26th June 2017

Over 70 players and guests attended the Huddersfield Table Tennis League Annual Dinner and presentation evening held at Outlane Golf Club on Friday 16th June. League chairman Tim Dyson presented trophies to the winners of this year’s closed championships, league and cup competitions.

Divisional winner’s trophies were awarded to Wilshaw ‘A’ (Division One), Scissett WMC ‘A’ (Division Two) and Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth (Division Three).

Trophies for the two handicap competitions were won by Woodfield Park ‘A’ (Royds Hall Printing Trophy) and Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ (Table Tennis Direct Cup).

Divisional merit awards went to Janet Adams (Division 1), Clive Standen (Division 2) and Geoff Heywood (Division 3).

Competition winners at this season’s Huddersfield Closed Championships were also presented with their respective trophies.

The evening is also an opportunity to recognise player performances and sportsmanship during the previous season. This year’s award for most improved player went to David Atherton of New North Road Baptist Church and most improved junior player was won by Jonathan Heslop of Deighton Leisure Centre. Deighton player Rafal Aleksandrzak was this year’s recipient of the Allen Land Trophy in recognition of good sportsmanship and Doug Holt was awarded the Trevor Cockroft Memorial Broach for his service to the league.
An award on behalf of Yorkshire County Table Tennis was made to Deighton’s Cameron Sandhu as the season’s most improved junior player. Special mention was given to Jonathan Heslop for his bronze medal success at the Table Tennis England Cadet (U15) National Cup.

Due to time constraints at this year’s Huddersfield Closed Championships, the junior event was scheduled to be held on a different date. Deighton Table Tennis Club hosted a Junior Tournament to replace this event and extended it to incorporate other events for Junior players. FileDoc sponsor the Huddersfield team in the British Senior League and they also provided sponsorship for this event.
The Under 21’s competition was handicapped but this didn’t prevent the club’s top performers reaching the final with Jonathan Heslop beating Cameron Sandhu. Kayden Oates beat Robert Sandiford in the Under 16’s Cup with Richard Lewis beating Jack Borg in the plate competition. Borg also contested the Bright Stars Inclusion Cup, but lost in the final to Jerome Smith.

1st May 2017

Cup wins for Woodfield Park ‘A’ and Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’

Woodfield Park ‘A’ have won the Royds Hall Printing Trophy, beating Marsh Con ‘A’ 397 points to 378. The overall team handicaps were identical, therefore the same adjustment would be added to each team at the end of the match. Players play each other in a set of four games, first to eleven points in each game. In the Woodfield Park team were Keith Skarz (Handicap 7), Darren Lindley (0) and Frazer Krischke (13) with Marsh Con represented by Ian Tweedale (4), David Wood (8) and Tony Stead (8).

Set one between Tweedale and Skarz saw a number of forced errors by both players but advantage went to Marsh as Tweedale’s attacking forehand shots finally got the better of his opponent. He was leading 9-5 in the final game then Skarz drew level at 10-10 before Tweedale won the deciding point.

In set two Wood did well to keep the score down in the first game as Lindley’s fast serves and follow up smashes have caused problems for players in the league all season.
Lindley gained a 9 point second game win over Wood to give Woodfield Park the advantage. Wood levelled at 5-5 in the third game but Lindley’s attacking play prevailed as he built up a lead of 10 points for his team.

In the first game of the third set Stead raced into a 6-0 lead with Krischke making a number of unforced errors. Krischke rallied to trail 6-8 before losing the game 6-11. Krischke made amends in the second game with excellent positional shots and retrieving to win comfortably 11-4. Stead took the third game 11-7 including a remarkable recovery shot from a net cord. Krischke won the final game to add a further one point to his team’s lead.

Set four between Wood and Skarz provided some fine attacking and defending play as Wood gained a 9 points advantage from the first three games. This was reduced to 3 points as Skarz took the final game thanks to an edge at game point.

Tweedale won three of the games by 11-10 in set 5 against Krischke but the latter took the third game 11-4 to gain an additional 4 points for his team.

Lindley added a further 18 points to the Woodfield Park margin after beating Stead in set six. Stead played really well to control the Closed Champion’s serves and at one stage was leading 8-6 in the first game, but lost each game by 3, 4, 4 and 7 points respectively.

After the sixth set Woodfield Park had established a lead of 30 points. Marsh fought back in the next two sets with some excellent play by Wood and Stead to reduce the deficit to 4 points. In set seven Wood’s returns were forcing Krischke into errors. At one stage Wood made 3 excellent long returns from the back court in spectacular style.

Set eight saw an abundance of attacking shots from Stead and Skarz. In the third game Skarz was trailing 2-7 when Stead had an ‘unbelievable Jeff’ moment to make an amazing recovery shot, slip but still win the point ! The fall appeared to unsettle Stead as Skarz won the next five points only for Stead to recover his composure and win the game 11-7.

Lindley went into the final set of the night against Tweedale with an advantage of 4 points. It is fair to say most players in the league would struggle to make up the difference and although Tweedale played really well, he could not get the better of Lindley’s serves and overall superb table tennis.

Skarz and Krischke combined well to support Lindley on the night and thoroughly deserved their victory in an entertaining match played in good spirit.

Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ have won the Table Tennis Direct Cup, a competition for teams eliminated in the first round of the Royds Hall Trophy, beating Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ 453 points to 434 after handicap adjustment. The same scoring rules as the Royds Hall Trophy apply to this competition. In the Kingsmith team were Gareth Stott (Handicap 8), Peter Walker (11) and Stefan Arak (8) with Deighton represented by Godfrey Gabriel (25), Rawan Hamza (18) and Samuel Nehmiah (22). Kingsmith have recently secured their division one league status while Deighton have gained a promotion place from division three. As league positions and player averages are taken into account over the season, Deighton benefitted from a favourable handicap starting point.

In the first set between Stott and Gabriel, the first two games started with both players winning most points from serve with hardly any rallies, but Stott’s experience gained the better of his opponent. Stott established an overall 28 points margin, winning games three and four with forehand and backhand top spin shots as Gabriel’s attacking play missed the mark.

The second set saw Hamza attacking Walker’s defensive play from the start, winning the first two games 11-6 and 11-8. Walker’s experience and defence then got the better of Hamza as he won the last two games to gain a further 3 points margin for his team.

In set three Arak’s serves and attacking play got the better of Nehmiah to comfortably add to the points margin.

Sets four and five helped Kingsmith develop a margin of 99 points with comfortable four game wins for Stott and Arak over Hamza and Gabriel respectively.

Deighton mounted a recovery in sets six and seven. Nehmiah beating Walker and Hamza beating Arak in what was possibly the best attacking play by both players seen on the night.

With two sets to play Deighton were trailing by 90 points, but still had the advantage knowing their 114 points handicap would be added at the end of the match.

In the eighth set, Kingsmith reduced the points difference by 23 points as Stott took command right from the start to beat Nehmiah 11-5 11-3 11-5 11-8.

This set up the ninth and final set of the match between Walker and Gabriel with Deighton holding a slim 1 point advantage after taking account of the handicaps. The result was never in doubt as Walker’s defence was far too steady for Gabriel in a victory that saw Kingsmith home by a net margin of 19 points.

Stott was the man of the match winning all his games for Kingsmith but he was well supported by Arak and Walker.

In the Huddersfield Table Tennis League, Division 1 champions Wilshaw ‘A’ finished their season with a comfortable 10 – 0 victory over their ‘B’ team.

In Division 2 Scissett WMC ‘A’ gained the points to win the title, beating their ‘B’ team and leaving the losers in the relegation position. Roger Morley gained some consolation for the ‘B’ team as he won all his 3 sets including a win over the divisional merit award winner Clive Standen. Scissett ‘A completed their season with a draw at Woodfield Park ‘B’ in a see-saw match with Scissett winning 4 of the first 5 sets only to lose 4 of the last five sets.

In Division 3 Golcar Lib had a narrow win over U3A ‘A’ and New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ ended their season in style, beating Paddock ‘B’ with three wins each for Matthew Barber, David Atherton and Geoff Adams. David Atherton has had an excellent season, just missing out on the divisional merit award.

