It was a most successful day for players from the host club at the Horsham Spinners 2*.

They won an unprecedented three gold medals and a silver, as well as four consolation events.

There were a number of withdrawals of top-seeded players, which did help the host club players, but they all defeated higher-ranked players to win their medals.

There were 57 players in total at the event held in Collyers Sixth Form College.

Under-10s

This was a round-robin of four players. Harry Filson of Horsham Spinners won his first ever gold medal in a 2*, beating the higher-ranked Arthur Bracken (K) 3-0 and beating silver medallist Adam Szabo (Ys) 3-1. Szabo beat Bracken 12-10 in the fifth in a cliffhanger. Harry Yip (Horsham TTC) finished fourth.

Under-11s

For the second time in less than a month, Ollie Michell of Horsham Spinners won the U11s event. He was the third ranked player in the event, but for the second tournament in a row he beat his higher-ranked club-mate Louie Harris in Group 3.

Group 1 was reduced to two players as top seed Dylan Tynan (Co) pulled out, having broken his bat en route to losing in the final of the U12s. Isabel Webb (K) took full advantage of this and beat Yip 13-11 in the fifth to win Group 1. Szabo beat Bracken again to win Group 2.

The semi-final line up was Bracken versus Webb, which Bracken won in four, and Michell versus Szabo, which Michell won in a photo finish 11-9 in the fifth, with all five games being very close.

Michell went on to beat the higher-ranked Bracken three games to one and Szabo beat Webb in a close four-setter to get the bronze medal. Sam Watts (Horsham Spinners TTC), beat team-mate Sheel Malde 3-1 to win the consolation event.

Under-12s

The U12s was won by Charlie Graham-Adams, again from Horsham Spinners TTC. He was only the sixth ranked player but in his group he defeated higher-ranked club-mate Harry Filson in a competitive four-set match.

Top-ranked player Tynan won his group, with Szabo in the runners-up spot. Mahmood Kelani (K) won Group 3 with ease and Charlie Cunningham (Sy) was second. Eight-year-old Yip did well to win Group 4, winning both of his matches close in the fifth, and Watts was second.

In the quarters, Graham-Adams beat Szabo, Kelani beat Watts, Cunningham beat Yip and Tynan beat Filson, all matches being in straight sets. Graham-Adams then had a great win over Kelani, nearly 200 points above him, in three games, while Tynan knocked out Cunningham in four.

Graham-Adams again upset the rankings in the final, beating Tynan, ranked 276 points above him, 3-1. Kelani dispatched Cunningham in three to win the bronze medal. Owen Brown and Edward Cozens (both from Horsham Spinners TTC) met in the consolation final, with Brown winning in four sets.

Under-13s

Reece Chamdal (Ox), ranked No 8 in England in U13s, who played for Horsham Spinners in Junior British League this season, was too strong for the opposition in the U13s event. He did however, lose an end to Roddy McGillivray (Sx) in the group and another to Kelani in the semi-final. He defeated Malde in the quarters and Graham-Adams in the final.

Graham-Adams had done very well to reach the final, as he was only the ninth ranked player in the event. He beat the higher-ranked Jamie Watkin-Rees (He) 3-0 in the Group 4, but lost to Kelani this time, Kelani winning the group.

The Michell Brothers of Horsham Spinners TTC won Groups 2 and 3, with older brother Will winning the latter and younger brother Ollie the former. Will beat the higher-ranked Robert Pelc (Sy) in doing so and Ollie beat higher-ranked club-mate Harris for the third time.

The remaining quarter-final results were Ollie beating Josh Hallam (Bd) 3-2, Graham-Adams defeating higher-ranked Will Michell 3-0 and Kelani beating Pelc 3-0.

Graham-Adams then beat Ollie 3-0 in the semi to set up a final with Chamdal. He lost 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-7), but not bad considering he has only been playing for about a year. Kelani beat Ollie 3-1 for the bronze medal. Sacha Chowdhury (Mi) beat McGillivray 3-1 in the consolation final.

Under-15s

Group winners in this age group were Billy Keegan (Brighton City TTC), Yaj Vashee, (Ha), Ben Naylor-Smith (Bu), who also plays for Horsham Spinners in JBL, Jack Stockdale (E), Bertrand Siu (Warden Park TTC) and Kushal Patel (Sy), with the only minor upset to the seedings being sixth seed Yasith Senanayake (Sy), being beaten by seventh ranked player, Patel.

Senanayake made up for this by winning two knockout matches to make it to the semi-final, beating Keegan in four in the quarters. Fifth seed Siu beat fourth seed Stockdale in four in the next quarter-final, and the remaining quarter-final results were Naylor-Smith defeating Patel and Vashee knocking out Abdur-Rahman Kelani (K), with both of these results also being 3-1.

The semis were both in straight sets, with Siu overcoming Senanayake and Naylor-Smith ending the run of the very slightly higher-ranked Vashee. Naylor-Smith won his second HSTTC 2 Star U15s title in a row, by beating Siu 3-1. In the battle of the Y’s for the bronze medal, it was Yaj who prevailed again in four sets.

There were lots of five-setters in the consolation event, but it was Kieran Gray (Horsham Spinners TTC), who came out on top beating Rohan Gopalakrishnan (Mi) in four in the final.

Under-18s

Top seed Romayne Stewart (Mi) won the U18s, but did not have it all his own way, as he had to come back from 2-1 down in games in his quarter-final against Abdur Rahman Kelani, eventually winning 11-4 in the fifth set. After that though, it was plain sailing with wins in the semi-final over Dan Pound (Foresters TTC) and Mateusz Mikosz (Mi) in the final, both matches being in straight sets.

Pound had beaten Andrew Jackson (Sy) in the quarters 3-0 and Mikosz had been too strong for Naylor-Smith in the quarters 3-0 and Patel in the semis 3-1. Patel had a maximum win 3-2 over Vashee in the remaining quarter-final. Pound beat Patel in five sets to claim bronze. Gray won his second consolation event of the day overcoming Samuel Pang (Sy) in five sets in the final.

Summary of results

U10s:
1st: Harry Filson (Sx), 2nd Adam Szabo (Ys)

U11s:
Main: Ollie Michell (Sx) beat Arthur Bracken (K) 3-1 (13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6)
Consolation: Sam Watts (Sx) beat Sheel Malde (Sx) 3-1 (2-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6)

U12s:
Main: Charlie Graham-Adams (Sx) beat Dylan Tynan (Co) 3-1 (11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-2)
Consolation: Owen Brown (Sx) beat Edward Cozens (Sx) 3-0 (11-2, 11-1, 14-12)

U13s:
Main: Reece Chamdal (Ox) beat Charlie Graham-Adams (Sx) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-7)
Consolation: Sacha Chowdhury (Mi) beat Roddy McGillivray (Sx) 3-1 (11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7)

U15s:
Main: Ben Naylor-Smith (Bu) beat Bertrand Siu (Sx) 3-1 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8)
Consolation: Kieran Gray (Sx) beat Rohan Gopalakrishnan (Mi) 3-1 (12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7)

U18s:
Main: Romayne Stewart (Mi) beat Mateusz Mikosz (Mi) 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 12-10)
Consolation: Kieran Gray (Sx) beat Samuel Pang (Sy) 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6)

Rory Scott
March 11, 2015