Plymouth celebrated a double triumph at the English Leagues Cup Competitions Finals – with Josh Millman on the winning side on both occasions.
The club won both trophies for male players – the Willmott Cup for Seniors and the Carter Cup for Juniors – at the event at Westfield TTC in Wellingborough.
The JM Rose Bowl for Senior women was won by Central London, while the Junior girls’ Bromfield Trophy went to Loughborough.
The two Senior events were held on the Saturday, with eight teams having made it through the zonal stage from the 24 original entries to take their place in the final stages of the Willmott Cup.
Plymouth overcame the challenge of Norwich A in the top match, both sides having topped their groups. In the end, Dominic Sussex and Josh Millman of Plymouth were too strong for Neil Charles and Tony Zeqiri. Sussex was the outstanding player of the event as he remained unbeaten over the four matches.
Central London’s team of Emil Erekov, Joshua Nameed and Jamal Dennison won the bronze, head of Wembley & Harrow in fourth. Nottingham were fifth, Norwich B sixth, Hull seventh and Watford eighth.
The JM Rose Bowl also had eight teams in the finals, with nine having entered originally, and the top two in the groups were Central London and Warrington.
They met in the top match and the Central London pair of Tiana Dennison and Jane Ji saw off Rachel Baker, Annie Hudson and Paulina Orzechowska representing Warrington – despite Baker remaining undefeated over the whole event as Warrington came up just short of defending the trophy they won last year.
Leicester – Jessica Birbeck and Karen Smith – took the bronze, followed by Sheffield in fourth, Northumbria in fifth, North Herts in sixth, Leamington in seventh and Cambridge in eighth.
On Sunday the younger players created a great atmosphere as they progressed through the day.
The junior boys played for the Carter Cup; eight zone winners and runners-up had emerged from the 14 entries.
After the usual format, Plymouth were victors over Wembley & Harrow in the top match. Josh Millman and Uther Kingdom represented Plymouth with Cacherel Mirjah-Mercer and George Long playing for Wembley & Harrow.
Third place went to Nottingham, represented by Naphong Boonyaprapa and Max Stevens, with Cambridge fourth, Bournemouth fifth, Central London sixth, Leamington seventh and Grantham eighth. Kingdom was unbeaten throughout but Millman went home with the not unique but rare accolade of being champion on both days.
The Bromfield Trophy saw five teams compete in an excellent round-robin event.
Loughborough, represented by Helena Dicken and Erin Green, were undefeated after a very close match with Plymouth’s Angharad Beman and Gemma Kerr, who ended up with silver.
Bronze went to Ilyssa and Isabelle Lacorte of North Herts with Leamington fourth and Grantham fifth. Kerr was unbeaten over the event.
Special tribute should be paid to the four youngsters who played on both days – Millman of Plymouth, the Lacorte sisters of North Herts and Emily Beasley of Leamington.
Many thanks to the officials and to the hosts but as ever especially to the players and their supporters for continuing to make this a great event. 52 entries this year was similar to last year but next year we hope for more.