17th April 2017

Wilshaw retain Division One title

As the business end of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League season approaches, promotion and relegation issues are nearing conclusion.

In Division 1, Wilshaw ‘A’ have one match to play but have retained their title as they cannot be caught with 150 sets from 19 matches played. Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ have completed their fixtures and have achieved a creditable 2nd place with 142 sets for the season.
The bottom places in this division are currently taken by Marsh Con ‘B’ with 35 sets and Paddock ‘A’ with 45 sets, both teams having played 18 matches.

Division 2 final placings are still to be decided, but current leaders Scissett WMC ‘A’ are the favourites with 112 sets from 16 matches played followed by Marsh Con ‘C’ (108 from 17) and Kingsmith PW (106 from 17). The other end of the table is occupied by New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ (74 from 17), Woodfield Park ‘B’ (71 from 17), Scissett WMC ‘B’ (69 from 17) and Marsh Con ‘D’ (52 from 17). The leaders will have a deciding factor on the relegation placings as their remaining matches are against their ‘B’ team and an outstanding fixture away at Woodfield Park.

Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth have won the Division3 title (167 from 21) and remained unbeaten for the season. They finished off the campaign with a narrow victory over New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’. Their recent successes have been achieved by the performances of Geoff Heywood and Gerry Kerr as the other team members, Steve Cook and Roger Wood, have been unavailable due to illness. Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ will claim the 2nd place as they currently have 130 from their 20 matches played.
It is no surprise to see Paddock ‘B’ at the foot of the table, as they have struggled each week to find players to fulfill their fixtures.

The divisional merit tables are headed by players from teams at the top of each division. Janet Adams of Wilshaw ‘A’ leads division1, Clive Standen of Scissett WMC ‘A’ leads division 2 and Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth stalwart Geoff Heywood has claimed the division 3 award.

10th April 2017

Heslop wins bronze medal at Nationals.

Huddersfield's Jonny Heslop had the tournament of his life as he took on the best young table tennis players in the country and won the bronze medal.

The 14-year-old was among 10 players invited to the (U15) Cadet National Cup by virtue of being one of the top players in the national rankings - though he was only called in a few days before the event when top seed Amirul Hussain pulled out through illness.

Heslop was seeded last of the 10 competitors at the tournament in Preston but played a blinder in the round-robin format, winning six out of his 9 matches to finish in third place.

He was the only player to defeat the champion second seed Ethan Walsh, beating him 4-3 - 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8. He also won in seven against the third seed Josh Weatherby 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9. and fourth seed Louis Price 10-12, 11-13, 12-10, 11-2, 11-9, 11-13, 11-7.

And he finally clinched bronze by beating sixth seed Reece Chamdal 4-2 - 6-11, 14-12, 15-13, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9. in his last match. Heslop who is a Rastrick High School student, said I'm surprised to win bronze. "I didn't play too well on the first day but I did on the second. I only got selected a few days ago but I just went to my normal training sessions and didn't do any extra preperation. I've never played in the National Cup before but I like it because if you lose a match you've still got the chance to get back into it, instead of just being knocked out."

Final positions :-  1 Ethan Walsh, 2 Jamie Liu, 3 Jonathan Heslop, 4 Reece Chamdal, 5 Joe Cope, 6 Joshua Weatherby, 7 Sam Chesterman, 8 Louis Price, 9 Ben Fillingham, 10 Thomas Rayner.

The final round of matches in Division 2 of the Yorkshire Veterans Table Tennis League were completed on Sunday with Huddersfield No2 securing their place in Division Two, beating Dewsbury No 2. They recovered from 4-2 down to win 6-4 with Neil Crosland (3 wins), Janet Adams (2 wins) and Geoff Dunne (1 win) preserving their status for next season.

Finalists in the two handicap competitions have been decided. Woodfield Park ‘A’ will meet Marsh Con ‘A’ in the Royds Hall Printing Trophy final. Woodfield Park ‘A’ have withdrawn from the handicap competitions in previous seasons but their decision to take part in this year’s competition has been rewarded with a place in the final, after beating last season’s winners Wilshaw ‘A’.
Teams losing in the first round of this competition qualify for the Table Tennis Direct Cup, which this year will be between Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ and Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’

Royds Hall Printing Trophy
Semi-final
Marsh Con ‘A’ 432 Scissett WMC ‘A’ 395
Wilshaw ‘A’ 307 Woodfield Park ‘A’ 370

Table Tennis Direct Cup
Semi-final
Golcar Lib 480 Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ 490
New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ 506 Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ 533

3rd April 2017

Lindley regains Singles Title

Darren Lindley reclaimed the Men’s Singles Title at the Huddersfield Closed Championships. The semi-finals featured the two players – Lindley and Tim Dyson – who have contested the singles title for the past few years, but it was the young prospect Jonathan Heslop who would face Lindley in the final.

The first semi-final saw Heslop beat Dyson 11-9 4-11 11-9 9-11 11-6. Lindley beat Shaun Ellis in the other semi 9-11 11-9 11-4 11-5.

In the final, Lindley started confidently taking the first two games 11-8 and 11-4. Heslop recovered in the third game to lead 8-4 then pegged back to 8-7 before comfortably claiming the game 11-7. Heslop continued to defy Lindley by repeatedly blocking his loop shots but with Lindley holding the advantage at 9-8 he got an edge which gave him match point at 10-8. Heslop would not accept defeat easily and some excellent play was rewarded with the next four points to win the game 12-10 and level the match. The fifth and deciding game saw great attacking play from both players as the scoring went 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7. Lindley’s experience then got the better of his younger opponent and he won the deciding game 11-7 to claim his thirteenth singles title.

Both Heslop and Dyson gained some consolation on the day. Heslop teamed up with his Deighton playing partner Fraser Riley to win the doubles. This was an excellent performance as the losers, Dyson and Russell Senior, had held this title for the previous six years.

Dyson was involved in another final, the over 40’s singles, against Lindley. The match was an excellent advert for table tennis and a brilliant match for the spectators to witness. Neither player gave an inch as they utilised their best serves before throwing backhand and forehand top spins at each other in a five game thriller. Dyson won the match with a 17-15 fifth game win, extending his winning run in this event to nine consecutive titles.

Two Deighton players were successful in the Handicap competition and Band 1 singles. Robert Sandiford beat fellow Deighton player Thomas Gregory in the Handicap by 16 points and Cameron Sandhu won the Band 1 singles.

Ewelina Gorna of Paddock won the Band 2 singles with Scott Singleton of Golcar Lib winning Band 3.

Geoff Dunne claimed his sixth Over 60’s title, beating Garry Jowett. Dunne also had success the previous day, chipping in with three singles wins and both doubles as Yorkshire Over 60’s 2nd team completed their County fixtures for the season with 7-3 wins over Cheshire No 2 and Cheshire No 3.

Huddersfield Closed Championship Results

Men's Singles
Semi-Finals
Jonathan Heslop beat Tim Dyson 11-9 4-11 11-9 9-11 11-5
Darren Lindley beat Shaun Ellis 9-11 11-9 11-4 11-5
Final
Darren Lindley beat Jonathan Heslop 11-8 11-4 7-11 10-12 11-7

Men's Doubles
Jonathan Heslop & Fraser Riley beat Tim Dyson & Russell Senior 10-12 11-4 13-11 11-8

Over 40's Singles
Tim Dyson beat Darren Lindley 11-6 8-11 11-9 10-12 17-15

Over 60's Singles
Geoff Dunne beat Garry Jowett 11-4 11-6 9-11 11-6

Handicap Singles
Robert Sandiford (58) beat Thomas Gregory (54) 11-8 11-8 11-9 11-7 (16 points)

Band 1 Singles
Cameron Sandhu beat Jonathan Taylor 11-5 11-6 11-7

Band 2 Singles
Ewelina Gorna beat Garry Jowett 11-8 9-11 11-4 11-5

Band 3 Singles
Scott Singleton beat Oliver Grant 5-11 7-11 11-6 11-9 11-7

In Division 1 of the Huddersfield League Greetland had a fine win over Deighton Leisure Centre ‘B’. Garry Jowett played the game of his life, with a superb display of counter hitting, to beat Jonathan Heslop 13-11 14-12 12-10.

