mike Rinnhofer in 5. Fenton and Sweeney took a close doubles 11-8 in the 5th. Craig Allen and Michael Browne shared Colebridge’s points.

Free Church B edged Oxhill 6-4, with the visitors a player light. James Berry won his two contested singles and Monika Tomaszek had two 5 set matches, losing to Brian Hobill but beating Matt Rayner.

Hobill (2) and Rayner (1) won the doubles. Wellesbourne probably put thoughts of relegation to rest with a comprehensive 9-1 win over Free Church C. Pete Barrow and Steve Cull were unbeaten and Alan Cotton won two, falling to rapidly improving junior Daniel Stone.

Division 2 leaders Nomads Aces came unstuck when hosting Free Church D, going down 2-8. Owain Jones and Harry Purewal pocketed 7 of the points and Jeff Harris won the other. Andy Davies beat Harris 11-8 in the 5th and Tony Thomas also accounted for Harris but was pipped 9-11 in the 5th by Jones. Warwick University A have completed all 22 matches, finishing early to avoid holiday fixtures.

Their last match resulted in a 4-6 loss to WCC Coots. Alexander Nicholas won two and Zhuomin Tao and Hua Yan each won twice. Coots number one Arun Jogi won his three and the doubles with Cliff Jackson who won once. Mark Freeman added two.

Eathorpe A overcame Whitnash A 8-2. PeterTitmas was their star winning his three. Marius Morariu won two 5 setters and Walter Warburton also posted two as well as nailing the doubles with Titmas. Richard Smith and Paras Tejani replied.

Rugby D stayed top of division 3 after defeating Ashorne A 9-1. Pablo Caldas and Martyn Lilley accounted for 7 of the points and Kal Singh contributed two. Martin Hamer avoided the whitewash. Nomads Codgers in second went one better overcoming Rugby E 10-0 through Les Hoggins, Richard Miles and Kim Wong. Eathorpe C emulated them when taking on their D team, winning 10-0.

John Ablett, Darren Hadley and Jamie Sayer were in top form. 3rd placed Free Church F swept aside Moreton Morrell 7-3. None of the Church trio could dent the 100% average of Kannan Nithi but Cherry Matthews, Nick Newman and junior Susie Swan all won twice with Newman and Swan taking the doubles.

Fourth placed WCC Flounders pipped Free Church G 6-4 with Andy Caine grabbing a hat-trick and Steve Proctor bagging two. Jeremy Sampson picked up the deciding point. Radu Draghici won two for Church and the doubles with Michael Khovanov who beat Sampson.

Flounders lead Division A but fell to Radford A 2-3. Eric Barthorpe and Simon Chalker from the Flounders squad and Gary Edwards and Ian Ogden of Radford all won a single but it was the Radford duo who won the crucial doubles. Third placed Ashorne B, the Autumn title holders, have matches in hand.

They beat Eathorpe E 3-2 with Richard Grover their star winning two. Alexander Plianos supported with a single. Toby John (1) helped Darren Hadley to the doubles. Rugby F are second and overcame Free Church I 4-1. Marina Ndumengo won her two and guided Jo Outhwaite, who won one, to the doubles. Sam Groom did well to beat the experienced Outhwaite.

The only result to hand in division B was the match between Free Church K and leaders Rugby G which resulted in a 4-1 win for Rugby. Bernard Burke won two and secured the doubles with Katsuko Nagata who won once. Chris Bosworth replied.

Runaway division C leaders, Free Church J, were a player short in the singles because of illness. Ankit Sharma won two for them when playing Free Church N and by borrowing Marc Briscoe from a neighbouring match for the doubles, managed to post a 3-2 victory.

Second placed Free Church L slipped to third after suffering a 2-3 loss to Free Church M. Johan Pretorius of M beat Eshan Dhesi-Dabb 11-8 in the 5th and Tudor Draghici 12-10 in the 5th. He also received winning help from Alfie Green in the doubles.

Dhesi-Dabb and Draghici won L’s points. Warwick University B are now second by one point after winning 5-0 against Eathorpe H courtesy of Senthoran Perananthan and Aarathy Thusyanthan.

Free Church O sit at the summit of Division D and overcame Eathorpe I 5-0 with Keerthi Bakthisaran and Manas Krishnan not to be denied. Eathorpe G in second defeated Free Church Q 3-2. Guy Ashworth and Richard Freeman each won a single and emerged as 11-8 in the 5th doubles winners.

Ben Rourke beat Ashworth and Campbell Turner accounted for Freeman. Eathorpe J look dangerous in third and won 4-1 against Free Church P. Dave Hawkes won his two, Mark Popham added one and the pair took the doubles in 5. Dhiren Modi was Church’s scorer.