REIGNING Weymouth & District Table Tennis League Handicap Cup champions Budmouth D showed they certainly do not want to relinquish their hold on the title, with a convincing win over Shipton Gorge A.

The Budmouth youngsters got off to a flyer when Will Jolliffe (+8) sealed a 21-12, 21-14 win over Miranda Edwardes and this was followed by the game of the night when Ethan Gear (+11) was pitted against the wily Gil Roberts.

Giving up 11 points, Roberts was always behind in the first leg but clawed his way back to deuce, and drew first blood with a 22-20 win.

The second leg was just as close but this time Roberts couldn’t quite catch Gear and went down 19-21.

In the decider, Gear upped his game and played some delightful forehand drives to both sides of the table, combined with steady pushing to claim a 21-12 victory.

A 15-point deficit was just too much for Terry Whitworth to overcome against Eddie Knell with Knell winning 21-13, 21-18, and Jolliffe and Gear were in fine form as they both won the next two matches to secure a 5-0 romp overall.

It was a similar story on the next table as the young Budmouth E girls overcame Colliton X 5-1.

April Heasman (+12) relished the faster pace of play and used her forehand to good effect to outgun Andy Crouch in two straight games.

The more dogged style of Erin Stow (+14) proved the undoing of Mick Hogan (-3) and Snigdha Maganti (+13) weighed in with a 21-16, 21-16 victory over Raj Lehal.

Another scintillating display by Heasman saw off Hogan 21-7, 21-7 and despite Lehal beating Stow, Maganti saw Budmouth E home with a two games to one win over Crouch.

The closest match of the night in a triple-header at Budmouth was a tight affair between Budmouth C and Shipton Gorge C.

Jamie Blair got the Budmouth youngsters off to a good start with a 21-17, 21-18 win over Dan Corren (+7) but Shipton hit back straight away when Dave Poole (9) gained a three-set victory over James Green.

Moses Lewis restored Budmouth’s advantage with a comfortable win over John Newman to go 2-1 up overall, and then Blair extended the lead with a nail-biting 21-19, 23-21 victory over Poole.

Newman then pulled it back to 3-2 by beating Green in three legs courtesy of some fine hitting in the decisive third leg, but Lewis then got the better of Corren 21-16 in the third leg.

Newman then got his second win of the night beating Blair 21-15 in the third leg to bring the match score back to 4-3 in Budmouth’s favour.

In a cliff-hanger between Corren and Green, Corren took the first leg easily but lost a very close second leg 21-19.

With both players desperate for a win, there were a catalogue of good attacking strokes in the decider with a determined Green edging it 21-16 to clinch a 5-3 win for his side.