Ruthless Knights put Prefects to the sword

Michael Hahn won won two of his three games against league leaders Knights.

St Andrews Table Tennis Club's Prefects had the tough task this week of facing league-leaders and reigning champions, Knights.

The side’s Michael Hahn gave Prefects a perfect start when he comfortably beat Stuart Halliday.

Justin Yang went 2-0 down against Callum Riddoch, but bounced back to win the next two sets, and things looked bright for Prefects as Justin fought to a 10-6 lead.

However, Callum managed to win the game 15-13. Howard Lee played some good shots but lost comfortably to Robert Toth before Justin levelled the match with an excellent 3-2 win against Stuart.

Michael then had a very close game with Robert, who is currently top of the averages and finished last season undefeated, but lost 3-1, having lost two sets at deuce.

The next four games all went to Knights 3-0 as Justin lost to Robert, Howard lost to Stuart and Callum, and the doubles pairing of Michael and Justin lost to Robert and Stuart.

Michael gained some consolation for Prefects in the final game by beating Callum.

Across the hall was a second consecutive match against another St Andrews team for Swots as they faced Truants, with the match ending up 6-4 to Truants after a thriller.

Alain Leger and Graham Wood were too strong, winning all three of their singles games, although Graham was taken to a deciding set against Emma Bissett and also lost a set to Collin Bleak, whilst Alain lost a set each to Emma and Collin and was taken to a deciding set by Nick Shepherd, who has recently returned to the area and the club.

The Swots trio all managed to defeat Knut Radmer, but Emma lost two sets in the process.

They picked up another point when Collin and Nick picked up a strong 3-1 doubles win against Graham and Alain.

Prospects also had a tough time in their match against Squires.

The side’s Jon Fraser and new player, Christian Wroniecki, both defeated Winnie Stein 3-0 and Jon picked up another win as he beat Tanya Kapelyukh 3-1.

Christian was unfortunate to not also beat Tanya, having led 2-1 and lost the last two sets 12-10 and 11-9. Squires’ Steve Wilson was too strong, winning his three singles games for the loss of only two sets.

Neil Lea found the games tough, but was able to pick up a set against both Winnie and Steve.

Prospects were unlucky not to manage a draw as the new pairing of Jon and Christian were edged out 3-2 in the doubles by Steve and Tanya, with the Prospects pair having led 2-0.

The various club sides will return to the tables across the area again this week in further action.