The ninth round of fixtures in the Fun88-sponsored Isle of Man Table Tennis Association league took place last week at the NSC.

Division One

Travellers A (9), Arbory B (0)

Travellers A extended their lead to five points at the top of Division One with another ruthless display, this time against a decent Arbory B side.

Liam Chan, John Shooter and Malcolm Cummings were unrelenting in their attacking play and, amazingly, no match went beyond two ends.

Arbory’s John Magnall, Amit Lanin and Dan Levine looked to be playing well, but could find no way through despite some close individual ends.

Ramsey A (8), Tower A (1)

Second-placed Ramsey were dominant in this tie, although Tower pushed them hard in some games.

Indeed, Dave Parsons and Ken Mitchell pulled off a rare victory against Becky Taylor and Duncan Alexander 12/10, 3/11, 11/9 to snatch a point for Tower.

Ramsey were taken to a third game in two other matches, with some tight games being seen.

Travellers B (8), Tower B (1)

Travellers B remain in fourth spot but are now only one ahead of Strathallan.

Tower B’s pairing of Simon Radcliffe and Steve Curtis was working well, with two of their matches going to three close ends.

Then in their third match they were delighted to take a point by defeating Malc Lewis and Will Shooter 11/6, 11/6.

Arbory A (6), Strathallan (3)

There was plenty of exciting action and some magnificent rallies to be seen in this fixture.

Arbory’s pairing of Jason Quirk and Mike Tamarov was solid as a rock. Combining clever defensive strokes with attacking play, they breezed through their three matches without losing an end.

Quirk and Sonja Shaw were also unbeaten in their three and, while they too didn't lose any games, they had to work a little harder.

For Strathy, Wayne Taylor and Neil Quane were in superb form while beating Tamarov and Shaw in three ends 9-11, 11-7, 13-11.

Taylor and Andy Patterson also managed to eclipse Tamarov and Shaw in three ends, as did Patterson and Quane to grab the away team’s third point. Arbory A remain in third place.

Division Two

Travellers C (9), Ramsey C (0)

This was another strong performance by the Division Two league leaders which strengthened their lead at the top, three points ahead of closest rivals Peel A.

Keeran Chan, Paul Mathieson-Nelson and Luke Begley appeared relatively comfortable, albeit Ramsey took two matches to a third end.

Chan and Begley had a close one against Darren Shaw and Keith Herrington, but pulled through 12/10, 11/8.

Young Begley looked solid and is growing as a player - he is undoubtedly benefiting from playing alongside the experienced Mathieson-Nelson and Chan.

Desmond's Douglas A (7), Arbory D (2)

Third-placed Desmond’s pulled off a very impressive win in this tie against testing opposition.

Arbory’s Malcolm Lambert and Mike Levine put up some strong resistance and managed to pull off a great victory against Russ Kent and Brandon Montgomerie 9/11, 11/8, 11/6.

They did the same against Montgomerie and Neil Ronan, just edging it 11/8 in the third.

Lambert and Levine were close to a treble, but were prevented from claiming it by Kent and Ronan by the narrowest of margins - 11/7, 12/10, 12/10 in favour of the triumphant Desmond’s pairing.

Ramsey B (8), JRTE A (1)

Another strong performance from Wael Kassim, and his Ramsey B team-mates, resulted in another hugely valuable eight points.

Kassim and Geoff Ball were pushed hard by JRTE’s Darren Smethurst and Anil Paul, but they held their nerve to take the third end 11-6 and the match.

Kassim and Lisa Lord pulled off an even closer three-end win against Smethurst and Gary Skillicorn.

JRTE’s only success came in Smethurst and Paul’s three-end victory over Geoff Ball and Lord, which they took 13/11 in the final end.

Peel A (7), Arbory C (2)

Peel kept up the pressure at the top of the table with another seven points.

Jon Taylor Burt and Ken Hegarty were backed up by Maggie Mulhern, but Kevin Drewry and Dave Bufton seized the initiative and nicked the third end against Hegarty and Mulhern 14/12 to take one of their two points.

Another point was claimed by Bufton and Liav Lanin who swept past Hegarty and Mulhern in three.

Division Three

Travellers E (5), Ramsey D (0)

The Travellers E pair of Henry Weaver and Eban Moore demonstrated once again just how much they have improved this season with an impressive 5-0 win over the experienced Ramsey D duo of Pat Halliwell and Tony Sewell.

Halliwell pushed Weaver hard in their match, with the youngster just pulling through 6/11, 11/7, 11/9, 13/11. Moore was pulled back to 2-2 by an in-form Halliwell but he then got back on track to take the last 11/2 for the win.

Weaver and Moore then combined well to take the doubles in four ends and claim the five points.

Travellers F (5), JRTE B (0)

Unfortunately, JRTE B were once again unable to field any players for this tie, so had to forfeit the match and all five points to the grateful Travellers F duo of Sydnie Weaver and Rhys Bufton.

Travellers D (5), Ramsey E (0)

Travellers’ Margaret Forsyth took five ends to see off rising star Saul Tumblety before taking a second point against Teddy Clayton in three.

Maurice Campbell needed three ends to defeat Clayton and eclipsed Tumblety 11/8 in the fourth.

Campbell and Forsyth are an experienced pairing and were too strong for the youngsters at doubles, taking the match 11/3, 11/6, 11/2.

There are no further practice sessions until January 10.

KEN MITCHELL