OTTA Junior Trial, Sept 9th 2012
There was a full turnout of 16 boys and four girls for the Oxfordshire County Junior Trials, held at Kidlington Forum on Sunday, 9th September. After five hours of intense competition, Lewis Sumner held on to his no 1 spot by a narrow margin, prevailing over Jonah Stott and Simon Price on games count-back.
In fact, Jonah scored a notable 3-2 victory over Lewis here, but his earlier 2-3 loss to Simon, together with Simon’s 0-3 loss to Lewis, proved decisive in the final tally.
The stylish Ethan Ball had caused the first upset of the day, beating fellow Didcot cadet Niall Harris 3-1 in the first round of group matches. Ethan kept up his good form and seized his chance of a top four finish.
Three other cadets to make a good impression were Luke Jobling, Kavan Warrender and 11 year-old Josh Selby. All three propelled themselves into the top eight: Josh by beating Ben Neumeier 3-0, Kavan by beating James Rowan 3-1, and Luke emerging from a triple tie with Oliver Base and Reece Chamdal on games count-back.
It was diminutive 10-year-old Reece Chamdal who had set the cat among the pigeons here, by slaying the mighty Oliver Base in a David and Goliath contest. With his fine movement, keen concentration and some textbook technique, Reece looks to be a fine player in the making.
The girls’ event went very much according to the form book, with cadet Kristelle Brook (England no 31) seeing off a strong challenge from Teisi Tamming (3-2), Chloe Yau (3-0) and Vicky Coll (3-1). We are fortunate in having such a fine quartet of young ladies, with the three more experienced older ones now joined by 11 year-old Vicky, who is our highest ranked player, currently at no 24 on the list of England Under 13 Girls.
John Birkin
Finishing Positions: (Cadets in italics)
1 Kristelle Brook (Oxford)
2 Teisi Tamming (Oxford)
3 Chloe Yau (Oxford)
4 Vicky Coll (Oxford)
1 Lewis Sumner (Oxford)
2 Jonah Stott (Oxford)
3 Simon Price (Oxford)
4 Ethan Ball (Didcot)
5 Niall Harris (Didcot)
6 Josh Selby (Didcot)
7 Luke Jobling (Oxford)
8 Kavan Warrender (Didcot)
9 Fabian Audifferen (Oxford)
10 Oliver Base (Didcot)
11 James Rowan (Oxford)
12 Reuben Cox (Banbury)
13 Benedikt Neumeier (Didcot)
14 Reece Chamdal (Oxford)
15 Joseph McKenna-Jones (Oxford)
16 James Cooper (Didcot)