Women’s Premier champions Ellenborough will surely again be the team to beat when the Veterans’ British Clubs League gets under way this weekend.
On the men’s side, last season’s Premier Division winners Tees Sport are back – this time competing under the banner of Middlesbrough club Ormesby.
The teams are among 92 competing across 14 divisions at two venues – Derby Arena is the primary location, with Draycott & Long Eaton TTC once again a satellite venue for men’s Division Five.
Around 400 players will feature, and the strongest line-up on paper belongs to the Women’s champions from the last two seasons, Ellenborough.
The Enfield club has the top three players in the ratings, Sara Williams, Hurey Ahmetoglu and Sanja Clements, backed up by No 8 Tumay Ekrem.
The champions edged past Foresters in a last-match drama last season and the runners-up will again likely compete well. They feature Wanda Litynska-Sydorenko, who was joint top of the averages with Ahmetoglu last season with a 90% record – albeit having competed only at Weekend 1.
Market Rasen, champions several times in the 2010s, Bribar Deighton, Topspin Fusion and Wateride Fusion of Ladies complete the top division.
In the Men’s Premier, Ormesby have a settled quartet of Neil Charles, Adam Fuzes, Andrew Wilkinson and Mark Short, all ranked inside the top 10 with the exception of Short, who is 11th.
They wrestled the title from Team Bribar last season, who return in the new guise of Bribar Knighton Park. Kev Dolder is not part of their line-up, but Jason Ramage, Chris Rogers and Niall Cameron are back and joined by Ferenc Horvath. Like Ormesby, they have three top-10 players and one from just outside.
Topspin Fusion are spearheaded by No 1 player Lorestas Trumpauskas, while the division is completed by Draycott, Central and Butterfly Lilleshall A, who feature Michael O’Driscoll, who has been given a dummy rating of 3.
Head to TTE.TV for live streaming of selected matches. Further selected matches will be recorded and available to watch on demand next week.
Results, tables and averages will be updated on TT Leagues throughout the weekend.
Click below to download the event programme to see the full team line-ups and fixture lists for each division.
