The new table tennis season sees the Keighley & District League expand for the fifth successive year.

The league now has 32 teams with seven new teams entering in an area that stretches from Crossflatts to Gargrave -- a district that is a hotbed for the sport.

Oakbank have recently been named the best Premier club in the country and with three teams in the Yorkshire League and one in the National Junior League the local league is backing up their achievements.

Division One saw champions Embassy 'A' take on wooden spoon side Nemesis with everything going to form as the Bingley team notched up their first 10-0 win of the season. Recent signing Andy Hewitt, a 25-year-old with county experience in the south of England, the star of the show. Neil Foley and Matthew Mellor also chipped in with full houses as Embassy showed they mean business.

Lothersdale 'B' went down to the Terriers 'A' pairing of John Lister, now back to his best, and Tim Boothman. Paul Beck suffered a wipe-out against Pete Midgley, Martin Connolly and David Galley. Galley almost got the better of Boothman before eventually going down 21-18, 17-21, 21-18, but Lister was the undoubted star with three comprehensive wins.

In Division Two Ilkley Road 'A' registered a 10-0 win over their 'B' team, promoted from Division Three last season. Only Chris Dunn ruffled the feathers of the victors, going down in three to Steve Barton 14-21, 21-14, 21-8.

John Pullen ensured a first match win for Johnson & Johnson with a maximum against the Cononley Sports team of Phil Scarr, Eric Hudson and Stuart Maude. Derek Stanforth was also impressive for the Gargrave boys beating Phil Scarr and Hudson before just losing out to Maude. Alan Ripley contributed with one before he teamed up with Pullen to register a 21-12, 12-21, 21-13 doubles triumph over Hudson and Maude to complete a 7-3 victory.

Terriers 'C' entertained Lothersdale 'C' expecting to do better than being on the wrong end of a 7-3 scoreline. Both Jack Anderson (21-10, 21-16) and Richard Crookes (21-11, 21-12) defeated Paul Lister as well as John Morris and Steve Wands before teaming up in the doubles to beat Lister and Wands 21-14, 21-13 to complete a good nights work.

Promoted Wilsden proved to be stiff opponents for Stockbridge Spartans. Adam and Luke Broadbent struck wins each, although Luke had to work overtime against Abid Hussain to win 10-21, 21-18, 21-15. Stockbridge new boy Ray Wallace earned his first league win by beating Dave Broadbent 21-19, 18-21, 21-14 in his team's 7-3 defeat.

In Division Three, Azeem Khan was in top form for Haworth 'B' with three straight wins away at Craven LTC, his best being a 21-14, 22-20 defeat of Dave Roberts. Kamran Ramzan and Helal Ali also registered a couple each to ease Haworth to a comfortable 8-2 victory.

Ilkley Road 'C' look to be one of the main promotion challengers following their 9-1 victory at home to Skipton 'A'. Steve Ives' treble included a 21-14, 21-8 defeat of John Romano and Ken Feather, also grabbing a full house, earned a 21-7, 21-10 success against Rod Brown. Paul Stead, playing his first league match, notched an encouraging double with defeats of Brown and Maria Simpson.

New boys Oakworth 'B' registered a hard fought 6-4 victory at home to St Peters. Vastly experienced Steve Smith who has played for many years in Division One, lost the first to Richard Foster 21-12, 22-20, but made up for his lapse with 21-15, 21-10 and 21-15, 21-11 victories over David Tomlinson and Sam Atkinson respectively. The impressive Foster went on to register a maximum with defeats of both Jason Procter and Paul Hollindrake but only an Atkinson success against Hollindrake added further to the visitor's tally as Oakworth claimed a first match victory, helped by wins for Procter against Tomlinson (21-16, 21-8) and Atkinson (22-20, 21-13).

The most improved player of last season, South Craven's Jordan Ross, picked up where he left off against new boys Crossflatts 'B' with three straight wins that included a 21-19, 23-21 defeat of Daniel McHugh in his team's 6-4 home win. McHugh played well for Crossflatts, grabbing a 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 win against the experienced Tom Fryett and another, this time 21-12, 21-8 against Michael Hebden. The Crossflatts player is obviously someone to watch this season.

RESULTS

Division One: Embassy 'A' 10, Nemesis 0; Lothersdale 'B' 3, Terriers 'A' 7; Oakworth 'A' 4, Nelson Nomads 6.

Division Two: Ilkley Road 'A' 10, Ilkley Road 'B' 0; Johnson & Johnson 7, Cononley Sports 3; Terriers 'C' 3, Lothersdale 'C' 7; Wilsden 7, Stockbridge Spartans 3.

Division Three: Craven LTC 2, Haworth 'B' 8; Crossflatts 'A' 8, Haworth 'A' 2; Ilkley Road 'C' 9, Skipton 'A' 1; Oakworth 'B' 6, St Peter's 4; South Craven 6, Crossflatts 'B' 4.