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Whistlers A maintained their two point lead at the top of Division 1 in the Doric Insurance Table Tennis Leagues with a 6-4 win over fifth placed Lions D.
Players were back in league action after a Christmas break.
Josh Stacey was imperious with comfortable victories over Jez Powell, Craig Dunning and reserve Luke Evans, while Matt Casey defeated Dunning and Evans. For the Lions side, Jez Powell is a man in form and did well to beat Bourgaize in three and Casey in four sets. Dunning also played intelligently to beat Bourgaize in four sets and teamed up with Powell to beat Casey and Stacey in the doubles.
Whistlers B are hot on the 'A' team's heels after beating bottom side Ravenscroft Panthers B 7-3. Lawrence Stacey and Dawn Morgan picked up three wins against Andy Gill, Nye Matthew and Barnaby Groves, while 15-year old Oskar Cleal showed his recent improvement in form by beating junior compatriot Groves. It was good to see the return of Andy Gill after a long period out through injury and he teamed up with Groves to earn an excellent five set win against Stacey and Morgan in the doubles, while Matthew also beat Cleal.
Ben Foss continues to top the individual averages, and he added three more wins to his tally as Lions E tied with Lions C 5-5. His toughest match came against fellow Green player Ryan Bichard, where he battled from a 2-1 down to win 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7. Matt Stubbington also picked up wins against Dan Collenette and Connor Powell, while Foss and Stubbington paired up to overcome Bichard and Collenette in three games.
In the remaining match, Lions B beat Lions A 6-4, as Phil Ogier beat Liam Robilliard, Josh Butler and reserve Andy Ferbrache. Jamie Ferbrache defeated his namesake Andy and then claimed an excellent 5-set win over Robillard, with Steve Ozanne adding the vital sixth win against Andy.
Due to a packed fixture schedule, Divisions 2 and 4 recommenced on 2 January.
In the higher Division Lions F are beginning to emerge as favourites to take the Division title. They started 2025 with a 7-3 win over Lions F, with Caden Brouard and James Crocker each winning their three singles matches against Mark Fenwick, Cameron Powell and Ian Le Page. Both were pushed hard by the ever-improving Fenwick, but both got over the line in five sets. Joe Ingrouille added a vital four game win over Le Page.
They followed this up with a 5-5 draw against title rivals Whistlers D. This time it was reserve player Ellis Tomlin, substituting for the holidaying Caden Brouard, who excelled in winning his three matches against Kay Chivers, Keith Opie and Henri Whitehorne. His teammates also contributed strongly as Ingrouille beat Opie and Crocker came through a marathon match to overcome wily defender Whitehorne 11-6 in the fifth end.
Whistlers D had earlier dented the ambitions of third placed Whistlers C by beating them 7-3. Chivers was on superb form with straight set wins against Martin Sarre, Paula Le Ber and Tim Le Page, while Whitehorne did well to beat Le Page and Le Ber, and Opie staging great comeback to narrowly beat Le Ber 3-2.
In Division 3, Ravenscroft Panthers D made it 18 wins on the bounce with a 9-1 win over bottom-placed Panthers F. Micah Cohen and Shaun Mosley lead the way with wins over Huxley Le Conte, Max Johnson and Dan Lasenby, and teamed up to win the doubles 3-0. For the 'F' side, Johnson picked up a superb four set win against Martin. Second-placed Ravenscroft Panthers E beat Whistlers G 7-3.
The race for Division 4 continues to be close with three teams in contention. In the first fixture week, Lions K, Lions M and Ravenscroft Panthers G all picked up wins, and the young Panthers team followed that up with a 10-0 defeat of Whistlers I.
Meanwhile the top two Lions sides faced off on the next table and ended in stalemate. Reserve Derek Cave was the form player, with three wins over Val Guilbert, Diane Le Page and Rolands Tracums, with Jan Priest adding two victories against Guilbert and Le Page. Crucially, however, Guilbert and Tracums are strong in the doubles and earned their team appoint with a strong 3-0 doubles win.
The result means that they maintain a three point lead with 10 matches left to play.
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