by Tyrone Evelyn

THREE TEAMS registered easy wins in Division 2 when the Barbados Table Tennis Association's 2007 season opened at the Table Tennis Centre on Tuesday night.

Diamonds International Henry's Lane blanked Reddy Kilowatt 4-0,
while Pine Hill Dairy
Fast Loopers and
Sports & Games Lodge Road registered 4-1 wins over McEnearney Charades and Barbados Light & Power (BL&P), respectively.

Koryn Steinbok started the ball rolling for Henry's Lane by easily disposing of David Kellman 11-1, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4.

Stavro Bowen then gave them a 2-0 advantage by stopping Peter Riley in straight games 11-8, 11-9, 11-9. Tara Burrowes made it 3-0 with a hard-fought (11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8) win over Keith Neblett.

The whitewash was then completed by former national champion Carl Sealy and Bowen who defeated Riley and Neblett 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 in the doubles.

Former champions Lodge Road's win over BL&P was spearheaded
by veteran player Wilmont Goddard who won his
two singles sets and
also the doubles.

His first win came against Peter Lovell who went under in straight games (11-6, 15-13, 11-8).

The unorthodox Patterson Carter then made it 2-0 in Lodge Road's favour by getting the better of Charles Lovell, Peter's brother, in a tough set which went the full five games.

Carter won the first two games (11-7, 11-7) but Charles Lovell fought back and levelled the score 2-2 by taking the next two games, also at 7. Carter then raised his game a notch to take the fifth and final game 11-4 and the set 3-2.

Doubles

Kevin Lovell, Charles' son, prevented a complete rout by defeating Sammy Best 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4 to provide BL&P with its only win in the match, thereby making
the score 2-1.

However, Goddard and Carter then teamed up in the doubles and defeated Peter and Charles Lovell 3-1. They lost the first game at 9, but bounced back to take the next three at 9, 4 and 9 respectively to give Lodge Road a 3-1 lead.

Goddard stopped Charles Lovell in straight games (11-7, 11-6, 11-8) to complete the 4-1 victory.

The match between Barbados Union of Teachers and the Central Bank resulted in a win by default for Central Bank, as BUT failed to field a team.