Jamie Liu and Alex Ramsden justified their seedings to win two titles apiece at the Horsham Spinners TTC 2 Star.
A total of 81 players competed in the tournament at The College Of Richard Collyer, Horsham, contesting boys’ and girls’ events at U13, U15 and U18 levels and a mixed event at U11.
Mixed U11s:
Liu (Bk), the England no. 3, unsurprisingly carried all before him to take his second Horsham Spinners U11 title in just over a month. He defeated talented eight-year-old, Harry Filson (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) in the quarter-finals, Harry Boston (Ca) in the semi and impressive nine-year-old, Naphong Boonyaprapa (Nk) in the final. Boonyaprapa had accounted for Jacob Evans (Sx-Horsham TTC) in the quarters and Felix Thomis (Bk) in the semi. Boston beat Thomis for the bronze medal. Interestingly, every match in the main draw knockout stages produced a 3-0 scoreline. Lewis Stevens (Sy) beat Luke Darwen (Sx-Bognor Regis TTC) 3-1 in the Consolation Final.
Boys’ U13s:
The two finalists from the U11s event again made their way to the final of the Boys’ U13s. Liu was again seeded no. 1 and this time dropped just one end to Yaj Vashee (Ha) in the semi, but defeated Charlie Hough (Sx) in the quarters and Boonyaprapa in the final, both in straight sets. Third seed Boonyaprapa, however, did not have it as easy. He dropped an end to Ryan Darwen (Sx-Bognor Regis TTC) in the quarters and then had a fifth-set battle over unseeded Callum Ashworth in the semi-final. Ashworth started stronger, winning the first two games, but Boonyaprapa clawed his way back and won 12-10 in the fifth. As well as almost beating Boonyaprapa, Ashworth performed well in his other matches. He just missed out deep in the fifth set against fourth seed Bertrand Siu (Sx-Warden Park TTC) and then took the scalp of no. 2 seed George Long (Mi). His exertions must have taken their toll, however, as he went down relatively easily in the bronze medal match against Vashee. Will Michell (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) beat three Horsham TTC players 3-0 to reach the final of the Consolation event, where he defeated Thomas Arnott (K) 3-1.
Boys’ U15s:
England no. 1 U14 boy, Alex Ramsden (Np) and Romayne Stewart (Mi) were the top two seeds for this event and both only dropped one end each in getting to the final. Ramsden knocked out three Sussex players, Alistair Smith (MMJ East Grinstead TTC), Scott Covey (Horsham Spinners TTC) and Marcus Bracey (Lancing TTC), while Stewart accounted for two Sussex players, Alex Widdowson (Horsham TTC) and Dexter Sherin (Brighton City TTC) and then Naphat Boonyaprapa (Nk) in the semi-final. Ramsden won 3-0 in the final. Naphat scraped the bronze medal by defeating Bracey 11-9 in the fifth, having been soundly beaten in the first two games. Interestingly, Bracey won eight more points than Naphat. Vashee beat Om Bakhda (Mi) in the final of the Consolation event.
Boys’ U18s:
Ramsden picked up from where he left off, winning the U18s in style. He beat Jake Mitchell (Sy) and Lucas Papantoniou (Mi) in straight sets in the quarters and semis respectively. Stewart, now seeded third, lost to second seed Shaquille Webb-Dixon (Sy) in the semi-final by 11-9 in the decider. Webb-Dixon had survived a marathon 13-11 in the fifth set against Daniel Pound (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) in the quarter-final in a repeat of last month’s U18 final. Pound himself had lost out 11-9 in the fifth to the lower ranked Naphat Boonyaprapa in the group. The final was a good match, with plenty of rallies, but in the end Ramsden had a little too much for Webb-Dixon, winning 3-1 (10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8). Fourth seed Papantoniou won the bronze medal match in the fifth game at the expense of Stewart. Andrew Jackson (Sy) was the victor in the Consolation event, beating George Wells-Martin (Sy) in the final.
Girls’ U13s:
This was a group of five players. Second seed Amelia Chan (Mi) won all four of her matches, including a five-set win over top seed Jemma Walker (Bu), who finished second. Habina Seo (Ha) was third.
Girls’ U15s:
This was a group of six players. For the top four players, rankings counted for little. Top seed Walker lost to both second and fourth ranked players, Juliette Moussarie (Sy) and Megan Ashfield (Bu) respectively. Third ranked Charlotte Boston (Ca) excelled to beat Moussarie and Ashfield, as well as the two others to win the event on countback from Ashfield, who also won four matches, but lost to Boston. Moussarie finished third and Walker fourth.
Girls’ U18s:
This was a group of four players. Ashfield continued her good form to take out top seed, Ema Gadzhova (Mi) in three close games to top the group and Gadzhova finished second, with Rutna Vashee (Ha) third with a win over Ruth Marsden (K).
The next Horsham Spinners 2 Star is on July 20th. Before that, there are 2 stars in Crawley on April 11th and in Burgess Hill on both May 18th and June 8th. Entry forms are (or will be shortly) on the ETTA website.
https://tabletennisengland.co.uk/competitions/entry-forms/
Summary of results:
Mixed U11s:
Jamie Liu (Bk) bt Naphong Boonyaprapa (Nk) 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 12-10).
Boy’s U13s:
Jamie Liu (Bk) bt Naphong Boonyaprapa (Nk) 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-6).
Boy’s U15s:
Alex Ramsden (Np) bt Romayne Stewart (Mi) 3-0 (11-5, 13-11, 11-5).
Boy’s U18s:
Alex Ramsden (Np) bt Shaquille Webb-Dixon (Sy) 3-1 (10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8).
Girl’s U13s:
1st: Amelia Chan (Mi) 2nd: Jemma Walker (Bu)
Girl’s U15s:
1st: Charlotte Boston (Ca); 2nd: Megan Ashfield (Bu)
Girl’s U18s:
1st: Megan Ashfield (Bu); 2nd: Ema Gadzhova (Mi)
Written by Rory Scott (March 11th 2014)