27th March 2017

Lindley the star as Huddersfield win Yorkshire League Title

In the Yorkshire Veterans Table Tennis League, Huddersfield No 1 team enjoyed a successful weekend to claim the Division 1 title. A number of years have passed since they last won the league, but they completed this season winning all their matches. Huddersfield were represented by Darren Lindley, Tim Dyson and Nick Ryder with Lindley winning all his singles matches on the day.

The final set of matches would be make or break as they faced the two teams immediately below them in the table. In the first of three matches played, they comfortably beat mid-table Harrogate No 1 9-1.

The second match saw them take on their main rivals, Dewsbury No 1. The crunch encounter appeared to be the third set which saw Darren Lindley face Richard Lightowler. Lindley triumphed 14-12 8-11 11-13 13-11 11-9. The match continued to be a tight affair with the scores level after eight sets played. Lindley and Dyson each won their final singles sets to win the match 6-4.

With one hand on the title, Hull No 1 provided the final hurdle. Three singles wins for Lindley and one each from Dyson and Ryder plus the doubles made it a sweet end to this season.

Yorkshire Veterans League Division 1
Huddersfield No 1 (9) v Harrogate No 1 (1)
Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (3), Nick Ryder (2) & Lindley / Dyson doubles win

Huddersfield No 1 (6) v Dewsbury No 1 (4)
Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (2), Nick Ryder (1)

Huddersfield No 1 (6) v Hull No 1 (4)
Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (1), Nick Ryder (1) & Lindley / Dyson doubles win

	Yorkshire League Division 1 Champions

Two Deighton Leisure Centre Juniors – Fraser Riley and Cameron Sandhu – contested the final of the 2 Star Junior Tournament in Blackpool last weekend.
Riley claimed the title, beating his club mate 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9.

In Division 2 of the Huddersfield League, Marsh Con ‘D’ player David Clegg plays regularly for his team without much success, but this week his efforts were rewarded with a first win of the season. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to prevent his side losing narrowly to the leaders Scissett WMC ‘A’.

The Huddersfield Closed Championships will take place next Sunday April 2nd at Halifax Table Tennis Centre, Club Lane, Halifax HX2 8DB (Car parking available just below the centre). All players need to register at 8:45am to enable the doubles competition to get underway as quickly as possible.

20th March 2017

Town Team In Excellent Finish To Senior British League Campaign

This weekend saw the Huddersfield team complete their final round of matches in the Senior British Table Tennis League. On Saturday the team of Jonathan Heslop, Fraser Riley, Jonathan Taylor and Alex Kearney easily accounted for the two teams currently sitting at the bottom of their division. They faced a tougher task on Sunday against the two teams occupying the first two places at the opposite end of the table, but came away with two creditable performances.

Huddersfield (8) v Cliffdale Chandlers (2)
Jonathan Heslop bt Danny Cox and Hannah Winfield; Fraser Riley bt Sasha Martin and Danny Cox; Alex Kearney bt Hannah Winfield and Benjamin Rigby; Jonathan Taylor lost to Benjamin Rigby and Sasha Martin.
Doubles: Riley & Kearney bt Cox & Rigby; Heslop & Taylor bt Martin & Winfield.
Heslop and Taylor were 2 sets down in their doubles match but came through with a 14-12 last set win against their opponents.

Huddersfield (10) v Archway Peterborough No 3 (0)
Riley bt Harry Boston and Miroslav Danadzhiev; Heslop bt Miroslav Danadzhiev and Stephen Williams; Taylor bt Charlotte Boston and Harry Boston; Kearney bt Stephen Williams and Charlotte Boston.
Doubles: Riley & Kearney bt Danadzhiev & Harry Boston; Heslop & Taylor bt Williams & Charlotte Boston.

Huddersfield (3) v Westfield No 1 (7)
Heslop bt John Fuller and Roumen Stefanov; Riley lost to Steve Silk and John Fuller; Kearney lost to Roumen Stefanov and Bogdan Capusa; Taylor lost to Bogdan Capusa and Steve Silk.
Doubles: Riley & Kearney bt Fuller & Silk; Heslop & Taylor lost to Stefanov & Capusa.

Huddersfield (5) v Wensum No 1 (5)
Riley bt Jacob Goss and Chris Cockburn; Heslop bt Chris Cockburn and lost to Joseph Goss; Taylor lost to Jamie Mcintosh and Jacob Goss; Kearney bt Jamie Mcintosh and lost to Joseph Goss.
Doubles: Riley & Kearney bt Cockburn & Mcintosh; Heslop & Taylor lost to Jacob and Joseph Goss.

Geoff Dunne chipped in with three wins from four matches played as Yorkshire Over 60’s 2nd team had a win and two draws in the County Championships against Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire respectively.

In the Huddersfield League, the two handicap cup competitions have both reached the semi-final stages. In the Royds Hall Printing Trophy, Marsh Con ‘A’ will play Scissett WMC ‘A’ and Wilshaw ‘A’ will play Woodfield Park ‘A’.
The semi-final of the Table Tennis Direct Cup sees Golcar Lib take on Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ and New North Road Baptist Church ‘A play Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’.

Golcar Lib won their quarter final match against Woodfield Park ‘B’ by the narrowest of margins – 1 point – a repeat of their winning margin in the previous round.

6th March 2017

No end of season joy for Huddersfield Yorkshire Veterans teams

In Division Three of the Yorkshire Veterans Table Tennis League, Huddersfield No 4 team ended the season with a heavy 1-9 defeat against Bradford No 3,.with Phil Schofield picking up the consolation set. Huddersfield No 3 came close to picking up a point against York No 4, but after leading the match 4-3 lost the final three sets to end up losing 4 sets to 6. Clive Standen, Barry Drain and Mike Belk each won a set with Standen and Belk winning the doubles.
In Division Two, Huddersfield No 2 lost their penultimate match of the season 3-7 to Keighley No 2 where Geoff Dunne, Keith Skarz and Ian Tweedale each won a set.

A number of Huddersfield League players took part in the Halifax Closed Championships. Wilshaw’s Russell Senior won the Veterans Singles title, after beating Ian Tweedale in the semis. Geoff Dunne also lost his semi final match. Dunne gained some consolation by beating Cameron Sandhu in the Division One Banded Singles.
Jonathan Heslop suffered a narrow defeat in the Mens Singles final losing 3-2. He will be hoping for better rewards in the Huddersfield Closed Championships which will also be held at the Halifax venue on Sunday April 2nd .

27th February 2017

Leaders winning run comes to an end

In Division Three, the winning run of Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth came to an end at Deighton as the Leisure Centre ‘D’ team of Lennox Cadore, Eron Samuda and Godfrey Gabriel earned a creditable draw against the FOY team of Geoff Heywood, Gerry Kerr and Steve Cook.
Cadore has not played in many matches this season, but made an excellent contribution to the Deighton points total. His two singles wins over Geoff Heywood and Steve Cook went the distance as he needed to win the 5th and deciding game in both matches. In the all important doubles, Cadore partnered Gabriel to win the set 11-9 12-10 12-10 and put the Deighton side 3-2 up at the half way stage. Samuda and Gabriel both got the better of Cook and after 8 sets Deighton were leading 5-3. The ninth set went in favour of the away team as Heywood beat Gabriel 11-9 13-11 11-8. With two players unbeaten on the night it was left to Kerr to salvage a draw if he could beat Cadore. In the first game it was difficult to separate the two players as most of the points went with service, At 12-12, Kerr took advantage of a failed serve to edge the game 14-12. Kerr then won the remaining two games 11-5 11-9 to end the night unbeaten and maintain his team’s unbeaten run this season.

