Champion Achampong
Men’s Band 1:
This consisted of a group of four and a group of five. Emran Hussain (E) the top seed, won the group of four, but struggled the whole way through, only winning in five over Paul Carter (Sy) and close four gamers with Steve Foster (Do) and Mickel Miller (Sy). Foster came second in the group. In the group of five Gabriel Achampong (Mi) had three unexpected wins over Stephen Beerling (K) the no. 2 seed, Alain Choo-Choy (Sy) and Jojo Senorin (Mi) to top the group. Senorin performed very well to take second place in the group with excellent 3-0 victories over Beerling, Choo-Choy and Daniel Barna (Sx) and only lost in five to Achampong. The semi finals were both very straight forward wins for Hussain over Senorin and Achampong over Foster. The final was a cracker. Hussain took first blood winning 11-5, 11-7, but then took his foot off the gas and allowed Achampong back into the game. Achampong went up a gear to win 11-9, 11-4, 13-11 to scoop the band 1 title, £50 cash and his second title of the day (the first being the band 2-see below).
Men’s Band 2:
Group 1 was won by the in form Achampong, who upset the seedings to overcome top seed, Miller in Group 1. Alex Forshaw (Sx), the bottom ranked player in Group 2 flipped the rankings upside down, by topping the group on count back with Foster. Both of them had two wins each, but Forshaw won when they played each other. Jack Bennett (Sx) had a very good win Vs experienced combination bat player Senorin, who beat Forshaw in five sets. Barna won Group 3 with a fifth game win over Carter and a straight sets victory over group runner-up Andrew Hodges (Wi). In the quarters Barna saw off Miller over five ends and Foster put paid to Hodges. The semi finals were a 3-0 win for Achampong over Foster and a 3-1 win for Barna over team mate, Forshaw, who has been insisting vehemently recently that he is way better than Barna. The final was close. Achampong won three games all 11-9 and Barna took the second end 11-3.
Men’s Band 3:
This was a large band with 22 players in six groups. Top seed Osman Yildirim (TUR) won Group 1, but was pushed to five by runner-up Leo Veinsreider (Sy). Bennett won Group 2 but only scraped over the line 11-9 in the fifth vs Mohammad Owadally (Mi). Group 3 contained the only two Women’s Band 1 entrants, which was merged with Men’s Band 3, due to insufficient entries. Sandra Collier (Ch) and Jasmin Ould (K) found the going tough vs the men, although both of them pushed group winner Forshaw to five sets. Forshaw was also extended to the decider by group runner-up Tim Holtam (Sx). Billy Ho (Ha) won Group 4 with a good win over Zayd Mauthoor (Mi). A three way count back in Group 5 resulted in a win for Ho Yin Lee (Sy) and finally in Group 6 Chris Morshead (JEY) upset the rankings by beating Omar Khassal (Mi).
The quarter final line-up was Yildirim Vs Khassal, Lee Vs Ho, Forshaw Vs Veinsreider and Bennett Vs Mauthoor. In each case the higher ranked player won, although Bennett was made to work by Mauthoor. This meant the semis were Osman Vs Lee and Forshaw Vs Bennett. Again the rankings proved accurate, although again Bennett had to fight in this case from two games down to win 11-9 in the fifth. In the final Yildirim had too much in the locker for young Bennett, who was defeated in four ends.
Men’s Band 4:
This was the joint largest band with 25 entrants in six groups. No. 1 seed Omar Khassal won Group 1 with four wins, beating group runner-up Martin Matuzevicius in the fifth. Morshead, Lee, Gavin West (E), Ho and Tim Holtam (Sx) all won their groups as expected. In the first round Karim Khassal (Mi) had a hard fought win over Owadally 11-8 in the fifth, Ho beat Mike White (Sx), Matuzevicius beat Holtam and Adam Jepson (Ca) beat Veinsreider. The Khassal brothers met in the first quarter final and it was the younger Omar who prevailed in four sets. Ho accounted for West in straight games, as did Lee put paid to Matuzevicius. Morshead ground out a four game victory over Jepson to complete the semi final line-up of Khassal Vs Ho and Lee Vs Morshead. Ho was too strong for young Khassal on the day and Morshead too consistent for Lee. The final was a pushing contest with defender Morshead forcing attacker Ho into a more defensive style, which he was not used to. Umpire Alan White (Sx) commented that winner Morshead attacked twice in the entire match and won both times he attacked!
