The penultimate Grand Prix of the season made its way up to the north west coastline, with the seaside resort of Blackpool playing host. The seventh edition of this season’s circuit produced some great action and an in depth report into all of today’s banded competitions can be read below.
The final Grand Prix of the 2015/16 season will be taking place in London on Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th June, with a closing date of Sunday 22nd May. For the first time ever, the Jean Brown Arena will be used to host the event – the same venue that was used for the 2014/15 Senior National Championships.
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Men’s Band 1
Day one came to a close with Sean Doherty winning the Men’s Band 1 competition. The Scotsman beat Irishman Ashley Robinson 3-1 in the final.
Second seed Doherty was imperious and cruised his way through to the final. He recorded two group wins from two, beating Martin Lowe and Matthew Leete. Adam Jepson put up a fight in the quarter-final before going down 3-1. Doherty completed his path to the final with a three sets victory over Richard Main.
Chris Main made the most of the first seeds withdrawal and won group one. But his competition came to a hault at the semi-final stage, losing to eventual runner-up Ashley Robinson. Robinson, winner of group four, beat Martin Lowe in his quarter-final.
Women’s Band 1
Gillian Edwards won the Women’s Band 1 round robin group thanks to three wins from her four matches. The only defeat came in the last match of the group against Rachel Baker, by which time the title had already been secured. Edwards’ wins were recorded against Cherith Graham (3-2), Beth Farnworth (3-2), and Zoe Cheesman (3-0).
The Runner-up was decided by countback after a three way tie between Rachel Baker, Beth Farnworth and Cherith Graham. Thanks to her superior games ratio, Beth Farnworth claimed second place, with Graham and Baker finishing third and fourth respectively. Zoe Cheesman finished in fifth place with her solitary win coming against Rachel Baker.
Men’s Band 2
Local lad Jack Dempsey won a cracking final encounter against Chris Main, coming from 2-1 down to seal the Men’s Band 2 title. Trailing 5-11, 11-7, 8-11, Dempsey showed no signs of giving in, and dug deep to take the fourth 11-4. A tense decider went all the way to deuce, but it was Dempsey that held his nerve coming through 12-10.
Dempsey started the knock-out stage with a terrific 3-0 win against number two seed Matthew Leete. However, he made much harder work of his semi-final, in which he levelled at 2-2 after falling two behind. Astonishingly, he then won the decider 11-0 – not the finest few minutes of Michael Fraser’s campaign.
In the other half of the draw, Chris Main twice won 3-1, and both times from a losing position. He beat Daniel Fielding at the quarter-final stage and then Michael Bree one round later. Although it wasn’t meant to be in the final, Main did get a victory over Dempsey, beating him 3-1 in the group stages.
Women’s Band 2
In arguably the best final of the morning session, Beth Farnworth was crowned Blackpool Grand Prix Women’s Band 2 champion, after a mammoth match against Zoe Cheesman. After many twists and turns, Farnworth eventually sealed the win 16-14, 5-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9.
Farnworth won group two, in which she beat Cheesman by the comfortable score line of 3-0, and progressed to play Rachel Baker in the semi-final. A good 3-0 win was enough to see her through to the final that she would eventually go on to win.
Cheesman claimed a great victory in her semi-final, coming from 2-0 down to beat Cherith Graham 11-1 in the decider. This gave Cheesman a shot at revenge with Farnworth waiting in the final. Despite her best efforts and a massive improvement on the 3-0 defeat in the group stages, Cheesman still didn’t have enough to get over the winning line.
Men’s Band 3
Dylan Curry won his second banded event of the day, beating Nathan Thomas in the final of the Men’s Band 3.
Curry, who also performed well at the last Grand Prix in Doncaster, continued his good form. As winner of group seven he earned the right to face Cade Short, who he passed without too much drama, winning in three straight games. This was followed by wins against Fraser Riley (3-1) and Ben Willson (3-1).
Fourth seed Nathan Thomas reached the final thanks to wins against Martin Johnson (3-0), Naphat Boonyaprapa (3-0) and Lawrence John (3-0). After his comfortable journey to final, Thomas found the going tougher against Curry, who proved too strong on this occasion.
Women’s Band 3
The Women’s Band 3 event was won by Kate Roberts of Wales. She beat Annie Hudson in a very close five setter, 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6.
