BUDMOUTH teams dominated the opening rounds of the Weymouth Schools Junior League.

There are 20 boys’ and nine girls’ teams playing across four and two divisions respectively this year.

Teams play each other in a series of singles matches and points are awarded for each leg won.

The top two sides in every division are promoted and they then play each other again to determine the final positions and medals.

And it was the Budmouth teams that came out on top after the first round of matches, winning all six divisions.

However, they were given a close run by the emerging table tennis clubs at Wey Valley and All Saints, where after-school practice is starting to show results.

But it was the young teams from Holy Trinity who emerged as Budmouth’s closest rivals over the four boys’ divisions.

Division One was dominated by Budmouth A and Budmouth B, though All Saints A came close to beating them in an exciting finish where only two points separated the top three sides.

Dom and Brad Webb were in superb form as All Saints A defeated Budmouth A 6-2, with Dom inflicting Ben Graham’s only defeat of the competition so far.

The Budmouth A pairing of Graham and Brad Burroughs bounced back to defeat Budmouth B’s James Green and Moses Lewis 8-2, Burroughs crucially winning the deciding legs against both players.

However, it was Budmouth B who led the group as they top scored in their final games and Budmouth A dropped legs against the others.

In Division Two, the Budmouth D pairing of Jamie Blair and Dan Henman recorded the highest points total in all six divisions.

The only match they did not score the maximum eight points in was the one against the rising stars of Holy Trinity A, Ollie James and Tom Lydford – the match ended 6-6.

Both primary school players beat Henman in deciding legs, with Lydford also taking a leg off county cadet player Blair.

Sam Burton was also part of the Holy Trinity A team which won their remaining matches and now have the challenge of Division One to look forward to.

Holy Trinity C finished joint top of Division Three with Budmouth F, though the match between the two sides finished with Budmouth running out 8-4 winners.

Alex Rogan and Louie James won every game but the Holy Trinity side of Archie Woolford and Billy Baker ran them close as every game went to a deciding leg in a marathon match.

Holy Trinity had their revenge against the other Budmouth side of James Bayley and Louis McKechnie, winning 7-4 with Devin Fry coming into the side and winning both of his games.

It was another close run contest in Division Four, with one point separating Budmouth H and Holy Trinity E.

The match between the teams ended 5-5 with both sharing the game wins.

Budmouth raced into a lead with Reece McCabe and Fynn de Silva beating Tauhid Ahmad and Safwan Islam respectively, but the Holy Trinity boys came back to win the reverse fixtures and tie the match.

The Wey Valley C team of Oz Eastlake, Thomas Wheeler and Ethan Robinson won two of their matches as they ran the top teams close.

In girls’ Division One it was the Budmouth J pairing of Snigdha Maganti and Erin Stow who topped the table.

They had to come through two tight games, beating Wey Valley E (6-3) and drawing with All Saints E (4-4).

Maganti beat her county team-mate April Heasman 11-9 in the third leg to swing the match Budmouth’s way.

Maganti was again unbeaten in the match against All Saints, but Lilla Baktai and Bethan Jones both beat Stow to tie the game.

Harriet Pullen and Saffy Taylor-Sprakes were unbeaten for Budmouth K in Division Two and will now try their luck in Division One.

The All Saints G trio of Olivia Bailey, Bethany Morrison and Chloe Clarke secured second place by beating Wey Valley F 7-3.

All Saints raced into an early lead but the Wey Valley girls fought back with Amelia Luff winning a close three-set encounter against Clarke, while Laura Hayward lost 11-9 in the deciding leg against Morrison.