The opening fixtures of the new Welton Play Fun88-sponsored table tennis league season took place last week.

Teams are split into two divisions until Christmas, at which point promotion and relegation take place.

Aided by an earlier start in each session, doubles has been reintroduced into each fixture, meaning 10 points are on offer each week compared to nine last season.

The 2024-25 champions got off to a great start with a dominant attacking display.

Darren Smethurst now proudly wears a Ramsey shirt and showed his class with straight-sets wins over Dave Buck and Luke Begley, and in four ends against Keeran Chan.

Becky Bayley won all three of her matches in straight sets, but had an epic first game against Buck, only winning 25-23 - surely that’ill stand as the longest all season! Chris Holmes added a further three points and Ramsey’s 10th came in the doubles.

Mike Tamarov, John Magnall and Amit Lanin look to be strong contenders this year, with Tamarov and Lanin being part of the island team playing in the British Clubs League this weekend.

Tower newcomer Lee Alexander made a great start and nearly dented the hosts’ ambitions in a gritty five-setter against Magnall.

Simon Radclife played well against Lanin and Magnall, and in the doubles alongside Alexander, but it was not quite enough to avoid 10 points going to Arbory.

John Shooter was untroubled for the hosts, beating Ken Mitchell and Jakk Limingkoon in straight sets.

He was taken to a fourth end by the tenacious Dave Parsons, but eased through after a couple of very close games.

Limingkoon played extremely well on the night, beating Malc Lewis in three ends and only losing to Will Shooter in the fifth.

Parsons had a close call against Will but squeezed through 14-12, 12-10, 11-9, before taking his other point in four ends against Lewis.

The doubles was very close, with Mitchell and Parsons only losing in the fifth to the Shooters.

Desmond's had their first taste of Division One action in a few years and came up against a strong Strathy team of Wayne Taylor, Andy Patterson and Julian Briercliffe.

Russ Kent did well to push Patterson all the way to a fifth end, as did Neil Ronan, before Patterson went up a gear and ruthlessly dashed their hopes in the final end.

Three other matches went to a fourth end but the hosts did well to seal this one off and claim 10 points.

Khayee Vinas was making a welcome return to Arbory after a lengthy absence, but it was to Peel’s cost as she sealed three very good wins with her left-handed attacking play.

Stu Perry managed to take his first game off her, but was comfortably defeated in the following three.

Ken Hegarty pulled off a splendid win for Peel over Sonja Shaw, edging it 12-10 in the fifth end. The latter was clearly having an off day as she also succumbed to Perry in ends and in the third against Jon Taylor-Burt.

Dan Levine had a great night for Arbory with three excellent wins. It was only Perry who troubled him, before Levine notched up his third victory in the fifth. The doubles went to Arbory’s Levine and Vinas in five ends.

The experienced trio of Kevin Drewry, Rob Wright and Bob Borland was too much for the young Ballakermeen debutants.

Nevertheless, some good play was seen from Jesse Zhang, Kaishi Huang and Aditya Varshney. Borland had to work hard in his match with Adi, just pulling through 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 15-17, 11-5.

Arbory fielded a strong team against newcomers Tower C.

Jane Kneale showed her quality by pulling off three solid wins but Sam Sen pushed her hard, only losing 10-12 in the fifth.

His fortunes were reversed shortly afterwards with an excellent victory against Mike Levine, nicking it 13-11 in a tense final end. His other win was against young Liav Lanin in three ends.

Keith Whiteway gained his maiden win against Liav in the fifth, but had less luck against the gritty Levine in three close ends. Mark Webster-Smith added a fourth point for Tower by defeating Liav, also in the fifth.

Travellers D are used to winning, having been promoted from Division Three last season, and continued their good form with an authoritative 8-2 win.

Teddy and Adam Clayton each managed to pip Margaret Forsyth to claim the away team’s only two points. Grant Paterson and Mike Chapman were both unbeaten for Travellers.

Travellers’ third team member was another newcomer, Tony Fallon, who battled hard but couldn’t quite convert his efforts into a win. The doubles went to the experienced Travellers in straight sets.

Richard Hill, Seth Hornby Wheeler and Jasper Hill were too strong forTravellers F trio Sydnie Weaver, Christine Wu and Max Doyle.

Having said that, Doyle had an excellent win against Hill, edging it 16-14 in the third. Weaver also pulled off a good win against Hill but he did manage to beat Wu in four ends. The away team added a point by taking the doubles in a close five-setter.

Some excellent performances were seen in this tie, with no player able to claim a clean sheet.

Darren Shaw defeated rising star Rhys Bufton in three close ends then secured his second victory against Henry Weaver 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 11-9.

Keith Herrington added a further two points for Ramsey by beating Bufton in a closely-contested four-setter and Wasim Khan in three very close ends.

He met his match against Weaver who figured out a way past Herrington’s backhand no-sponge pimples, storming to victory 11-3 in the fifth.

Newcomer Khan did well to take two points for the visitors, defeating Geoff Burchill in four and Shaw in three ends.

The doubles went to the away side with a battling performance from Khan and Bufton, taking it 11-5 in the fourth against Shaw and Herrington.

- Full league results can be found at www.tabletennis365.com/IOM or follow IoMTTA’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TableTennisIOM

KEN MITCHELL