The New Milton D Table Tennis team won the final of the Bournemouth & District Times & Directory Handicap Plate competition against Bmth Sports J down at the Winton YMCA last Monday night.

Milton (Kai Major, Terry Jenvey & Chris Pusey) who usually play in Div 2 were determined not to suffer the same fate as their G team in the semi-finals who went 3-0 up against the same Bourne side (Kelly Hooper, John Crockett & Howard Lewis) from Div 3 only to lose it 4-5.

Pusey quite literally got the ball rolling as he beat Lewis (+2) in two straight sets (21-15, 21-19), then watched captain Jenvey overcome a +9 handicap to beat Crockett over three nail-biting sets having lost the first quite heavily 13-21 (the next two were 21-17, 21-19).

Teenage sensation Major also overcame a +9 handicap to see off Hooper in two straight sets (21-20, 21-18) to make it 3-0. The jitters then set in as Pusey lost to Crockett (+6) in two straight sets (16-21, 20-21) having caught up at 20-20 in the second.

Young Major, giving a +5 start to Lewis, took the first set 21-16, but lost the next set 18-21. Major started the third and final set assuredly and caught up at 11-11 to win 21-16 and take his team to 4-1, needing only one more win to seal the victory.

Next up was Jenvey against Hooper (+9), and the Milton captain caught up at 14-all in the first to take it 21-18. The nerves started jangling again as he lost the second 16-21 then went for a smash at 20-20 in the third only for the ball to end up in the net to lose 20-21. That made it 4-2, needing Milton to win one out of their next three matches.

Showing no nerves whatsoever and displaying a maturity far beyond his 14 years, Major stepped up for his final match against Crockett (+9), but very narrowly lost the first set 20-21. Well that’s when the show really started as he played imperiously to quickly achieve parity in the next two sets to win 21-14, 21-15. So that was it then, New Milton won it 5-2 with two games to spare!  The victorious Dees are pictured below: left to right Kai Major, Terry Jenvey (captain), Chris Pusey.

They are looking forward to collecting the Plate at the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis Association’s annual Presentation Evening at the Ocean View Hotel, Bournemouth on Friday 22^nd May, along with the many other New Milton award winners. Should be a good evening!