Advanced level ETTA Premier Club
Press Report |
Press Correspondent: Peter Thompson Yorkshire TT Back in Premiership Having been relegated from the senior premier table tennis league last year Yorkshire 1 bounced back at the first attempt at Draycott at the weekend. Yorkshire where led by Pudsey table tennis players Simon Noutch, Roman Doran and junior Nicole Finn on her senior county debut. These players were backed up by former Pudsey Player Sarah Noutch along with Dewsbury’s ebullient Richard Lightowler. First match saw Yorkshire face the promoted Yorkshire 2 side containing Pudsey Players Chris Parker and Nicola Smith. After a tremendous tussle, Yorkshire 1 won 6-4 but not without captain Simon Noutch pulling off the great escape 2-0 down in sets and 10-8 down in the third leg to Martin Lowe. The Yorkshire men won all six sets with the inspirational Lightowler showing top form as he cruised to victory in his matches. Having survived this early encounter Yorkshire continued to win their other six matches but had a tough battle for a 6-4 win over Leicestershire where Roman won both and the rest of the team one each. Junior Nicole showed the selectors' faith in her ability to compete at this level winning 6 of her 12 individual matches. For Yorkshire seconds it was a tough baptism but with two points only from Saturday fixtures it was very much a relegation battle on the Sunday. With the unavailability due to injury of Martin Hodgson from Scarborough on Sunday, Richard Smith from Pudsey made the trip down the M1 to join his wife Nicola in the second team. Yorkshire gained an emphatic 8-2 victory over red rose rivals Lancashire before losing to Leicestershire. To stay in the division this left Yorkshire needing a draw in their last match against South Yorkshire. Chris Parker managed to get one set for the men with an incredibly tense 15-13 win in the fifth end over Jack Grant. With Yorkshire 4-4, Nicola showed great composure to win the vital end 3-0 to give Yorkshire the point they needed as her and Rebecca George won all four ladies singles.Posted 22 Oct 2011 15:29 BST
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