Lillington Free Church D pip Nomads in race to Division 2 Title

Lillington Free Church TTC added the Division 2 title to that of Division 1 when their D side played two crucial matches last week. First up were promotion rivals WCC Bears who sped into a 3-0 lead. However, Church pegged them back with two wins apiece from Owain Jones, who beat Paul Calloway and Clive Irwin, and from Harry Purewal who also beat Irwin and added the scalp of Chris Hughes. Jeff Harris posted a vital win over Hughes to set up the doubles between Jones and Purewal and Calloway and Irwin, with the Church pairing winning 3-0 to take the match 6-4. Two days later Church D faced Church E in a match which had ramifications at both ends of the table. The D trio were again in top form and eclipsed FC E 10-0 meaning they clinched the title by one point from Nomads Aces who are also promoted. Church E finished level with Whitnash on 78 points but will be relegated, along with Eathorpe B, by virtue of having recorded one less win.

With Free Church J having already taken the title in Division C, a 4th title was secured by the Lillington club in Division D when Free Church O played Free Church Q. O needed to win 5-0 to be sure of the crown but after Keerthi Bakthisaran and her cousin, Manas Krishnan, pocketed all 4 singles, they were thwarted by Anay Aroon and Ben Rourke who won the doubles deuce in the 5th, leaving FC O level on points with Eathorpe J. Further investigation of statistics after the match showed that Church O were Champions because they had recorded more wins.

Rex Wong of Warwick School qualified for the English Schools Individual Championships being the current Warwickshire Schools Champion. He played in the Under 16 Boys event and won his group of 5, overcoming Ernie Kemp of Surrey, Ethan Kay of Kent, W Wu of Cambridgeshire and Zain Hussein of Birmingham (ranked 36 in England). Progressing to the knock-out stages he defeated Brian Wan in the last 16 before falling in the quarter-final to England number 6, Zak Greenhough of Middlesex, 1-3.

Several Leamington clubs also play in the Coventry League and one of them, a combined St Georges/WCC squad, lifted the Division 1 title. Nilton Green, Martin Hunter, Mark Jackson and Earl Sweeney were the Champions. There was also success in Division 2 where Lillington Free Church’s squad of Chris Blowey, Jeff Harris, Michael Ho, Nick Newman, Anthony Smith and Greg Swan finished as Champions. Nomads Enigmas were runners-up, their quartet comprising Andy Davies, Richard Grover, Steve Proctor and Tony Thomas. Enigmas also did well in the Huxham Cup, a blind handicap competition, in which they reached the Final. However, Grover, Proctor and Thomas had to settle for the runners-up trophies losing out 314 to 367 against Division 1 team Coventry Spitfire.