Division One leaders Wilshaw ‘A’ suffered only their second defeat of the season, losing 4-6 at home to Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’. The win for Deighton could have been greater as one of their players had to concede two sets due to injury. Three singles wins for Jonathan Heslop and one each from Rafal Aleksandrzak and Tomasz Pietrzyk plus a Heslop / Aleksandrzak doubles win saw the away side gain the advantage.

The quarter finals of the two handicap competitions are scheduled to take place over the next two weeks. Kingsmith Engineering and Deighton Leisure Centre are well represented with each club having three teams across both competitions.

Royds Hall Printing Trophy
Marsh Con ‘A’ v Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’
Scissett WMC ‘A’ v Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’
Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ v Wilshaw ‘A’
Woodfield Park ‘A’ v Greetland

Table Tennis Direct Cup
Golcar Lib v Woodfield Park ‘B’
Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ v Paddock ‘A’
Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’ v New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’
Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ v Bye

20th February 2017

Winning run sees Huddersfield No 1 team top of the table

In the Yorkshire Veterans Table Tennis League, Huddersfield No 1 team turned in another fine performance winning their three matches to go top of the Division One table with a superior sets difference over the team on the same number of points. Darren Lindley, Tim Dyson and Nick Ryder only lost three sets between them in their three match wins. Tim Dyson retained his 100% win record in this season’s Veterans League competition.
The final round of matches scheduled for next month will be a test for the Huddersfield team as they are due to face the two teams immediately below them in the table.

In Division Three, Huddersfield No 3 and 4 teams had mixed fortunes. Huddersfield No 3 lost 3-7 to York No3. Huddersfield No 4 enjoyed a rare victory beating York No 4 6-4.

Yorkshire Veterans League Division 1
Huddersfield No 1 (10) v Doncaster (0)
Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (3), Nick Ryder (2) & Lindley / Dyson doubles win

Huddersfield No 1 (9) v Hull No 2 (1)
Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (3), Nick Ryder (2) & Lindley / Dyson doubles win

Huddersfield No 1 (8) v Bradford No 1 (2)
Darren Lindley (2), Tim Dyson (3), Nick Ryder (2) & Lindley / Dyson doubles win

Yorkshire Veterans League Division 3
Huddersfield No 3 (3)  York No 3 (7)
Clive Standen (2) & Standen / Stewart Clarke doubles win

Huddersfield No 4 (6)  York No 4 (4)
Jonathan Taylor (3), Peter Fox (2) & Taylor / Fox doubles win

League Tables

7th February 2017

Deighton ‘D’ team enjoy exciting cup victory

In the second round of the Royds Hall Printing Trophy Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’ had a narrow 16 point victory over Marsh Con ‘C’. In an even closer match, Woodfield Park ‘A’ came back from a losing position to beat New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ by 6 points.
Division two league leaders Scissett WMC ‘A’ beat the division three league leaders Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth by 45 points with nett points contributions by Clive Standen (25), Stewart Clarke (2) and Brian Armitage (18).
Marsh Con ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams had mixed fortunes. Marsh ‘A’ beat Scissett WMC ‘B’ as their ‘B’ team were well beaten by an in-form Greetland side.

First round losers of the Royds Hall Printing Trophy compete for the Table Tennis Direct Cup.
Results so far have seen wins for Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ and New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ over Kingsmith Engineering ‘D’ and U3A ‘B’ respectively. Woodfield Park ‘B’ progressed to the next round due to their opponents conceding the match and Paddock ’A’ received a bye to the next round.

The highlight of the first round of matches saw a Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ team of Keith Sandiford, James Woodbridge and Kai Spencer beat a Deighton ‘E’ junior team of Kayden Oates, Robert Sandiford and Sarah Amin by the narrowest of margins 623 points to 621.
With the ‘D’ team players enjoying a total match handicap advantage of 12 points it was destined to be a close fought affair.
Match 1 saw Keith Sandiford and Kayden Oates win 2 games each with Sandiford gaining a 4 point advantage after handicaps were taken into account. Match 2 went in favour of Deighton ‘E’ as Robert Sandiford won 3 of his 4 games against James Woodbridge to gain an overall lead of 3 points. In Match 3 Sarah Amin extended the ‘E’ team lead to 9 points, beating Kai Spencer in 3 of the 4 games.
In Match 5 Keith Sandiford won his 4 games against Amin to establish a 10 point lead for the ‘D’ team with Kai Spencer extending this lead by a couple of points in the next match. Amin won her 4 games in Match 7 to swing the tie back in favour of the ‘E’ team by 4 points.
Match 8 saw the ‘D’ team turn the tables again as Spencer won 3 games against Oates to give his team a 2 point lead.
In the deciding and final Match, Robert Sandiford needed to beat his father Keith to stand any chance of his ‘E’ team progressing to the next round of the competition. He won the first game 11-6 but lost the second 3-11. Robert won the third game to leave the match all square. Both players were desperate not to make a mistake in this final game and nerves began to show as points went in favour of the server with scores level at 9-9. Keith forced his son into a couple of errors to claim the game 11-9. The scores for the match were 34-34 but as both players had the same handicap the 2 point advantage from the previous matches ensured the ‘D’ team progressed to the next round.

30th January 2017

Crucial points at stake for struggling Marsh teams

This week features teams battling at the wrong end of the tables in the Huddersfield Table Tennis League. Moving well into the second half of the season, teams challenging for honours usually receive all the publicity but for struggling sides results are just as important as they battle for points to stay in their respective divisions.

In division one Marsh Con ‘B’ (26 points from 14 matches played), Paddock ‘A’ (33 points from 13) and Greetland (38 points from 13) occupy positions at the foot of the table.
Marsh ‘B’ only secured promotion to the top division by winning the last set of their final match and have only managed three wins this term. Points gained by Paddock have been mainly due to the efforts of Jonathan Taylor and Ewelina Gorna as they have struggled to field a full side due to player unavailability this season. Greetland returned to winning ways this week, beating Woodfield Park ‘A’ 6-4 with three wins each for Garry Jowett and Chris Lowson.

In division two, Marsh Con ‘D’ (35 points from 11 matches played) and Scissett WMC ‘B’ (47 points from 13) occupy the bottom two places. Alan West has been the main contributor of points for Marsh ‘D’ but they are now boosted by the return of Glyn Normanton which should see them picking up much needed points again. Scissett ‘B’ have enjoyed their best form of the season so far with two wins and a draw from the last three matches.

In division three Paddock ‘B’ (31 points from 12 matches played), U3A ‘B’ (42 points from 15) and Deighton Leisure Centre ‘E’ (48 points from 14) occupy the lower positions in this division. As with the Paddock ‘A’ team, the ‘B’ team have also struggled to put out a side this season and have subsequently been on the wrong end of a couple of high scoring matches, the latest at the hands of Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth and Golcar Lib. U3A ‘B’ are able to give most teams in the division a game, only struggling against the top teams and the Deighton side is usually made up of juniors or players new to league competition.

Teams could not be separated in this week’s league match between Golcar Lib and New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ in what was a good advert for third division table tennis. The match ended 5-5 with 21 games won by each team. For Golcar Lib, Martyn Halliday played particularly well to win two sets – beating Matthew Barber and Sha Hashemi. David Atherton played very well for the church side. His defensive skills and outstanding movement around the table, utilising backhand and forehand, helped him gain victories in each of his three matches. The all important doubles went in favour of Golcar as father and son duo David and Scott Singleton overcame a two game deficit to come back and beat Barber and Atherton.

23rd January 2017

Teams return to league action after break for handicap cup competition

Huddersfield Table Tennis league resumed with league matches after the Christmas break and initial rounds of the handicap cup competition.

