Hodgson And Kirkland Take DTH Senior Doubles Title

On a night of some pulsating table tennis played in a fabulous spirit Pete Hodgson and Andy Kirkland came through some tough matches to be crowned DTH Senior Doubles Champions. 28 players entered the competition and after being seeded in accordance with the latest player averages they were then paired up with the No.1 seed playing with the No.28 seed, the No.2 seed with the 27th seed and so on and then the 14 pairs were drawn into two groups of seven.
Matches were up to 31 and Group A was won by Rob Vaughan & Chris Cutts who won all their 6 matches scoring the maximum points of 186 with some steady table tennis to qualify for the semi-finals but who would be joining them from Group A was a much closer affair which went right down to the wire. Pete Eyre & Glen Gillgrass who won 5 out of their 6 games just managed to squeeze into 2nd place by one point with Keith Smith and James Wormwell being the unlucky duo to miss out on a semi-final spot.
If Group A was nip and tuck then Group B was more clear cut with Andy Kirkland & Pete Hodgson topping it with 5 wins out of 6 scoring a total of 180 points and when Paul Linfield & Jeff Reay managed to return the same win/loss ratio and 176 points to go with it then they were the pairing to also go through to the semi-finals by the virtue of finishing runners up in Group B.
In the first semi-final which ebbed and flowed throughout it was Vaughan & Cutts who managed to hold their nerve to win it by 31-27 and they were joined in the Final by Hodgson & Kirkland who defeated Eyre & Gillgrass by a similar scoreline of 31-24.
If the semi-finals were close then the Final turned out to be even closer! Vaughan & Cutts started to pull away but each time they did back came Hodgson & Kirkland to get back on level terms and with the match evenly poised Hodgson delivered at times some un returnable spin serves to edge them in front at a vital point in the match and it was a lead that they didn't let slip eventually winning a fabulous contest by 31 points to 29.
The Quarter Finals of the Carnation Cup were also played out this week with two pairings both going through to the semi-finals by whitewashing their opponents with a 5-0 scoreline and it was that man Hodgson who was involved in one of them! He and his partner Ben Swain defeated Paul Linfield and George Makrakis with the match being much closer than the scoreline would suggest.
In the other 5-0 result it was another Swain who was on the right side of the result as Ben's brother Tony teamed up with Erlands Skels to give Matthew Williams and Mitchell Radford a bit of a mauling.
Pete Eyre & Chris Cutts also made it through to the semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over Adam Hamilton & Jeff Reay with the only ray of sunshine for Hamilton & Reay coming when Ray defeated Cutts  despite having to give him 7 points start.
The closest tie of the night was between Andy Lee & Chris Clemson and Mark Fisher & Jim Westwood with Westwood personally having a good night as he beat both Lee and Clemson in his singles matches but when Lee and Clemson won the doubles set and then both beat Fisher in the singles it was they who went through to the next round by a scoreline of 3-2.
Division One Result: Ryton Park Adders 1 DTH Redlands Roosters 9
Division Two Results : DTH Redlands Monsters 9 Manton Sports 1, Manton Sports 1 Manton Tigers 9