By Roy Caswell

THE Bolton and District Table Tennis League took a week off from league matches last week to play the first round of the Warburton Cup.

The competition is for all the teams in the league and in order to get down to the number needed for a knockout most teams had a bye with only five matches taking place.

A new handicap system is being trialled for cup matches this year.

Instead of the handicap being based on where teams are in the league tables it is now dependent upon the relative strength of the players involved as shown in the published rankings on the Table Tennis England website.

Polonia Club B went through after overturning Meadow Ben B's 7.5 start to win 348-305.5.

Hilton F made good use of their 65.5 start to beat Brasszone 367.5-343.

St Paul's Peel narrowly beat Farnworth Social Circle B, who had a 56.5 start, 362-357.5.

Farnworth Social Circle C had a 49.5 start but did not need it as they ran out handsome 378.5-300 winners against Hilton Top Spinners.

The result of the other match to take place is still to come in.

Next week sees a return to league matches and, with the first half of the season well past the midway point, many teams near the top of their divisions will be in action against each other over the coming weeks.