The New Milton Table Tennis Club had their best week in the Bournemouth and District league so far this season as their teams won seven out of their eleven league matches. 14 year old James Harper from Milford on Sea (pictured below) was celebrating his first ever league hat-trick after helping his L team to their second 6-4 win in a row in Division 5, this week away against Nimrod C.

James’ team were last season’s fall-guys as they ended up bottom of the league, but his performances have helped elevate them to a very respectable mid-table position, only below their K team on games difference. James went on first and beat Nimrod’s David Coward 3-1, then saw off ex Milton player Chris Courage over five sets and did likewise to another ex Miltonian Mike Melaniphy. It was in that match that James displayed a maturity beyond his tender years as he just pipped the first set 14-12 then kept his cool to win his fifth and final set 12-10 against old-stager Melaniphy.

Milton’s other wins included two 9-1 maximum-pointers as the Div 1 C team (Frank Handy, Gerard Redman & Andy Tipsana) socked it to basement boys Broadstone C home at the Grange and the G team (Svet Ignatov, Ben Greene & Graham Underwood) did likewise to Merton G in their own back yard in their Div 3 encounter. C team captain Frank Handy led from the front with his first hat-trick of the campaign and was joined in a treble by Redman and Tipsana, also his first of the season. For the Gees, Ignatov (pictured below) marked his homecoming with a hat-trick, Underwood came up with his third treble and Greene played up a division to bag a very creditable brace. 

Full results details appear below:-

PREMIER

New Milton A 7 Winton YMCA A 3

(Russell Wilson 2, Steve Hemmings 2, Umit Kaya 2)

Lynwood A 6 New Milton B 4

(John Hook 3, Rob Blackmore 1, Simon Golding 0)

DIVISION 1

New Milton C 9 Broadstone C 1

(Frank Handy 3, Andy Tipsana 3, Gerard Redman 3)

DIVISION 2

New Milton D 2 North Bmth A 8

(Chris Pusey 0, Terry Jenvey 0, Malcolm Floyd 2)

Lynwood B 6 New Milton E 4

(Peter Daish 2, Clive Pitts 1, Simon Golding 1)

DIVISION 3

New Milton F 6 Bmth Sports K 4

(Sylvia Smith 2, Steve Cheesman 3, Malcolm Nash 1)

Merton G 1 New Milton G 9

(Svet Ignatov 3, Ben Greene 2, Graham Underwood 3)

DIVISION 4

Shamrock A 4 New Milton H 6

(Les Smith 0, Lewis Reading 2, Dave Sutton 3)

Winton YMCA C 7 New Milton J 3

(Ben Greene 2, Peter Hyde 1, Lynn Willrich 0)

DIVISION 5

New Milton K 7 Bmth Sports P 3

(Dave Burns 1, Mike Gent 3, Geoff Biggs 2)

Nimrod C 4 New Milton L 6

(James Harper 3, Maggie Brown 1, Stuart Burton 2)