Table tennis: Elder injury blow to regaining title

Elder pulled a muscle in his arm while playing for Rayne A against Rayne C and was forced to pull out of the match.

He is expected to be out for at least four weeks.

The injury came during Elder's opening set against Dave Punt. He had won the first game but had to retire in the second.

The loss of those three sets, plus good wins for Dave Ciniglio over both Dean Andrews and Ian Whiteside, meant that Rayne could muster only a draw.

They salvaged something in their next match when they beat Black Notley A 8-2 reserve Paul Mitchell's win over Alastair Brown ensuring the full four points but they are now a point behind Netts B who have a match in hand.

Netts B needed only 14 games to dispose of Rayne D. The opposition could only raise two players and all sets went in straight games.

At the other end of the table, Black Notley A registered their first win, 6-4, over Rayne B.

Panfield notched up their third win in a row in division two, but could not make it four when they were held to a draw by Delphi.

They beat Rayne E 7-3, with three wins from Louis Babet, but an unbeaten evening from Derick King stopped them at Delphi.

Rayne E also added two draws to their record, one against Black Notley B, where Phil Wade was unbeaten, and the other against Liberal A.

Barry Pritchard, whose injury had threatened Liberal's season, returned with a full house.

The two Pillar House teams are making the running in division three. The A team had an 8-2 win over Black Notley C, where Nick Wool was the only one to beat Neil Daines, and the B team beat Colne B by the same score.

Pillar House welcomed back Tim Huxtable for his first match for more than a year, but it was Malcolm Wehmeyer who ensured the four points with his three singles.

Published Thursday November 7, 2002

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