Number one seed, Roberts, progressed through the groups with a 100% record, winning five from five. In the semi-final she faced Danielle De Jong and advanced after a solid performance was enough to win 14-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8.
Second see, Hudson, also won her group with an unbeaten record. Crucial wins came against Jamie Lee Harley and Danielle De Jong, both went to five. As the only non-Welsh player in the semi-finals, Hudson had it all to do to ensure it wasn’t an all Welsh final. Unfortunately for Lydia John, Hudson proved too good, winning 3-0.
Men’s Band 4
Scotland’s Dylan Curry comprehensively won the Men’s Band 4 title after a straight sets victory against Ryan Lunn.
Curry, winner of group four, beat Shaun Murray in the first knock-out round, coming from a game down to win 3-1. Curry then faced his toughest match of the band. He was pegged back to 2-2 after opening a 2-0 lead against Cade Short, however, the champion appeared to step it up in the decider winning 11-4. A comfortable 3-0 victory followed in the semi-final against Jack Cope.
Lunn’s route to the final started with him topping group 10. Victories against Matthew Shaw and Jody Bevington set up a semi-final clash with Yorkshire’s Fraser Riley. Riley rallied coming from one down to level at 1-1 thanks to an 11-9 end, but Lunn found another gear winning the next two 11-5.
Women’s Band 4
With only two entrants registered, it was a first round final in the Women’s Band 4. Wales’ Jamie Lee Harley beat Chloe Ireland in three straight games.
Harley opening the scoring with an 11-8 first end, and backed it up with the same score line in the second. Ireland was hopeful of a big comeback, but despite her best efforts, fell to an 11-7 defeat in the third.
Men’s Band 5
Young Jonathan Heslop outperformed the rest of the field as he surprisingly won the Men’s Band 5 event. He beat Cleveland’s Jack Cope 3-0 in the final.
However, it was the two semi-finals that stole the headlines, as both went the full distance with all four players striving to make the final. Champion, Heslop, beat Ben Fillingham 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 11-8, while Cope beat Chengis Kuanyshev 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8.
En-route to the final Heslop also overcame Rhys Davies and number one seed Zoltan Kulics. Cope beat Raymond Hurst in the last 16 and then Yao Li in the quarter-finals.
Men’s Band 6
Chengis Kuanyshev was victorious in his maiden Grand Prix appearance winning the Men’s Band 6 event. He beat a gutted Ben Fillingham 3-2, after the youngster led 2-1 and gave himself a real chance of winning. Kuanyshev showed great composure to secure the title with an 11-5 fourth game, and 11-6 fifth game.
Kuanyshev started by upsetting the number one seed, winning his group with two victories out of two. He then beat Robert Lemon in five and Freddie Osenton-Brown in four to reach the final.
Young Yorkshireman, Fillingham, qualified as the winner of group five, and then progressed to the final with fine victories over number one seed Rafal Bajda and then Jonathan Heslop and Lourence Lewis-Hanna.
Results
Men’s Band 1
Sean Doherty (SCO) bt Ashley Robinson (IRL) 3-1 (11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7)
Women’s Band 1
Winner: Gillian Edwards (SCO), Runner-up: Beth Farnworth (La) – Round robin group
Men’s Band 2
Jack Dempsey (La) bt Chris Main (SCO) 3-2 (5-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 12-10)
Women’s Band 2
Beth Farnworth (La) bt Zoe Cheesman (Y) 3-2 (16-14, 5-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9)
Men’s Band 3
Dylan Curry (SCO) bt Nathan Thomas (WAL) 3-0 (13-11, 11-4, 11-9)
Women’s Band 3
Kate Roberts (WAL) bt Annie Hudson (Ch) 3-2 (8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6)
Men’s Band 4
Dylan Curry (SCO) bt Ryan Lunn (Ch) 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-5)
Women’s Band 4
Jamie Lee Harley (WAL) bt Chloe Ireland (La) 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7)
Men’s Band 5
Jonathan Heslop (Y) bt Jack Cope (Cv) 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-3)
Men’s Band 6
Chengis Kuanyshev (Ca) bt Ben Fillingham (Y) 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6)
The latest Grand Prix points can be seen here. A full update including the results from Blackpool will be published before the London Grand Prix.