The new Weston & District table tennis season has started with two new clubs.

THE new Weston & District table tennis season has started and the league is pleased to welcome new clubs, Hans Price Academy and Worlebury Golf Club.

The league has also expanded from 12 teams to 17 teams, which is largely the result of significant development work through the summer months.

In Division 1, man of the match Peter Butterworth was unbeaten in Veterans A 7-3 victory against Totterdown C.

Roger Crump won two matches for the Vets, while Garry Chell was the best player for Totterdown, who also won two matches. The match between Garry and Roger was the closest of the night, with Gary winning 12-10 in the fifth.

Newly promoted Totterdown Flamingos struggled against Winscombe Renegades, with the Renegades winning the match 8-2.

Man of the match Trevor Jones didn’t drop a game, but was pushed close by Tony Sawyer 14-12, 11-9, 11-8 and by Lyudmilla Cronin 18-16, 11-5, 11-7.

Top player for Totterdown was Tony Sawyer with two wins, while both Phil Yates and Rick Hutchinson won two matches for the Renegades.

Man of the match Rob Hansen was unbeaten for Rebels with team-mate Dave Hunt winning two matches to give a victory 6-4 over the Totterdown Demons.

Jason King won two matches for the Demons, with the closest match of the evening between Dave Hunt and Jason King, where Dave won the first two games 13-11, 11-8, only for Jason to win the next three 14-12, 12-10 11-9.

This was the first match for newcomers N&B Panthers in Division 2 and it turned out to be a close result.

Abid Khan earned man of the match for taking maximum points for the Pumas, while his 11-year-old-daughter Izzy played well in her matches.

The closest match was between Sam Mullick (Warriors) and Luke Smith (Pumas), with Sam winning 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 13-11.

After the singles matches, Pumas were leading 17-14, however, Warriors won the three straight doubles to draw the match.

Ex-Division 1 Veterans players Jon Codd and Ann Sanford were in fine form taking maximum points as the B team won the match 26-7 against Totterdown A, with George and Derrick Evans the only winners for Totterdown.

There was a good start to the season for newcomers Worlebury. There were a number of close games, especially in the doubles, in which the Golf Club eventually beat Georges Chabbert and Katherine Palmer-Neale 16-14, 16-14 and 11-6, a particularly good result given that Katherine was still recovering from an operation on her foot and was not fully match fit.

However, despite being one player down, the Golf Club won overall, winning 19 games to 14.