THERE was a slow start to this season’s table tennis campaign with many teams struggling to put teams together for their first match.

The first division kicked off with a couple of close encounters. Last season’s runners-up NA Batmen, with notable team changes, faced a tricky first match against clubmates NA Eagles. Naomi Jackson led the way for the Batmen with a superb maximum, well supported by Dan Webster-Hall with two singles wins. The Batmen recovered from 4-3 down to win the last three games and the match 6-4.

Halwell A, who have mixed their teams up this season, started with a draw against the newly formed NA Owls. Halwell’s David Wadling started well with a fine maximum.

The only second division fixture saw Torbay Academy 2 host NA Falcons. A fine all-round team effort from the Falcons edged a 6-4 win for the Newton Abbot outfit.

In the third division, Torbay Academy 4’s new recruit, Matt Laws, picked up the Academy’s only 3 points as they lost out to NA Kestrels 7-3. In an all-Newton Abbot clash the NA Harriers, with maximums from Doug Morgan and Ivor Copley, defeated NA Owls 7-3.

A full programme in Division Four saw a good start for the two Torbay Academy teams as Academy 6 and Academy 7 both emerged with victories.

Aleksandra Treder was unbeaten as Academy 6 defeated Brixham Seals 6-4. Aaron Southgate, making his first appearance for Torbay Academy 7, was the unbeaten man of the match as the Academy side defeated Dawlish Delinquents 7-3.

An experienced NA Merlins side were too strong for NA Vultures, Derek Stratton and Lee Raymond with maximums helping the Merlins to a 9-1 victory. A Ken Ramsden maximum for NA Ospreys was not enough for victory as they shared the points with Torre Spartans.

All of the results were as follows.

D1: NA Batmen 6 (Jackson 3, Webster-Hall 2, Lush 0, Dbls) NA Eagles 4 (Birkbeck 2, M Burridge 1, Davey 1) and NA Owls 5 (McIvor 2, Thompson 1, Malin 1, Dbls) Halwell A 5 (Wadling 3, Smith 2, Symons 0).

D2: Torbay Academy (2) 4 (Cregan 2, Damanskas 1, Moretta 1) NA Falcons 6 (Haslam 2, Guy 2, Cyron 1, Dbls).

D3: NA Harriers 7 (Morgan 3, Copley 3, Fabian 1) NA Kites 3 (N Kitchen 1, J Kitchen 1, Humphreys 0, Dbls) and Torbay Academy (4) 3 (Laws 3, Payne 0, Treder 0) NA Kestrels 7 (Hathaway 2, Whitehorn 2, Millman 2, Dbls).

D4: NA Vultures 1 (Andrews 1, Gilbert 0, Jewell 0) NA Merlins 9 (Stratton 3, Raymond 3, Olver 2, Dbls), Dawlish Delinquents 3 (Sanders 2, Girling 1, Curl 0) Torbay Academy (7) 7 (Southgate 3, Hollings 2, Frost 1, Dbls), Brixham Seals 4 (Edwards 2, Brown 1, Stead 1) Torbay Academy (6) 6 (Treder 3, Bhatia 1, G.Adamczak 1, Dbls) and NA Ospreys 5 (Ramsden 3, Ferguson 1, Dulling 0, Dbls) Torre Spartans 5 (Excell 2, Sadler 2, Glasser 1).