This week saw the quarter-final stage of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League Team Handicap Cup. The Handicap Cup is played across the whole league structure – just like the FA Cup in football – but players are assigned a handicap based on ability and ranking to even out the playing field, or in this case table.

Cold Norton B are both the current holders and red-hot favourites to retain the cup. In this round they travelled the short distance to face the league’s friendliest team Blackwater E – but would their notorious generosity and hospitality off the table transfer to the on-table battle.

With handicap differences of up to 26 points the challenge was all uphill for the Nortonites. But battle they did and with the handicaps proving pretty accurate it was really the quality of the Cold Norton players that saw out each leg at the crucial death points. In the opening doubles Blackwater’s Phil West (+7) and Kath Little (+9) got to the precipice but couldn’t quite find the momentum to skip over the edge as Sam Lowman (-17) and Dan Anderson (-12) caught up very late into each leg and then powered through the last couple of points winning out 21-17, 21-18.

Deb Ginn (+5) had a 22-point start on Cold Norton’s Eric Green (-17) and played exceptionally well in the first 2 sets, getting to 20-20 in set 1 but just losing out and then taking the second leg 21-19 – but despite all this effort Green was able to maintain his accuracy and determination for the crucial deciding set and took another point for his Cold Norton combo. Little had a similar experience in her drawn-out battle with the defensive king that is Anderson, comfortably taking the opening set but then just losing out in the second set as Anderson got his eye in and concentration levels up. The deciding set remained close throughout but again Anderson pulled through for Cold Norton taking the match with a 21-16 leg.

This story was largely repeated throughout the games as Blackwater put up a brave fight but when the handicaps were pulled back around 17-all it was the higher ranked players that were able to finish off the games. Cold Norton go through 5-0 but the scoreline doesn’t really do justice to the efforts of the Blackwater E trio.

In an all-Division 2 encounter Blackwater B hosted Woodham D with only a handful of handicap differences between them with five points being the highest. Woodham’s opening doubles pairing kicked things off with a long and hard fought 21-19 deciding leg victory as Peter Harverson (-4) and Jeremy Giffin (-1) defeated Blackwaters Noah Sage (-1) and Gary Smith (+1). But Blackwater soon found themselves 2-1 up thanks to straight set triumphs for Louis Gunn (-3) over Scott Perry (-3), and Sage over Harverson.

Giffin squared up the match as he edged passed Smith in three long sets and then the match went into a pattern of win one, lose one with Blackwater always ahead by one win but Woodham pulling back each time. So deep into the evening and we had a final match all-or-nothing decider – Gunn and Smith (-1) versus Perry and Giffin (-2) – would that one-point advantage make the difference? Well not in the opening set as the Blackwater duo stormed ahead and took the frame quite comfortably. But as throughout the match the Woodham team fought back in the second leg and in this one the extra point did make the difference with Blackwater squeezing through 21-19 for the leg, the match, the overall team win and the important bragging rights. 

With Blackwater A prevailing via a walkover, the final match of the week saw Division 1 strugglers Woodham B host their Division 3 stablemates Woodham E. Again, plenty of fun handicap differences in this one for the crowd to enjoy. With such a range of handicaps and playing styles it was hard to predict how this one would go.

The opening game set the scene though as the Woodham B pairing of Eamonn Hall (-5) and Harry Sawford (-6) had to work tirelessly against the E team’s Allan Steel (-2) and Diane King (+10) in order to reduce the deficit. Efficient serving and taking chances when they arose were the order of the day catching up the handicaps at 15-15 in both legs and then finishing off the match with some more relaxed attacking play.

Woodham B’s highest ranked player Sanjay Saptarshi (-12) hadn’t got the memo on how to play his handicap matches as he initially struggled against Reece Arundel (+8), taking unnecessary risks and allowing Arundel to build up what seemed an unassailable lead culminating in eight game points at 20-12 to his advantage. Around this time Saptarshi switched to a more cautious approach and ground out point after point forcing Arundel into errors and only attacking when there was minimal risk. Eventually he caught up at 20-20 and then took the final two points for a run of 10 points on the bounce and the unexpected first leg. That was Saptarshi sorted and he rattled off the second leg with much more ease.

This was really the pattern of the whole match as Woodham B went into stealth mode until they had caught up their handicaps in the high teens and then were able to finish off with more attacking shots. So a 5-0 victory dance for the B team but as with the Cold Norton game earlier in the week the handicaps worked as virtually all games saw the E team reach 17-18 points and then the match becomes a 3-4 point shootout.

On to the semi-final, with the draw taking place later in the week and venue and ticket information to follow.

On a sadder not the League lost one of its long-standing players this week as we mourn the passing of John Monk. John was a stalwart of Mapledene Table Tennis Club and was a previous winner of our coveted Singles Title. An awesome player and a real character on and off the table. He was playing at the highest level right up until his illness took hold of him earlier this year, and was a regular at the Burnham Tournaments with his last final being the Over-60s Singles in 2023. He will be sorely missed and we pass on our condolences to all his family and friends.