THE Aldershot Table Tennis League has got underway with a field of just 40 teams, probably the lowest in the league’s history.

Two players who appeared last season have since died – Sandy Simpson and Peter Greenwood-Sleep.

Just 18 months ago, Sandy, from Ash, won the ladies’ singles title.

Defending champions Bentley A, faced with later congestion, have already played two matches after bringing fixtures forward. They started by defeating Central A 6-4, with Andy Mudie undefeated. Richard Seymour won two, as did Central’s Phil Snelson.

Against Tennis A, however, Bentley could only turn out two players and went down 6-4, with Mudie again unbeaten.

Tennis A played their scheduled match against Frimley A and won 9-1. Eliot Tilley and Rod Kay each recorded trebles and Paul Myers won twice. Tennis C edged past Tennis D 6-4. Ce Guo, Shaun Newbold and Paul Shakespeare all won twice for the Cs and Michael Kwan took two for the Ds.

Cody B recorded a thumping 9-1 victory over Frimley C in Division Two. Kin Chan and Dave Stenning both secured maximums and Duncan Sibbick took a double.

In Division Three, Frimley D beat promoted Cody E 9-1, but the result did not reflect the fact that most of the games went the distance. Anthony Connelly and Gary Nicholson each won three, backed up by Tony Harrison (2).

Ash H started their Division Four campaign with a 6-4 win over Cody F. Brian Lunn won three for Ash and there were doubles for Ben Carr (Ash) and John Asprey (Cody).

A two-man Braybrooke B overcame Frimley E 6-4, thanks to the efforts of Mick Rumbold (3) and Malcolm Codd (2).

Broadmoor have relocated and are re-named Braybrooke.