In Division Two, Scissett WMC ‘A’ did not let the mid-season break affect their winning run, beating Kingsmith Engineering ‘D’ 8-2 with singles wins for Clive Standen (3), Stewart Clarke (3) and Brian Armitage (1) plus a win for Standen and Clarke in the doubles. The victory may have given them added satisfaction, as Kingsmith ‘D’ were the last team to inflict defeat on the Scissett side. They have a 12 point lead at the head of the table and nearest challengers Kingsmith PW were not helped by an injury to one of their players during their match at home to Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’ where Mick Hodson won his 3 singles for the home side. Deighton won the match 7-3 including two singles wins each for Rawan Hamza, Paul Simpson and Xiaoyan Liu.
After last season’s promotion from Division 3, New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ struggled to find any early season form and subsequently lost their first four matches. They have recovered well to occupy a mid-table position. Their latest success, a 8-2 win over Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’, included a rare loss for Kingsmith’s Alex Beresford at the hands of Markus Damm.
Elsewhere in division two, Glyn Normanton made a timely return to action for Marsh Con ‘D’, helping his side share the points at Scissett WMC ‘B’.

In Division One, Marsh Con ‘A’ narrowly beat Woodfield Park ‘A’ where Nick Ryder gained three singles wins and the doubles for the away side’s points. Marsh secured the points with two singles wins each for Tony Stead, Ian Tweedale and David Wood.
Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’, Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’ and Wilshaw ‘A’ all had 7-3 wins over Greetland, Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ and Deighton Leisure Centre ‘B’ respectively. It may well have been a later than normal finish at Wilshaw, as no fewer than seven sets needed a fifth game to decide the outcome.
The remaining match played in this division saw a narrow win for bottom of the table Marsh Con ‘B’ over a depleted Paddock ‘A’ side.

In Division three, David Atherton of New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ is having an excellent season. His three singles wins helped his team gain a narrow victory at U3A ‘A’. Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ inflicted a heavy defeat on the U3A ‘B’ team with maximums for Naila Malik, Eron Samuda and Godfrey Gabriel. Deighton Leisure Centre ‘E’ also suffered on their travels, losing at Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth. For Deighton ‘E’, father and son duo Keith and Robert Sandiford plus junior Thomas Gregory played their part in an entertaining match and with continued coaching at Deighton will certainly be holding their own in this division next season. The Kingsmith FOY squad of Geoff Heywood, Gerry Kerr, Roger Wood and Steve Cook still head the divisional table but as ‘wise old stagers’ expect a few stern tests before the season is over ! Deighton ‘E’ also lost narrowly to Golcar Lib in a re-arranged match.

16th January 2017

Mid-season league break for cup matches

Early January sees a mid-season break for league matches in the Huddersfield Table Tennis league, with players taking part in the early stages of the handicap cup competition, which this season will be sponsored by Royds Hall Printing Company. The format of this year’s handicap competition being slightly different to previous years with first round losing teams competing in a plate competition.

The draw saw three teams – Marsh Con ‘B’, Marsh Con ‘D’ and U3A ‘A’ – receiving a bye through to the second round.

Royds Hall Printing Trophy Round One Draw / Results

Kingsmith PW (431) lost to Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’ (480)
Paddock ‘A’ (418) lost to Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’ (431)
Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ (360) bt Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’ (340)
Woodfield Park ‘B’ (462) lost to Marsh Con ‘C’ (485)
Deighton Leisure Centre ‘B’ (568) lost to Scissett WMC ‘B’ (601)
Deighton Leisure Centre ‘E’ (501) lost to New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ (602)
Marsh Con ‘B’ v bye
Greetland v  bye
Wilshaw ‘B’ v Paddock ‘B’
Golcar Lib (461) lost to Marsh Con ‘A’ (482)
Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ (459) lost to Woodfield Park ‘A’ (470)
Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ (461) lost to Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth (488)
Scissett WMC ‘A’ (484) bt Kingsmith Engineering ‘D’ (462)
New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ (376) lost to Wilshaw ‘A’ (415)
Marsh Con ‘D’ (563) bt U3A ‘B’ (498)
U3A ‘A’ v bye

Apart from a couple of results, the close scores reflect the hard work put in by the handicap committee in allocating appropriate player handicaps.

Huddersfield No 2, No 3 and No 4 teams played their third round of matches in the Yorkshire Veterans League. Having lost four of the opening five sets in their Division 2 match, Huddersfield No 2 rallied in the later sets to gain some respectability just losing out 4-6 to York No 2. Geoff Dunne and Ian Tweedale winning two sets each for Huddersfield.
Huddersfield No 3 and No 4 teams shared the points in their division three clash with two singles wins each for Clive Standen and Mike Belk plus the doubles for the No 3 team. Phil Schofield won all his three sets for the No 4 team.

12th December 2016

Scissett beat leaders to move level on points

In Division Two of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League, Scissett WMC ‘A’ had a comfortable win over leaders Kingsmith PW to match them at the head of the table with the same number of sets won. After losing their opening two matches, Scissett have had a run of seven wins to catch the Kingsmith side and also have a game in hand over them. The scoreline of 9-1 suggested an easy ride for the home team but they had to work hard for their victory as a number of games were won by a narrow margin, none more so than the 9th set which saw Brian Armitage beat Richard Cowling 12-10 11-13 9-11 11-9 16-14.
There were two wins for Stewart Clarke, three wins each for Clive Standen and Brian Armitage and the pair combined to win the doubles. David Williamson gained the consolation set for the visitors.

In Division One, three wins by Shaun Ellis for Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ helped his side share the points at Woodfield Park ‘A’. Phil Schofield and Steve Hanson had one win each and Woodfield’s points were gained through a couple of wins each for Darren Lindley and Ian McLean with the duo combining to win the doubles.

This weekend saw the last round of matches in the first half of the Senior British Table Tennis League, with a defeat and a draw for the Huddersfield team. There was an excellent debut for Paddock player Jonathan Taylor, who won three of his four singles matches.

Huddersfield (3) v Woodfield No 2 (7)
Fraser Riley lost to Chris Tarr 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-13; Rafal Aleksandrzak lost to Miroslaw Sonnenfeld 6-11, 5-11, 3-11; Cameron Sandhu bt Rob Bood 11-8, 12-10, 2-11, 9-11, 11-8; Jonathan Taylor bt Boguslaw Okonek 11-9, 11-6, 11-7; Riley bt Sonnenfeld 13-11, 11-7, 11-6; Sandhu lost to Tarr 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 5-11; Aleksandrzak lost to Okonek 8-11, 6-11, 8-11; Taylor lost to Bood 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, 8-11, 8-11.
Doubles: Riley & Sandhu lost to Sonnenfeld & Okonek 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11; Aleksandrzak & Taylor lost to Tarr & Bood 11-8, 6-11, 1-11, 11-7, 5-11.

Huddersfield (5) v Corby Town (5)
Riley lost to Henry Arthur 11-5, 6-11, 10-12, 16-14, 5-11; Aleksandrzak lost to Alex Aston 5-11, 10-12, 7-11; Sandhu bt Adam Wilson 12-10, 11-6, 13-11; Taylor bt Aaron Moore 11-6, 11-6, 11-6; Riley lost to Aston 5-11, 4-11, 0-11; Sandhu lost to Arthur 15-17, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 9-11; Aleksandrzak bt Moore 11-9, 11-7, 11-6; Taylor bt Wilson 11-6, 4-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9.
Doubles: Riley & Sandhu lost to Arthur & Aston 10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 4-11; Aleksandrzak & Taylor bt Moore & Wilson 11-5, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9.

5th December 2016

Harrogate success for Huddersfield No 2 team

Huddersfield No 2 team gained their first victory of the season in Division 2 of the Yorkshire Veteran’s League, beating Harrogate No 2. The match was all square after the first eight sets, but Geoff Dunne and Neil Crosland won their final singles and the match.
Huddersfield No 2 (6) v Harrogate No 2 (4)
Geoff Dunne bt Mike Pickering 11-9, 11-9, 14-12; Neil Crosland lost to Linda Simpson 14-12, 11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11; Keith Skarz bt Alan Balmforth 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-9; Dunne bt Simpson 11-5, 11-9, 11-8; Skarz lost to Pickering 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 14-16, 6-11; Crosland bt Balmforth 12-10, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8; Skarz lost to Simpson 8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4, 11-13; Dunne bt Balmforth 11-4, 12-10, 14-12; Crosland bt Pickering 9-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9.
Doubles: Dunne & Crosland lost to Pickering & Simpson 7-11, 9-11, 11-4, 8-11.

