Tight win for City Fitness

The City Fitness trio of Donny Harris, Yuka Muto and Jared van de Geest had to pull out all the stops to halt a determined challenge from the Lizards on the final night of Table Tennis Nelson's summer interclub at the Saxton Stadium last night.

Top Lizard Chris Erskine won all his singles and Kenny Trower two but the win came when the City Fitness trio grabbed both doubles, which was crucial, for a 6-5 victory.

Van de Geest chipped in with a good win over Sunny Chan midway through the clash. This was a well-earned victory for which all three players worked as a team from day one.

The Taj Mahal were a close third after a 9-2 victory over the Strugglers. Andrew Marriott and John Armstrong were unbeaten, while young Tom Watson added a singles and doubles to cement the huge win.

The Goldfish ended their summer season with a 6-5 win over the Village Green but it was not quite enough to secure fourth spot. Mike Holmes, Alan Crowther and Greg Smith played well but none could beat the evergreen Mark Nalder, who just keeps on producing the goods.

In the A grade, BNW rounded the season off with a great win over the Young Guns 8-3. Brad Storer was impressive, winning all his matches, and was well backed up by Nigel Deighton and Russell Holden, who grabbed a few between them.

Again, winning both doubles was the key for BNW, while Henry Neas, Gab Callaghan and Ton Hu all got on the board with a singles each.

Hot 2 Go narrowed the winning margin slightly but it was too little, too late in the run to the line, even after carding a 10-1 win over the Falcons. Bryan Keane kept his unbeaten record for the season intact while being well supported by Tracey Deeley and Kiwa Duffin, who both played great table tennis. Geoff Dowsett saved the clean sweep by getting the better of Duffin in a close match.

In the final A grade clash, the Agpro team of Phil Higgins, Gary Basher and Kevin Neumann managed to score a great win over arch rivals the Wingnuts 6-5 in a thrilling contest.

None of the three could get past Paul Op Den Buysch, who was in very good form, winning four from four.

In the A reserve contest, Daniel Mayes proved too good for his rivals, winning all his matches, while Karen Holmes did likewise in the girls' side.

Holmes then teamed up with Zane Milligan to win the doubles.

All the players had a great time at the new stadium.

Final premier scores: City Fitness 97, Lizard 78, Taj Mahal 75, Village Green 53, Goldfish 48, Strugglers 39.

Final A grade scores: BNW 91, Hot 2 Go 84, Young Guns 71, Agpro 68, Wingnuts 62, Falcons 16.

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