Over 50 players contested the various events in the Leicestershire Junior Championship finals, the organisation of which was headed by Terry Bown with expert assistance from Shirley Pickering, at Knighton Park TTC with a need to stagger the events, not because of players but for the multitude of spectators they attracted.
The Boys’ Under-18 singles did not have quite so many entries as some of the younger events but what it lacked in quantity it certainly made up for in quality in a seven-player all-play-all group.
Not surprisingly after a superb league season in Division Two Adam Pettitt came through his six matches unscathed, beating all six opponents 2-0 in the best of three format and looked a formidable prospect, not even being taken to deuce along the way.
Second was Brajesh Patel, another coming up through the divisions, who had a good battle with Dan Andrews for the runners-up spot before getting home 2-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-8). Andrews, having also lost to Pettitt, won his other three for third position.
Both the Under-15 and Under-13 boys’ events had three groups in qualifying with the three group winners plus best runner up through to the semi-finals in each case.
In the Under-15s Jack Rogers was unstoppable in winning his group before defeating Hugh Duffield in the semis. In the other semi Matthew Wynne beat Ben Cooke but was no match for Rogers in the final who cruised home 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-4).
The two semi-finals of the Under-13s saw Edward Brown, having come through his group undefeated, reaching the final by beating Oscar Bentley in a tight 2-0 (15-13, 14-12). His final opponent was Uzayr Shaikh who defeated Bilal Pandor 2-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-7) in the semis with Brown completing an excellent event in taking this title 2-1 (11-6, 10-12, 11-7).
The Under-11s completed the boys’ events and this was played in two sections with each group winner contesting a very exciting finale when Harry Thomas overcame George Moore after a see-saw encounter 3-2 (13-11, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8).
There were two girls’ events with the Under-11s playing one group of four from which emerged Roma Morjaria looking a decent prospect, although she had a tussle with Freya Wynne along the way before getting home 2-1, eventually taking all three matches. Keira Joseph finished second, losing to Morjaria but winning her other two comfortably.
The Under-15 girls was straightforward with an excellent final between two contestants who know each other inside out. Playing the best of three it was eventually Maya Dehnen overcoming Sufyaana Dhanji 2-1 (13-11, 12-14, 13-11) to round off a great day of play.