In Division One of the Huddersfield Table Tennis league it was déjà vu as Wilshaw gained another convincing win, beating Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’. Only seven sets separate the four teams in the chasing pack – Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’, Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’, Woodfield Park ‘A’ and Wilshaw ‘B’. Wilshaw ‘B’ have had a good run of results recently, their only loss being at the hands of their ‘A’ team. Francis Cioffi, Gary Crossley and Ken Ward were in the team that beat Paddock ‘A’ 8-2.

Division Two results saw a rare double from Kingsley Smith. The Kingsmith Engineering player only managed a single win in the higher division last season. Smith plays week in week out with rarely any reward for his endeavour so a couple of wins would be most welcome.
His Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’ team beat Marsh Con ‘D’ 8-2, with Smith also teaming up with Alex Beresford to win the doubles. Marsh ‘D’ are struggling this season, after two wins from their first three matches. They have suffered with the loss of Glyn Normanton through injury and it has been generally left up to Alan West to gain much needed sets.

In Division Three, U3A ‘A’ got back to winning ways after a couple of defeats, beating Paddock ‘B’. Maximum wins by Andy Parker and Doug Holt plus a double from John Riggall saw them home.

21st November 2016

Huddersfield players enjoy success in Blackpool Grand Prix competition.

Two Huddersfield Table Tennis players had a successful trip to the Blackpool Grand Prix this weekend. Kingsmith Engineering player Shaun Ellis won the Men’s Band 5 singles, beating his opponent in four sets. He lost the first set and took a tumble in the second which caused him some discomfort. However, he eventually found his feet and recovered to take the last three sets 14-12 11-8 and 11-6 and claim the prize.
Shaun Ellis bt Zak Cantor 4-11 14-12 11-8 11-6

Wilshaw’s Janet Adams was not so fortunate, as she lost out in the final of the Women’s Band 4 singles. Adams started the stronger of the two players taking the first and third sets for a 2-1 lead. Her Scottish opponent, Rebecca Plaistow, then took the remaining two sets to clinch the match 3-2. This was a creditable performance by Adams as her opponent had won her previous Grand Prix event.
Janet Adams lost to Rebecca Plaistow 11-7 5-11 11-8 1-11 7-11

In the Yorkshire Veterans League, Huddersfield No 1 team have made a strong start to this season’s campaign and are joint top of Division One beating Hull No 3, Leeds No 1 and York No 1. Huddersfield No 2 lost narrowly to Bradford No 2 while the Huddersfield No 3 team drew with Scarborough.

Huddersfield No 1 (7) v Hull No 3 (3)
Russell Senior (1), Darren Lindley (3), Nick Ryder (2) & Senior / Lindley doubles win

Huddersfield No 1 (9) v Leeds No 1 (1)
Nick Ryder (2), Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (3) & Dyson / Ryder doubles win

Huddersfield No 1 (9) v York No 1 (1)
Darren Lindley (3), Tim Dyson (3), Nick Ryder (2) & Dyson / Lindley doubles win

Huddersfield No 2 (4) Bradford No 2 (6)
Geoff Dunne (1), Ian Tweedale (2) & Dunne / Tweedale doubles win

Huddersfield No 3 (5) Scarborough (5)
Mike Belk (1), Clive Standen (2), Rafal Aleksandrzak (1) & Aleksandrzak / Standen doubles win

In Division One of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ have continued their fine run of form with a narrow 6-4 win over Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’.
In a see-saw match Deighton took a 3-0 lead only for Kingsmith to draw level at 3-3 including a Geoff Dunne / Shaun Ellis doubles win. Deighton then edged in front 4-3 before Kingsmith won the final 3 sets of the match to seal the points. Steve Hanson chipped in with a singles win and there were two wins each for Ellis and Dunne, who inflicted the first defeat of the season on previously unbeaten Jonathan Heslop.

14th November 2016

Another creditable performance by Huddersfield team in Senior British Table Tennis League

This weekend saw the second set of matches in the Senior British Table Tennis League with matches played over four weekends during the season at a neutral venue. Huddersfield got off to a flying start as the first match on Saturday saw a convincing 10-0 win over Archway Peterborough No 3.

In their second match against Westfield No 1, they could not capitalise on an early 3-1 lead, losing the remaining sets and the match 7-3. This was no disgrace as their opponents headed the National C-1 table with a 100% record.

The scoreline of Sunday’s match does not reflect the performance, as three of the sets had to be forfeited due to player unavailability in a 6-4 win over Nottingham Sycamore No 4. Rafal Aleksandrzak, who was a late replacement to the squad, had to return home unexpectedly and therefore was unavailable for Sunday’s matches.

With the result of the match against Wensum No 1 not yet available, it was still a creditable performance by the Huddersfield team over the weekend.

Huddersfield (10) v Archway Peterborough No 3 (0)
Jonathan Heslop bt Martin Freeland 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 13-11; Fraser Riley bt Miroslav Danadzhiev 12-10, 11-6, 11-8; Cameron Sandhu bt Petar Tancevski 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4; Rafal Aleksandrzak bt Harry Boston 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9; Riley bt Freeland 11-13, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4; Heslop bt Tancevski 11-9, 11-6, 11-8; Aleksandrzak bt Danadzhiev 15-13, 11-9, 15-13; Sandhu bt Boston 12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10.
Doubles: Riley & Sandhu bt Boston & Freeland 11-8, 11-4, 11-9; Aleksandrzak & Heslop bt Tancevski & Danadzhiev 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9.

Huddersfield (3) v Westfield No 1 (7)
Riley bt Steve Silk 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7; Heslop bt John Fuller 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6; Aleksandrzak lost to Bogdan Capusa 6-11, 12-14, 9-11; Sandhu bt Roumen Stefanov 10-12, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10; Riley lost to Fuller 8-11, 7-11, 10-12; Aleksandrzak lost to Silk 12-14, 10-12, 11-6, 5-11; Heslop lost to Stefanov 11-13, 11-2, 5-11, 5-11; Sandhu lost to Capusa 10-12, 9-11, 12-14.
Doubles: Riley & Sandhu lost to Fuller & Silk 9-11, 1-11, 7-11; Aleksandrzak & Heslop lost to Stefanov & Capusa 6-11, 9-11, 3-11.

Huddersfield (6) v Nottingham Sycamore No 4 (4)
Heslop bt Helmuth Osborne 7-11, 11-3 5-11, 11-4, 14-12; Riley bt Thomas Woodward 11-5, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9; Sandhu bt Tom Barrett 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7; Riley bt Osborne 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6; Heslop lost to Craig Allen 8-11, 6-11, 11-13; Sandhu bt Woodward 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8.
Doubles: Riley & Heslop bt Osborne & Allen 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-5.

In Division One of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League, Woodfield Park ‘A’ gained a narrow victory over previously unbeaten Wilshaw ‘A’. The match hinged on two closely fought sets, with the Woodfield Park doubles pairing of Darren Lindley and Keith Skarz beating Russell Senior and Janet Adams 7-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9. Ian McLean beat Senior in the final set of the evening 11-13, 10-12, 13-11, 12-10, 11-9 to clinch the match 6-4.
Wilshaw ‘B’ have enjoyed a couple of comfortable wins, beating Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ 8-2 and Marsh Con ‘B’ 10-0. Home advantage for Kingsmith ‘B’ could not prevent another heavy loss, this time at the hands of Marsh Con ‘A’. Deighton Leisure Centre ‘B’ also had a 10-0 win over Greetland with six of the sets contested going the distance.

In Division Two there were 7-3 wins for Marsh Con ‘C’ and Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’ over Woodfield Park ‘B’ and Marsh Con ‘D’ respectively. The points were shared between Scissett WMC ‘B’ and Kingsmith Engineering ‘D’

U3A ‘A’ team got the better of their ‘B’ team in a comprehensive Division Three win.
Scott Singleton of Golcar Lib played some excellent positional shots in winning three sets against Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth and the points were shared in the New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ / Deighton Leisure Centre ‘E’ and Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ / Paddock ‘B’ matches.

