Table tennis players gather to remember Dave Axton

Format for the night was mixed players from different clubs split into ten teams of three, and timed matches were played.

Sandy Pearson, Howard Lee, Chris Wroniecki, Dave Beveridge, Neil Lea and Sascha Roschy from St Andrews TTC made the journey over the bridge to honour their former table tennis friends with Chris combining so well with Scott Wishart and Paul Monteith that they ran out winners on the night.

The first week in the new year was focussed on shifting a little extra ballast thanks to the first round of the Handicap Cup.

Truants had a free pass to the second round, but the other teams all played their first-round match last week.

Prospects were up against Defenders, who are two divisions above the St Andrews team. The handicaps for this match were shrewdly picked as the scores were very close all night. Prospects kept a two-point lead until game six, but Defenders took six points in a row to seal the victory 10-7.

Prefects also drew a first division team, Viscounts.

The latter had a strong night, taking the first eight points. Prefects fought back and managed to score three points but Viscount reached their goal with three matches to spare.

New Kids and Swots clashed in a first-round derby at Victory Memorial Hall.

Swots looked the stronger side all night. Chris Wroniecki and Dave Beveridge claimed the opening four points against Knut Radmer and Kong Wan. Alain Leger clawed two points back against Howard Lee thanks to his explosive back hand. Kong and Chris then split their encounter evenly. Knut then levelled the match at 5-5. Dave won both sets against Alain very comfortably, leaving Howard and Chris to finish the job to win 10-5.