Men’s Band 1

Jekwon Choi won an entertaining Men’s Band 1 final over Mike O’Driscoll after winning the game of the day against Mark Smith in a quite incredible semi-final.

While O’Driscoll was comfortably beating Tom Maynard 3-0 Choi was battling hard against Smith in a five-game thriller. The Bristol Academy player struck the first two blows with successive 13-11 games.

This would break most players down but Smith fought back strongly in the third game 11-3 before holding his nerve again to level 15-13 in a stunning fourth game to force the decider.

The fifth game sealed the match’s ‘classic’ status. From 10-10 in the decider, Choi saved an amazing five match points to eventually secure a place in the final with an 18-16 marathon game.

Choi, now used to long matches, took his form into the final against O’Driscoll as he won the first game 12-10. He took a 2-0 lead with an 11-6 game before O’Driscoll fought back, saving match points of his own in the process, to win the third game 15-13.

Another tight game would prove the decider as Choi took it 12-10 to claim the Bribar Bristol Grand Prix crown.

Women’s Band 1

Sanja Clements won the Women’s Band 1 final with a 3-1 victory over Natalie Slater.

Clements beat her Nationals veteran rival Sue Collier 3-0 in her semi-final while Slater secured similar progress against Abbie Milwain.

In the final, Slater won the opening game 11-9 but it was one-way traffic from there as Clements stormed through the next three games 11-5, 11-6, 11-6.

Men’s Band 2

Ireland’s Ashley Robinson won the men’s band 2 title at the Bribar Bristol Grand Prix with a final victory over Nicolas Leung.

Having beaten Reece Placid in a one sided semi-final 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-4), he then took just four games to win the final 3-1 (11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6) against Leung.

Women’s Band 2

Sue Collier battled her way to the women’s band 2 title with successive thrilling five-game victories in both her semi-final and final appearances.

First she had to win the battle of youth against experience as she met Yuki Wat in the semi-final. The match was head to head throughout with Collier just winning through 3-2 (14-12, 9-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9).

Once through she met Lisa Radford in the final, who had beaten Gosia Muda 3-0 in her semi-final.

At one stage it looked as though Collier would race to the title as she took a 2-0 lead but she was pegged back by Radford who won the following two games to take the match to a decider.

Eventually Collier did seal the win with an 11-8 fifth game.

Men’s Band 3

Men’s Band 3 was won by youngster Marcus Giles after successive 3-0 victories over Dan Fielding and Mark Jackson secured him the title.

Giles had to comeback from 2-0 down against Steve Foster in his quarter-final to win an epic encounter before competently beating both Fielding and Jackson in the final two matches. Giles’ final game was an 11-1 demolition as he finished the tournament strongly.

Women’s Band 3

Megan Knowles was unable to stage a big comeback as Yuki Wat won yet another Grand Prix prize with the women’s band three title.

While Knowles had a walkover to reach the final, Yuki had a similar result – waltzing past Inken Diederich 3-0 (11-2, 11-2, 11-3) in her semi-final.

In the final Knowles struck the first blow with an 11-9 game but Yuki fought back to lead 2-1 and 10-7 before Knowles took a timeout. It almost worked as she levelled at 10-10 but ultimately she couldn’t force the decider with Yuki winning the fourth game 13-11 to claim the title.

Men’s Band 4

Men’s band 4 was won by Armagan Huseyin with a hard-fought final victory against Anthony Kent. Huseyin made the final after a 3-1 (12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 11-6) semi-final triumph over Ho Yin Lee while Kent prevailed in three games against cadet Hugo Pang.

In the final, Huseyin came out victorious in three games but the scorelines display the close nature of the match as each game went to deuce (12-10, 13-11, 11-9).

Women’s Band 4

Rebecca Bayley was the winner of a small entry in women’s band 4. She needed just two victories against Emily Turner and Sue Thomsett to claim the title. Thomsett won the runners-up prize with a 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-6) win over Turner.

Men’s Band 5

Ho Yin Lee was the winner of Men’s Band 5 at the Bribar Bristol Grand Prix  after his excellent 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 11-8) victory over Peter Ives late on Saturday evening at the Frenchay campus in Bristol.

Ho Yin Lee had to defeat Finn Morgan-Bayliss in four games in his semi-final to reach the last stage after Morgan-Bayliss had battled through a five-game quarter-final with Billy Ho.

Men’s Band 6

Osman Yildirim won men’s band 6 in Bristol, due in some part to him being placed there by accident despite having enough points to play in bands 2 and 3.

Yidirim relatively eased to the title, including a 3-0 victory in the final over an unfortunate Richard Johnson (11-3, 11-7, 11-4).

Bribar Bristol Grand Prix Results:
Men’s Band 1:
Jekwon Choi bt Mike O’Driscoll 3-1 (12-10, 11-6, 13-15, 12-10)
Women’s Band 1:
Sanja Clements bt Natalie Slater 3-1 (9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6)
Men’s Band 2:
Ashley Robinson bt Nicolas Leung 3-1 (11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6)
Women’s Band 2:
Sue Collier bt Lisa Radford 3-2 (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8)
Men’s Band 3:
Marcus Giles bt Mark Jackson 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-1)
Women’s Band 3:
Yuki Wat bt Megan Knowles 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 13-11)
Men’s Band 4:
Armagan Huseyin bt Anthony Kent 3-0 (12-10, 13-11, 11-9)
Women’s Band 4:
Round-robin winner: Rebecca Bayley
Men’s Band 5:
Ho Yin Lee bt Peter Ives 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 11-8)
Men’s Band 6:
Osman Yildirim bt Richard Johnson 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-4)