YMCA kicked off the new Weymouth & District League season with a narrow 23-22 victory over Portland’s Red Triangle.

A very close match between two evenly-matched sides, saw seven of the 10 matches go to five legs.

Steve White and Andy Webb starred for the YMCA, with Webb consistently hitting winning cross-table forehand shots.

Derrick Dawson also picked up eight points for the visitors, only narrowly losing to White in the opening game.

A close and tense doubles match decided the game, with the home side managing to pick up two legs to win the overall game.

Budmouth B had a good start to the season with a 27-15 win over Colliton X.

Mick Hogan was the only Colliton player to pick up a victory, over Ben Howe, with both Jed Brackenridge and Robin Prince picking up maximums for Budmouth.

In Division Two, the girls from Budmouth C lost out to an experienced Colliton C side.

This was a much closer match than the final score suggests with six of the matches being played over five legs and the other four being decided in four.

Not only that, but most of the legs were won 11-9 or 11-8.

In the end, the greater experience of the Colliton team saw them through in the deciding legs with both Andy Ray and Katherine Bundy scoring maximum points.

The Budmouth girls can take great heart from their first outing in Division Two and were certainly not outplayed.

Shipton Gorge C and Wyke A could not be separated and shared an entertaining 18-18 draw.

It was a great night’s table tennis with lots of close games that could have gone either way, and an almost never-ending last singles game ending 20-18.

Tony Dobbs again remained the strongest player causing problems with his tomahawk serve and strong backhand drives giving him the edge in the closer games.

Ian South took a little time to adjust to his new pimple bat but once warmed up delivered some irretrievable slice returns, and Roger Walden used his forehand smash to great effect, especially when played long down the line.

Tom Baldry was the strongest of the Shipton players with a very consistent forehand drive and Dan Corren and Dave Poole did enough to keep them in the match.

This left a tense doubles with everything to play for but Corren and Baldry edged it with the stronger partnership working together to create chances to put away winners. In the end the draw seemed a fair result all round.

Division Three kicked off with Preston E giving the new Park District Y team a bit of a thumping in a 30-0 romp.

Malcolm Smith, Paul Hammond and Martin Singer were all fairly comfortable in victories over Cozette Edwards, Monique Chester and William Roper and have sights set on being near the top of the division come the New Year.

The second all-girl Budmouth team in the league, Budmouth E, also started their season against an experienced side, in which they ultimately lost 26-17 to Springfield D.

The Budmouth girls played with such flair and skill that it was only the experience of the Springfield team that got them through.

We are getting to know how good Sophie Storey and Holly Calton are but Budmouth have a new star in Ashleigh Browne, who played with such attacking skill and maturity for one so young.

There were so many standout matches it is difficult to pick one but Browne’s match with Ken Winship best captured the excitement of the night, closely followed by Mike Wood’s dramatic comeback against the same player to pinch it 3-2.

Another tight encounter saw Wey Valley run out 19-16 victors over Preston D.

Both Ethan Bingham for Wey Valley and stalwart, Stan Smith, for Preston notched up seven points for their respective teams.

Wyke B had a very strong start in recording a 30-4 victory over two-strong Wyke C.