Ashford Hill are off to a flying start

The Newbury Table Tennis league has begun

CHAMPIONS Ashford Hill Ramblers made a perfect start to their defence of the Newbury League Division 1 crown.

Ramblers romped to a 9-1 win over Thatcham Lions with maximums from Sam Ricks and John Goodyer and a double from Phil Davenport.

Eddie Haines scored Lions’ only win.

Kintbury Titan went one better with a 10-0 win against Thatcham Jeffernauts, Ray Powell, Tom Whatmore and Nat Richardson all remaining unbeaten

But last season’s runners-up Thatcham A were beaten 7-3 by newly-promoted Thatcham Scorpions.

New signing Lee Calcot and Simon Barter both won all three, beating Richard Rosinski in the fifth set.

Thatcham C scored an 8-2 win over Thatcham Choppers in Division 2.

Colin Price and Bao Tuyen-Ly both won twice, losing only to Choppers’ Jeremy Skelton, but Skelton in turn lost to Jeff Caddy, who scored a maximum.

Thatcham Scavengers also made a good start, winning 8-2 at Inkpen Insufferables with Bob Lynch getting three and Dean Mustill and Spence Harvey getting a brace each.

Rohit Sengurta scored a fine double for Inkpen, only losing to Lynch in the decider.

Woolton Hill Wolverines won 8-2 against Thatcham Spartans with triples from Simon Sonsino and Jonathan Hopson.

A treble from John McLarty and two from George Wilson saw AWE Fission beat Kintbury Cobras 7-3, Ian Wu scoring twice for Cobras.

Thatcham Dragons could only field two players and suffered at the hands of Thatcham Hawks in Division 3.

Dave Norman, Christine Milne and Arthur Smith won all their games in a 10-0 whitewash.

Thatcham Tornadoes and Thatcham Spitfires fought out a thrilling encounter.

Spitfires took the lead four times, only for Tornados to hit back each time to make it 4-4 before Spitfires won the last two games to seal a 6-4 success.

John Panting won three and Ben Haines two for the victors, while Michael Sopp scored two for Tornadoes.

Woolton Hill Racketeers and Kintbury Dynamos battled out a 5-5 draw.

Dynamos’ Tom Kelly won all his games, while Panos Stemitsiotis and Robert Cox both scored twice for Racketeers.