Defending champions Purple involved in opening week thriller as Portsmouth Table Tennis League returns

Defending champions Portsmouth Purple defeated Soberton A 8-2 with man of the match Ed Slot edging out Dave Woodacre in four sets, writes ROBIN PLUNKETT.

But Woodacre had a memorable evening in beating ex-England No 6 Steve Mills and recovering from three match points down to beat Tim Hampton, who also impressed on the night.

Cowplain Cocktails thrashed Phoenix Satellites 10-0 with their line-up of John Taylor, Paul May and Roger Winkworth, who was taken to five sets by Duncan Poole.

Portsmouth Black won 8-2 at Emsworth Eagles thanks to Andrew Smith(3), Dylan Linsell (2) and Gordon Giles (2).

Generation Rhodium beat club mates Iridium 6-4 with three wins by Kyristian Fijalkowski as Stephen Smith and Gareth Scaddan replied with two apiece.

Generation Platinum - Tom Chamberlain, Adam Hyde and Mike Cooksley - crushed two-man Cowplain Alexandra 10-0.

Knowle Rovers got the better of clubmates Valiant by a 6-4 margin as Alan Baldwin and Kevin Smith both claimed hat-tricks. Ray Jarratt, Pete Grubb and Geraldine Morle all responded by beating Barry Diaper.

In Division 2, Avenue Dodos opened their campaign by hammering Portsmouth Cobalt 9-1 with trebles by Keith Ginn and Phil Stride. Francis Yeong stopped a whitewash against Tony Dummer.

Knowle Puffins whitewashed Phoenix Pluto with their combination of Russ Anderson, Ricky Hensman and Brian Greenwood.

Puffins Tenacity overcame Emsworth Oysters 9-1 with a hat-trick of wins from John Cooper and Tony Emberson and a double for Dave Macintosh, losing only to Sandy Collier.

Eric Ribovic fought a lone battle for Cowplain Yellow as his triple was in vain as Phoenix Saturn triumphed 6-4, Jordi Wiesner and Paul Russell both winning twice.