Alex, Josh net county titles

TABLE TENNIS: OLDHAM’S youngsters underlined their quality in the Greater Manchester Table Tennis Championships held at Oldham Hulme Grammar School.

Oldham League Division Four player Alex Darlington and Hulme’s Josh McLoughlin performed particularly well to win the under-13 and under-11 events against tough opposition.

Strong performances from Oldham Hulme’s Jacob Sharp and Nick Elliott-Ashworth saw them reach the semi-finals of their age categories, while other Oldham players taking part were Will Lamb, Joe McLoughlin and Tom Sanderson. Alex and Josh will represent Greater Manchester at the 2016 National Championships in Wolverhampton.

Meanwhile, in the Oldham and District Table Tennis League we saw the quarter-finals of the handicap cup. Despite big gains of 52 and 44 from Darryl Meredith and Dave Buckley of Honeywell ‘A’, Uppermill’s start of 135 was enough to see them through to the Division One semi-finals, in which they will face Saddleworth ‘B’. The latter had to overcome a 78-points deficit against Honeywell ‘B’.

Things started well for Saddleworth, with Paul King taking 22 points from the first game to close Honeywell’s lead to 56.

But the experienced Honeywell team fought back through Tommy Ryan and Pete Fowler, who took back seven points. But 11 points from Matthew Evans and a massive 33 from Nathan Buckley saw Saddleworth over the line.