Cippenham Young Players’ Summer Festival (22-23.6.13)
U12 Double from Cippenham for Shristi and Sam
The weekend of 22/23 June saw an enormously successful Cippenham Young Players’ Summer Festival, a 1-star open tournament, with four hundred matches played and, most importantly, a willing team of volunteers to ensure a smooth running event. In previous years Terry Boxall has been present from the start to the end of this event and umpired more games than anyone dared to count but his sad passing left a huge gap to be filled. It was therefore very encouraging that a selection of Club members stepped up to try and fill this gap. A large number of Club members offered help with umpiring, setting up and setting down for the event supporting the organisers Catherine and Rebecca Hayes and referee Steve Smith. This should be remembered as the greatest success of the YPSF 2013 but was complemented by some great results on the table as well.
Shristi Ghosh flew the flag for Cippenham in the girls’ events on Saturday coming first in the Under-12 round robin competition. Her closest match was against her Cippenham team mate Jemma Walker who steamed two games ahead before Ghosh clawed her way back to win 11-5 in the fifth game. Unfortunately Walker fell just outside the medals managing a very respectable fourth place with wins over Federica Tazartes, Alice Hazell, and Habina Seo. Runner-up to Shristi was Oxfordshire’s Victoria Coll.
In the boys’ U12 event, number one seed and Cippenham member Sam Wilson struggled in his group losing to Reece Chamdal of Oxfordshire but still went through in second place. Wilson then went on to knock out the number two seed Jamie Liu very convincingly in the semi-final before getting his revenge by beating Chamdal three-straight in the final. After a disappointing start Cippenham’s Kian Evans only managing fifth in his group but then battled through two five-game matches to reach the consolation final before being beaten 3-0 by Mathew Pearce.
Both Jemma Walker and Shristi Ghosh made it through their groups in the afternoon under-14 girls’ event forcing another meeting in the semi-final. This time it was even closer, finishing 12-10 in the fifth, but with Ghosh coming out the victor once again. She was beaten in the final by Talia Banin-Reid of Middlesex but with an 11 out of 12 record for the day, the England Schools international looks like a star of the future.
The Under-14 Boys’ event was the first event of the weekend where Cippenham weren’t represented in the final. George Hazell of Sussex was the eventual winner beating Marcus Bracey in four games in the final. Hazell’s closest challenge of the day came from Shrey Bhardwaj in his group, though Shrey ended up third and subsequently lost in the semi-final of the consolation.
Day two arrived and the U16’s and U18’s were held as mixed events. When organisers are presented with a mixed event, seeding can prove difficult as girls’ and boys’ rankings are not directly equivalent to one another. Hiba Feredj was therefore unseeded and drawn in the same group as second seed Olamide Wuraola. She went through in second place and then knocked out the third and fourth seeds on her way to the final. In the other half of the draw Wuraola proceeded to the final and again proved to be too strong for Feredj, beating her in four games.
Olamide Wuraola of Dulwich Table Tennis Club was the unquestionable star of the day going on to beat his club mate Shaquille Webb-Dixon in the final of the Under-18 event. Cippenham’s best performance in this event came from Shane Clark who reached the semi-final before Wuraola’s spin proved just too much to handle.
Results:
| Winner: | Runner-up: | |
| U18 Singles | Olamide Wuraola (Sy) | Shaquille Webb-Dixon (Sy) |
| U16 Singles | Olamide Wuraola (Sy) | Hiba Feredj (Mi) |
| U14 Boys’ Singles | George Hazell (Sx) | Marcus Bracey (Sx) |
| U14 Girls’ Singles | Talia Banin-Reid (Mi) | Shristi Ghosh (Bu) |
| U12 Boys’ Singles | Sam Wilson (Bu) | Reece Chamdal (Ox) |
| U12 Girls’ Singles | Shristi Ghosh (Bu) | Victoria Coll (Ox) |
| U18 Consolation | James Knudsen (E) | Alexander Gough (Mi) |
| U16 Consolation | Ben Naylor-Smith (Bu) | Mateusz Mikosz (He) |
| U14 Boys’ Consolation | Arman Khan (Mi) | Murhad Hussain (Mi) |
| U14 Girls’ Consolation | Alice Hazell (Sx) | Katie Shepherd (Bk) |
| U12 Boys’ Consolation | Mathew Pearce (WAL) | Kian Evans (Bu) |
Catherine Hayes