Isle of Man Table Tennis Association’s Divisionals tournaments took place at the NSC last week.

In the Division One competition, entrants were split into six groups, some with three players and others with four.

Group stages

Group A comprised of Scott Lewis, Neil Quane and Ken Mitchell.

Number one seed Lewis coasted through his two matches without dropping a game. The battle for the runner-up spot started with a tight opening game, with Mitchell winning 16-14, but it went Quane’s way entirely after that as he clinched second spot n with a 3-1 win.

Group B started with a 3-0 victory for Adam Teare over John Magnall, with Chris Holmes also getting the better of Magnall, but he was pushed a little harder by the tough defensive player.

Teare then faced fellow Ramsey player Holmes and it was Teare who emerged as the winner 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-2, leaving Holmes in the runners-up spot.

Group C saw Duncan Alexander alongside young hopeful Amit Lanin plus veteran Malc Lewis. It was Alexander who faced Lewis first and he made short work of it, winning 3-0.

Lanin then faced a warmed-up Lewis and it was the veteran who was first out of the traps, going two games up.

Lanin then went up a gear and nabbed the next two ends plus the third to take the match. Alexander then took on Lanin and swept the youngster aside 11-3, 11-8, 11-7 to take the group, leaving Lanin as the runner-up.

Group D was comprised of Julian Briercliffe, Becky Taylor and Dan Levine. The first match saw young Levine pitted against the experienced Briercliffe.

Levine did well to push his opponent hard, narrowly losing the fourth end 10-12 and then, adding to the youngster’s misery, Briercliffe took the final end 15-13.

He then faced Taylor who edged into a 2-1 lead by taking the third end 16-14, but they surpassed that with a nail-biting fourth end, finally being settled 21-19 in favour of a very relieved-looking Taylor!

This win left her as the group winner and Briercliffe as the runner-up.

Group E consisted of Malcolm Cummings, Wayne Taylor and Mark Webster-Smith. It was Cummings who emerged as the winner after a 4-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-6 victory over Taylor.

In group F Andy Patterson dropped the first game against Mike Bayley but was then untroubled to take the next three and the match.

Bayley also nabbed a game from his Tower team-mate Dave Parsons 17-15, but could not repel Parsons’ power loops and lost out 3-1.

The match of the group though was between Patterson and Parsons, it being settled in the fifth end 15-13 in favour of Patterson who saved four match points.

This resulted in Patterson emerging as the winner of the group, with Parsons the runner-up.

Quarter-finals

In the play-off matches for a place in the quarter-finals, Chris Holmes defeated Andy Patterson in four ends, Wayne Taylor toppled Amit Lanin in four, Dave Parsons beat Malcolm Cummings in three ends and Neil Quane toppled Strathallan team-mate Julian Briercliffe 11-8 in the fifth.

In the quarter-final matches the results went in accordance with player rankings, with Adam Teare sweeping aside Quane's attacking game and taking the win in a ruthless 3-0.

Becky Taylor managed to keep it together to defeat an in-form Wayne Taylor three games to one, while Scott Lewis made short work of Chris Holmes in three ends and Duncan Alexander did likewise against Parsons.

Semi-finals

In the first semi, Alexander had an epic match with Teare which was finally settled in the fifth end.

Teare will want to forget the fourth end in which he had two match points. Alexander managed to find the right shots at the right time to take the game to 12-10 and then take the game 12-10. A deflated Teare then faded in the fifth end and Alexander gratefully took the match.

In the second semi-final, Becky Taylor demonstrated her fighting qualities. taking the third end after losing the first two. But she was unable to maintain that good form, with top seed Lewis comfortably edging past her 11-6 in the fourth end.

Final

Lewis and Alexander truly served up a classic final for those remaining players who stayed to watch.

Lewis cruised into a 2-0 by lead taking the first two games 11-8, 11-8, but a change of tactics by Alexander quickly reversed his fortunes and he claimed the third end 11-7.

In the fourth end spectators witnessed some impressive attacking play from both players, with Alexander managing to contain Lewis’s aggression by effective blocking and forcing some unexpected errors from the champion.

As a result, Alexander squeezed through 12-10 to take the fourth and force a fifth end which he claimed 11-8 despite Lewis’ gallant efforts.

The final was a great advert for island table tennis and it’s great to see these two top players having such a close and well-contested match, with other players respectfully staying to watch the top-class action.

Alexander had to work hard for his win in the final - this after a lengthy semi-final. He must have been on a high for some time afterwards, while Lewis will have much to ponder after this narrow loss.

Thanks go to Maggie Mulhern who was tournament organiser for this event plus for the other divisional competitions.

- Reports from the Division Two and Three competitions will appear in the next two editions of the Courier.

KEN MITCHELL