7th November 2016

Narrow  defeat for Huddersfield No 4 team

Huddersfield No 4 team suffered a narrow defeat in a Yorkshire Veterans Division 3 match at home to York No 3. Jonathan Taylor, making his first start at veteran’s level, and Phil Schofield each won two of their three singles matches. The pair combined for the all important doubles and just lost out 11-8 in the fifth game of a match full of attacking shots throughout.

In Division One of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League, newcomers Greetland appear to be settling in as they recorded a second win of the season beating Marsh Con ‘B’ 8-2.
Woodfield Park ‘A’ and Wilshaw ‘A’ both fielded strong sides in last week’s matches, with Woodfield Park probably unsure what level of competition they would be facing. Woodfield Park just edged out their Deighton Leisure Centre ‘B’ opponents with Darren Lindley (3), Ian McLean (2) and Keith Skarz (1) the scorers in a 6-4 win.
Wilshaw ‘A’ team of Russell Senior (2), Janet Adams (2) and Tim Dyson (3) beat Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ 7-3. Shaun Ellis won two singles for Kingsmith and joined Geoff Dunne in a doubles win over the reigning closed championship winners Senior and Dyson.

A game of two halves is normally a phrase used when referring to football matches, but it could also be applied to the Kingsmith Engineering ‘D’ versus New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ match in Division Two.  Kingsmith raced into a 5-0 lead thanks to a Peter Fox double and a win each for John Langfield, Mike Jagger and Langfield / Fox doubles. New North Road Baptist Church then recovered to win the last five sets with two each from Jonathan Vaughan and Ross Lander plus one from Daniel Hamer to level the match.
Kingsmith PW got back to winning ways, beating Scissett WMC ‘B’ 8-2 and Marsh Con ‘C’ accounted for Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’ 7-3.

Only eight weeks into the Division Three season and Deighton Leisure Centre have already used twelve different players in their ‘E’ team. Their latest addition, Samuel Nehmiah, helped them to a draw with three wins against U3A ‘A’.

31st Octobber 2016

Church team’s prayers answered with first win of the season

In Division Two of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League, New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ have struggled since their promotion from Division Three, but gained their first win of the season 6-4 at the expense of previously undefeated leaders Kingsmith PW. Jonathan Vaughan, Daniel Hamer and Ross Lander got the home side over the line with a couple of wins each. For Kingsmith PW, Mick Hodson won all his three singles matches and the doubles.
Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’ also achieved their first win of the season, beating Woodfield Park ‘B’ 8-2. Rawan Hamza led the way with three wins, supported by a couple of wins from Ron Powell and Gordon Cape plus a Hamza / Powell doubles success.
Other matches played in this division saw Kingsmith Engineering ‘D’ edge out their ‘C’ team 6-4 and Scissett WMC ‘A’ came away from a trip to Marsh Con ‘C’ with a 7-3 win.

Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’ team maintained their impressive run in Division One, with a 10-0 win over Paddock ‘A’. They were hoping their ‘B’ team would do them a favour by taking a few sets off the current second placed team, Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’. Lining up for Deighton ‘B’ were Cameron Sandhu, Tomasz Pietrzyk and Rafal Aleksandrzak with Shaun Ellis, Phil Schofield and Steve Hanson representing Kingsmith ‘A’. Deighton won three of the first four sets on offer with the last of these four featuring Pietrzyk against Ellis, with both players holding 100% records from their opening league matches. Pietrzyk maintained his winning start, taking the set 11-9 11-7 8-11 11-8. Kingsmith rallied to take the next two sets to level the match – Ellis partnering Schofield to win the doubles 8-11 8-11 11-8 11-9 12-10 and Hanson beating Sandhu 8-11 10-12 11-9 11-6 11-7. Three of the remaining sets went in favour of the home team as they edged the match 6-4.
Elsewhere in Division One Keith Skarz, Mike Belk and Derek Moorhouse combined to gain a 9-1 win at  Marsh Con ‘B’ while the Marsh Con ‘A’ team suffered a similar defeat at Wilshaw ‘B’ with Gary Crossley, Geoff Ogden and Ken Ward the scorers.

In Division Three, U3A ‘B’ and Paddock ‘B’ shared the points in a marathon match with no fewer than seven sets going the distance. David Thorp (1), David Shearing (1) and Linda Battye (2) plus a Shearing / Battye doubles were the scorers for U3A with Kevin Brook (3) and John Taylor (2) replying for Paddock.
Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth team of Geoff Heywood, Roger Wood and Steve Cook maintained their winning run, beating New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ 8-2 where David Atherton won the consolation sets for the losing team.
The match between Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ and ‘E’ teams featured a number of junior players. Deighton table tennis club development coaches are encouraging their junior players to take part in league competition and this match was no exception with three aged fourteen taking part. The Deighton ‘E’ team, represented by James Woodbridge and father and son duo Keith and Robert Sandiford were no match for their ‘D’ team opponents, losing 9-1. Kayden Oates (3), Kai Spencer (3) and Sarah Amin (2) plus a Spencer  / Oates doubles win sealed the points. Credit to Amin as she is the only cadet girl currently playing in the league.
Woodbridge gained the consolation set for the ‘E’ team, beating Amin before she had chance to settle and get into any kind of rhythm.

24th Octobber 2016

Kingsmith PW continue their winning run

In Division Two of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League, Kingsmith PW have made an excellent start to the season, winning their opening five matches. Having accounted for Marsh Con ‘’D’ 10-0, with three wins each for Richard Cowling, Ian Charlton and Mick Hodson, they beat fellow promotion contenders Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’ 7-3. In their latest match Cowling and Charlton were joined by Billy Ryan to inflict a first defeat of the season on Kingsmith ‘C’.
Scissett WMC ‘A’ have improved since their early season setbacks as Stewart Clarke, Clive Standen and Brian Armitage combined to gain a comfortable victory over Deighton Leisure Centre ‘C’.

Division One news usually makes reference to a Deighton or Wilshaw team, and this week is no exception. The latest encounter saw a Deighton ‘A’ side featuring Fraser Riley, Jonathan Heslop and Damian Galka take on a Wilshaw ‘A’ team of Neil Crosland, Janet Adams and Tim Dyson. Wilshaw ‘A’ came out eventual winners of this match 7-3 with two wins each for Crosland, Adams and Dyson plus a Dyson / Adams doubles success.
Adams gained revenge for an earlier defeat by Riley, who had won all his previous division one matches, coming back from two games down to claim the next two and final game 11-8.
Heslop was able to maintain his own 100% record by accounting for all three Wilshaw players including a 4-11 11-8 6-11 11-4 11-9 win over last season’s Huddersfield Closed Champion, Dyson. Heslop is rapidly moving up the National ranking table, currently occupying a position in the top 10 at Cadet level.
Elsewhere in Division one Geoff Dunne, Steve Hanson and Phil Schofield gave Kingsmith ‘A’ a convincing win over their ‘B’ team and Woodfield Park ‘A’ got back to winning ways beating Marsh ‘B’ 7-3.

In Division Three, U3A ‘A’ suffered their first loss of the season as early pace setters Fountain Of Youth inflicted a 8-2 defeat on their rivals. Three wins each for Geoff Heywood and Gerry Kerr plus two from Steve Cook gave the away team the points.

