Newly promoted Yorkshire won all their three matches in the first weekend of the County Championships Over-60s Premier Weekend to sit joint top of the table tied with Cheshire.

The weekend session was hosted by Milton Keynes Table Tennis Club over the weekend of 23-24 November and involved Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Essex, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Surrey and Yorkshire. Despite the challenges posed by Storm Bert, the session proceeded smoothly.

Yorkshire (pictured above) faced a tough couple of fixtures on the first day of the sessions. In their first match they were against reigning champions Kent and in the second against last season’s runners-up Leicestershire. But with a strong line-up of Tim Dyson, Ivan Lewis, Michael Stead and Janet Adams they emerged victorious in both matches – beating Kent 8-2 and Leicestershire 6-4.

The match against Leicestershire went the distance. With the match score at 5-4, Yorkshire’s Janet Adams & Michael Stead beat Leicestershire’s Karen Smith & Tony Smith 11-9 in the fifth to secure the win.

Sunday’s match against fellow newly promoted team Surrey was more one-sided affair with Yorkshire having an unblemished 10-0 victory.

Despite the heavy defeat to Yorkshire, Surrey’s team of Percy Collino, Ruper Bole, Samson Bekele and Carmen Vajdi acquitted themselves well over the two days. They secured a vital 6-4 win over Lancashire and lost narrowly to Kent in a 6-4 defeat.

Cheshire joined Yorkshire in being the only two undefeated teams. They beat Bedfordshire 9-1, Essex 6-4 and Lancashire 8-2. Jan Johns starred for Cheshire in winning all of her singles matches. Keith Deaville and Mark Evans both won five out of six singles and Terry Turner made a vital contribution in winning three of his six singles matches.

Both Lancashire and Bedfordshire left the session without picking up a point. They will be hoping for better fortunes when the second weekend takes place on 8 & 9 March. With four matches still to be played, there are still plenty of points to be picked up – and nothing is decided at the first session.

Essex will be happy to have picked up a win and two points by beating Lancashire. But like Lancashire and Bedfordshire, they know they will need to pick up more points in the second session to secure a place in the top-flight for next season.

In terms of individual performances, Chris Rogers (Leicestershire) was the only male player with an unblemished singles record – he won all his six singles matches. Jan Johns won all her three singles matches. Despite the disappointment of three defeats, Bedfordshire’s Sandra Harper & Gavin Booth won all their three mixed doubles.

All the results, divisional tables, player averages and much more are on the County Championships TT Leagues website. Simply click on ‘Fixtures and Results’ on the main menu and navigate to the O-60s competitions from there.

TT Leagues was used throughout the session to keep track of results and produce the latest divisional table. The TT Leagues platform continues to be a major asset for managing all aspects of the County Championships.