Denyer Undefeated
U11s:
Fifty-one players contested the Dulwich Junior 2 Star in March. The U11s was a round robin group of five players. Kai Ghazi-Timms (London Academy) dominated and no-one took him to five. There was a three-way count back for second place between host club player Michael Tunubu, Kotaro Lam (LA) and Sam Chesterman (Ca). They finished in that order.
U13s:
The U13s consisted of three groups of four and two groups of three. George Long (Mi) had an unexpected win vs Ghazi-Timms, the fourth seed in the group, but there were no other shocks at the group stage. The only player to take a game from James Smith (K) in this event was Alex Rahbani (Mi). Smith beat Eren Gozcu (LA) in the semis & Reiss Vydelingum (Fusion) in the final. Vydelingum had defeated Toheeb Jimoh (Dulwich, who had a good five game win over Ghazi-Timms in the first round) in the quarters and Theo Achampong (LA) in the semis. Gozcu defeated Achampong for the bronze medal. Dexter Sherin (Sx) won the consolation final at the expense of Ryan Barnett (Mi), but was made to work much harder in the semi by Lam, who took him to 9 in the fifth.
U15s:
There were 23 players in this event. Smith added the Dulwich 2 Star U15s title to his ever-growing list of conquests. Again he only dropped one set in the process, which was in the final vs Arbi Tola (LA). Smith had knocked out Jake Mitchell (Sy) and Gus Thomis (Bk) in the knockout stages en route to the final, while Tola accounted for club mates Gozcu and Nathan Knowles to reach the same stage. Knowles had a win over Thomis to secure third place. Achampong beat George Mills (Mi) in the consolation final.
U18s:
As with the U15s there were also 23 players in this age group. The top four seeds all made it safely through to the semis, although top seed David Rahbani (Mi) had a scare in the group when 2-1 down in games to Thomis and fourth seed Musa Sharif-Ali (LA) was lucky to survive his group, with close five game wins over both Mitchell and Romayne Stewart (Mi) and a fifth game loss to Isaac Salvatierra (Mi), although Sharif-Ali still won the group on count back. In the semis Rahbani put paid to fourth seed Anthony Egan (Mi) and second seed, James Denyer (E) put an end to Sharif-Ali’s run. Denyer never left fifth gear in the final and took out the no. 1 seed with ease 3-0. Sharif-Ali also upset the seedings by beating the higher ranked Egan in the third-place play-off. Knowles won the consolation event with an extremely close win over Mitchell 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 12-14, 12-10, 11-9)!
Results:
U11s:
1) Kai Ghazi-Timms (Mi)
2) Michael Tunubu (Sy)
3) Kotaro Lam (Mi)
4) Sam Chesterman (Ca)
5) Liam Smith (K)
U13s:
James Smith (K) beat Reiss Vydelingum (K) 3-0 (11-6, 15-13, 13-11)
U13s Consolation:
Dexter Sherin (Sx) beat Ryan Barnett (Mi) 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 12-10)
U15s:
James Smith (K) beat Arbi Tola (Mi) 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7)
U15s Consolation:
Theo Achampong (Mi) beat George Mills (Mi) 3-0 (11-8, 17-15, 12-10)
U18s:
James Denyer (E) beat David Rahbani (Mi) 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-6)
U18s Consolation:
Nathan Knowles (Mi) beat Jake Mitchell (Sy) 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 12-14, 12-10, 11-9)
There was also a non-ranking event run for less experienced players spilt up into Key Stage 2 (primary school) & Key Stage 3 (early secondary school). The older age groups did not receive enough entries. In KS2 there were five players and there was a three-way count back for first place. Kymani Taylor, Lewis Stevens and Stefan Dixon all won thrice. They finished in that order on count back. In KS3 there were six players. Imran Sharifi was the clear winner with five wins, but he was made to work, being taken to five games by both Marcus Omoro and Tim Rollins-Stroud, who finished second and third respectively. The match between Rollins-Stroud and Omoro went to the latter at 11-9 in the fifth.
Placings:
Key Stage 2:
1) Kymani Taylor
2) Lewis Stevens
3) Stefan Dixon
4) Gary Hoang
5) Dylan White
Key Stage 3:
1) Imran Sharifi
2) Marcus Omoro
3) Tim Rollins-Stroud
4) Franco Obi
5) Elliott Dwyer
6) Emaka Ohanekwu
The next Dulwich 2 Star is on 6th July.
Rory Scott (Referee)