17th Octobber 2016

Deighton match scoreline no reflection of individual performances

The Huddersfield Table Tennis league clash between Deighton Leisure Centre ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams provided an opportunity for their top players to test their abilities against each other and demonstrate the high level of the sport present in Huddersfield as four of the players represent the town in the British Table Tennis league. In the ‘A’ team were Fraser Riley, Jonathan Heslop and Tomasz Pietrzyk with the ‘B’ team made up of Cameron Sandhu, Rafal Aleksandrzak and Damian Galka, who had played all his previous matches for the ‘A’ team.
The first match saw junior Fraser Riley continue his excellent start to the season, beating fellow junior Cameron Sandhu 14-12 11-4 11-9. The second encounter saw Heslop take on Aleksandrzak and the scores were level after the first four games. Game five saw Aleksandrzak take the lead at 5-2 and 10-8 only for Heslop to make a brilliant recovery at match point against him and eventually claim the set winning 12-10. Next up was Pietrzyk playing against his usual team mate Galka for the first time, winning the set by 3 games to nil.
The ‘A’ team lead had extended to 9-0 by the time Heslop lined up against Sandhu. This match was one of five that went the full distance as Sandhu took the lead 12-10 and 11-8. Heslop won the next two games and the final one 12-10 to clinch the set and complete the 10-0 victory. The score line did not reflect some of the play by the losing side, particularly the improvement made by Aleksandrzak over the last year.

Newcomers Greetland have finally got off the mark with a first league win in Division One. Having entered the Huddersfield league for the first time this season, they achieved their victory over a Woodfield Park ‘A’ side of Fraser Krischke, Mike Belk and Keith Skarz. Wins for Chris Lowson (2), Richard Broadbent (2) and Gary Jowett (3) plus a Broadbent / Jowett doubles win sealed the points. Skarz gained the two consolation sets for Woodfield Park.

Woodfield Park ‘B’ recovered from an indifferent start to the season in Division Two by beating New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ 9-1, thanks to three wins each for Steve Knott and David Bowers plus a couple from Derek Moorhouse.

With only eight teams in this year’s Division Three, sides will play each other three times to ensure a reasonable number of matches are played during the season. This week sees the top two go head to head for the first of their three meetings.

Huddersfield will once again have a Yorkshire over 60’s second team representative as Kingsmith Engineering’s Geoff Dunne has been selected for their first match this weekend in Nottingham.

10th Octobber 2016

Long awaited win for Huddersfield No 3 team

Having endured the previous two season without a single win, the Huddersfield No 3 team started this year’s Yorkshire Veterans Division 3 campaign with a 7-3 victory over Bradford No 3. Two wins each for Rafal Aleksandrzak, Clive Standen and Mike Belk plus the doubles saw them achieve the long awaited result. Huddersfield No 4 team did not get off to the same positive start, as they lost heavily to Scarborough at the Ryedale Table Tennis Centre.

Huddersfield No 2 team started their Division 2 season with a 5-5 draw against Wakefield at Marsh Con Club. Finding themselves 0-4 and 2-5 down they rallied to share the points with singles wins by Ian Tweedale (2), Geoff Dunne (1) and Keith Skarz (1) and a comprehensive doubles win for Tweedale and Dunne.

In the Huddersfield Table Tennis League Wilshaw ‘A’ are again setting the pace in Division One with 4 wins from their opening matches. Deighton Leisure Centre have added youngster Fraser Riley to their squad and could yet prove to be a threat. Player availability may prevent Woodfield Park closing the gap on Wilshaw. Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ have had a reasonable start to the season, with just one defeat in their opening four matches.

Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’ and Kingsmith PW have come through the early series of matches in Division Two with 100% records. Kingsmith ‘C’ are putting last year’s Division One experience to good use while Kingsmith PW are benefitting from the addition of Billy Ryan to their squad as he remains unbeaten after 3 matches.

The Division Three table is headed by Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth and U3A ‘A’ who have started the season with four wins each from their opening matches.

26th September 2016

Returning Ellis makes fine start to the season

Shaun Ellis has made an impressive start for Kingsmith Engineering ‘A’ team in division 1 of the Huddersfield Table tennis league. The 2014 division 1 merit award winner, returning after a season’s absence, has won his first 6 matches including the scalps of Darren Lindley, Nick Ryder and Ian McLean in his second match of the season. However, his 3 wins at home to Woodfield Park ‘A’ were not enough to secure a victory for his side as they went down 7-3 with Lindley, Ryder and McLean each winning their other 2 singles matches and Lindley and Ryder combining to claim the doubles. In the first round of matches, Ellis teamed up with Geoff Dunne and Phil Schofield to gain a convincing win over Marsh Con ‘A’ 9-1.

Perennial title challengers Wilshaw ‘A’ have also made a fine start this year. Tim Dyson, Janet Adams, Russel Senior and Neil Crosland have only dropped a single set between them in their opening two victories over Kingsmith Engineering ‘B’ and Marsh Con ‘B’.

It will be interesting to see how the Deighton Leisure Centre teams perform in the top division after suffering the tragic loss of one of their players and other first division regulars not available. Junior players Jonathan Heslop and Cameron Sandhu will gain invaluable experience with the higher level of competition.

Kingsmith Engineering ‘C’ and Marsh Con ‘C’ have both won their opening matches in division 2. Kingsmith ‘C’ beat Marsh Con ‘D’ 6-4 and Woodfield Park ‘B’ 8-2.
Marsh Con ‘C’, who narrowly missed out on promotion to division 1 last season, had 8-2 and 7-3 wins over New North Road Baptist Church ‘A’ and Scissett WMB ‘B’ respectively.

In division 3, Kingsmith Fountain Of Youth put behind their relegation from division 2 with convincing wins over Paddock ‘B’ and Deighton Leisure Centre ‘E’. U3A ‘A’ have also started with a couple of wins, beating Deighton Leisure Centre ‘D’ 6-4 and New North Road Baptist Church ‘B’ 7-3.

The Deighton ‘E’ team, under the guidance of Naila Malik, is providing an opportunity for younger players that have attended coaching sessions to gain experience of competing at league level.

19th September 2016

Fine start for Huddersfield in Senior British Table Tennis League

It is a few years since the successful Brook Motors team represented Huddersfield at National table tennis level but this year a Huddersfield team have entered the Senior British League and will compete in National Division C-1 with seven other teams.

All matches are scheduled over four weekends at Weavers Leisure Centre in Wellingborough Northamptonshire meaning players will incur a 260 mile round trip on each of the match weekends. Huddersfield Table Tennis league has provided funding for the team. Deighton player Godfrey Gabriel of FileDoc Ltd has also assisted with much needed sponsorship.

For the initial set of matches Huddersfield were represented by Deighton Leisure Centre players Fraser Riley, Jonathan Heslop, Cameron Sandhu and Rafal Aleksandrzak. The team can also draw on the experience of Huddersfield Closed Championship finalists Tim Dyson and Darren Lindley with Paddock’s Jonathan Taylor completing the squad.

After the weekend’s matches, Huddersfield came away with creditable performances considering the team included 3 Juniors, gaining 2 wins and a draw from their 4 matches.
Players from each team play 2 singles each match with all 4 players involved in 2 doubles.

On Saturday the team had a mixed start drawing 5-5 with Nottingham Sycamore 4th team and losing 8-2 to Woodfield 2nd team. They returned on Sunday to put in a couple of fine performances beating Corby 7-3 and Cliffdale Chandlers 10-0.

Results:-
Huddersfield v Nottingham Sycamore 4th (Fraser Riley 2,Jonathan Heslop 1, Cameron Sandhu 1, Heslop / Sandhu doubles)

Huddersfield v Woodfield 2nd  (Fraser Riley 1, Rafal Aleksandrzak 1)

Huddersfield v Corby (Fraser Riley 2,Jonathan Heslop 2, Cameron Sandhu 1, Rafal Aleksandrzak 1, Riley / Heslop doubles)

Huddersfield v Cliffdale Chandlers (Fraser Riley 2, Jonathan Heslop 2, Rafal Aleksandrzak 2, Cameron Sandhu 2, Riley / Heslop and Alexsandrzak / Sandhu doubles.

This week also saw the start of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League season, with teams competing in three divisions.

There will be eleven teams in Division 1, ten in Division 2 and eight in Division 3.
As in previous seasons, teams from Deighton Leisure Centre, Kingsmith Engineering, Marsh Con and Wilshaw make up the bulk of the entries. A new club, Greetland, have joined the league this year and will compete in Division 1.

Huddersfield will again be well represented in the Yorkshire Veterans League, with four teams entered for this season.