Greenhouse Bevin Junior 2 Star Report:

Kent Captures Bulk of Titles:

The second Greenhouse Bevin 2 star of the season took place on 28th April. There were 79 entrants plus a good number turned away due to the need to restrict entries. It was a great day for Kent, as five of the eight titles went to Garden of England players and Kent also provided two runners-up.

The Boys Under 11s had 14 entries and was won by English no.1 under 11 player James Smith (K), who beat Sam Wilson (Bu) in the final. James beat Finlay Feil (Mi) in the quarters and Reiss Vydelingum (K) in the semis. Sam had defeated Kai Ghazi-Timms (Mi) and Kidi Martin Paulo (Mi) en route to the final. James only dropped one game in the event to Reiss.

James also got to the Boys U13s final, which had 27 entries. However, his route there was far from easy as he survived five-game encounters with Josh De Cairos (Mi) in the last eight and against Jay Ghazi-Timms (Mi) in the last four.

Jay had two unexpected wins against the number 4 and 5 seeds James Corner (Mi) and Sam Wilson (Bu). The other finalist Jack Merton (K) also went to 5 games in his penultimate match against the much-improved Ben Foster (K), who had taken out the higher ranked Arbi Tola (Mi) in his quarter-final. The final proved to be another five-ender with the higher ranked Smith taking the early lead two games to one, only to be pegged back with two 11-9 score lines.

The Boys U15s was the biggest event with 38 entries. Top seed was the left-handed Karim Khassal (Mi) who got as far as the semis, beating Nathan Knowles (Mi) and Ovi Eyarhono (Sy) before being downed by fourth seed Blair Phillip (K) in four games.

Blair had knocked out De Cairos and Fusion club-mate Aaron Baksh (K) to get to the semis. Scratch entry Charlie Austen, actually higher ranked than Khassal, only got to the last 16, as he lost out to eighth seed Elias Daaboul (Sy).

However, the performance of the day was by unseeded Toby Bartram (K), who beat the higher ranked Ross Hagen (Sy) in his group and then went on to defeat third seed Ezra Myers (Sy) in the last 16. He then had a tough five-game quarter-final against Arbi Tola (Mi) before a great unexpected win against second seed Jack Davies (K) in the semi.

Despite being 2-1 down in games, he fought back to win the fourth game 19-17 and the fifth 13-11! The final had everything including great rallies, tension and controversy. Toby with his controlling style of play (not dissimilar to father Chris, who is one of the top England vets) seemed to have the match within his grasp at one point, as he led 2-1 in games and led in the fourth game. However, Blair battled back to eventually take the fifth game 11-7. Toby has made great strides recently and I’m sure with a little help from dad will begin to add more topspin to his shots, to make himself an even tougher opponent.

The Boys U18s had 26 players. Like the U15s the top seed didn’t make it to the final. Andre Dunkley (Sy) fell in the quarters to the seventh seeded combination-bat player, Anthony Egan (Mi). Anthony had lost in his group to the lower ranked Knowles, but more than made up for this, by taking down scratch entry Charlie Austen (actually the third highest ranked player in the U18s), Andre and then Jack Davies, the number four seed in the semi and none of his matches went to five games!

That was as far as Anthony could go though, as he was stopped in his tracks by number 2 seed David Rahbani (Mi) in the final. David had put paid to the chances of Damanjeet Singh (E), Lewis Sumner (Ox) and Elias Daaboul with not too much fuss, on his way to the final.

Girls U11s consisted of only two entries, so it was merged with the Girls U13s (five entries) to give a round robin group of seven players.

In the match between the two U11s Girls, Anna Raymakers (Sy) proved the stronger of the pair as she beat club mate Emily Brownhill (Sy). U11s national champion, Kate Cheer (Sx) emerged victorious in Girls U13s and Anna Raymakers got second place, a good achievement as she was playing up an age group. Kyan Ogbe (Mi) took third.

Girls U15s was two groups of four players. Evie Foster (K) won group 1 and Kate Cheer won group 2. Neither conceded any games in the group, or in their semi-final matches against Rhiannon Folan and Zoe Waxkirsh (both Mi) respectively. The final was closely contested, but the higher ranked Evie closed it out 11-8 in the fifth game.

Girls U18s was a group of three players, which was again won by Evie Foster with Rhoda Boadu (Mi) finishing second.

Results Summary

Boys U11s:

James Smith (K) beat Sam Wilson (Bu) 3-0 (11-5, 13-11, 11-7).

Boys U13s:

Jack Merton (K) beat James Smith (K) 3-2 (4-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9).

Boys U15s:

Blair Phillip (K) beat Toby Bartram (K) 3-2 (6-11, 11-8, 15-17, 11-9, 11-7).

Boys U18s:

David Rahbani (Mi) beat Anthony Egan (Mi) 3-1 (11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8).

Girls U11s:

Anna Raymakers (Sy) beat Emily Brownhill (Sy)

Girls U13s:

Round Robin

1st: Kate Cheer (Sx)

2nd: Anna Raymakers (Sy)

3rd: Kyan Ogbe (Mi)

Girls U15s:

Evie Foster (K) beat Kate Cheer (Sx) 3-2 (11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8).

Girls U18s:

Round Robin

1st: Evie Foster (K)

2nd: Rhoda Boadu (Mi)

3rd: Shannon Conway (E)

Regards,

Rory Scott

Horsham Spinners TTC Licensed ETTA Level 3 and UKCC Level 2 Table Tennis Coach