Men’s Band 5:
Band 5 also contained 25 players in six groups. The group winners were Jepson, unranked Josh Bennett (Sx) Andy Bugden (Ha), Alan Taylor (K), Musa Sharif-Ali (Mi) and George Tester. Unexpected wins at the group stage included Tester defeating Paul Waumsley (K) 3-0 and Sharif-Ali overcoming Robin Honey (Dy) 9 in the fifth. Sharif-Ali was unlucky not to knock-out the no. 2 seed and Paralympic diver () David Wetherill, as he succumbed 13-11 in the fifth. In the quarters top seed Jepson knocked out Matthew Daish (Ha), Wetherill had another extended match, this time Vs Taylor, but was at least not required to exhibit his diving skills in this match, coming through in five games. Tester ousted Bugden and Bennett blitzed Honey in the remaining quarters. So the top two seeds met in the semi and what a battle it was. GB Paralympian Wetherill, had to come back from 2-1 down, with the momentum with Jepson, but he pulled though to triumph 11-7 in the fifth. Perhaps the prospect of playing a well-known Paralympian phased the youngster, but it was probably just the skills of Wetherill that took him through. There was one fantastic shot where Wetherill showed great touch to bend the ball round the net on a wide ball. In the second semi Bennett beat Tester in three close games. However in the final Wetherill was blown away by the talented 13-year-old England player, Bennett, who beat Wetherill 3-0 for the second time that afternoon, as they had also met at the group stage.
Men’s Band 6:
This was three groups of five players. Group 1 was won by Teresa Bennett (Sx), the only entrant for Women’s Band 4, as the two bands were combined due to lack of entries in the women’s event. Highest ranked player, Paul Bergin (Sx) finished second in the group with three wins. Josh Bennett mullered all four of his opponents in Group 2 and Minesh Pitamber (Bd) performed well to come second in the group in a three-way count-back. Second seed Andrew Maguire (Ca) missed out. Sharif-Ali won Group 3 with four fairly straight forward wins. Third seed Chris Pullinger got second place. In the quarter finals Pullinger took out Pitamber and Sharif-Ali beat Bergin with a last gasp 11-9 in the fifth. In the first semi Pullinger played an absolute blinder to push favourite Teresa Bennett all the way to 9 in the fifth. Sharif-Ali was dispatched by Josh Bennett in the other semi. The result of the final was never in doubt, with Josh being too quick for mother Teresa (no pun intended), although she did pick up a consolation third end.
Women’s Band 1:
Sue Collier (Ch) beat Jas Ould (K) 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9.
Women’s Band 2:
This was a round robin of 4 players. Top seed Collier beat Ould 3-0 to take first place. Ould came second, winning in four games vs 3rd placed Hiba Feredj (Mi) and 4th placed Sally Hughes (Sx). Feredj had an unexpected win Vs Hughes.
Women’s Band 3:
This was again a round robin of four players. No player was undefeated in this group and no player lost all of their matches. The first game on was Feredj Vs Sandra Rider (Y) and the latter won 17-15 in the decider, having trailed 0-2 in games. Rider lost 0-3 to unranked Teresa Bennett (Sx), but then Bennett lost in the fifth to Feredj. Hughes got some revenge on Feredj, winning 3-0, but lost to Bennett 1-3. In the final match Rider overcame Hughes 3-2. This left Bennett and Rider both on 2 wins each, but as Bennett won when the two met, she took the winners spot.
Women’s Band 4:
No competition, as only one entrant, who was put into the Men’s band 6, as mentioned above.
Summary of Results:
Men’s Band 1:
Gabrielle Achampong (Mi) beat Emran Hussain (E) 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 4-11, 11-13
Men’s Band 2:
Gabrielle Achampong (Mi) beat Dan Barna (Sx) 11-9, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9
Men’s Band 3:
Osman Yildirim (TUR) beat Jack Bennett (Sx) 11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 11-8
Men’s Band 4:
Chris Morshead (JEY) beat Billy Ho (Ha) 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5
Men’s Band 5:
Josh Bennett (Sx) beat David Wetherill (Co) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4
Men’s Band 6:
Josh Bennett (Sx) beat Teresa Bennett (Sx) 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7
Women’s Band 1:
Sue Collier (Ch) beat Jas Ould (K) 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9
Women’s Band 2:
Sue Collier (Ch) beat Jas Ould (K) 11-4, 11-8, 11-9
Women’s Band 3:
Teresa Bennett (Sx) beat Sandra Rider (Y) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7
Women’s Band 4:
Cancelled due to lack of entries