Two pairs of siblings enjoyed success as Weavers Leisure Centre in Wellingborough hosted the East Midlands Junior 4 Star Tournament.

It was a good day for the Weatherby and Wong families at an event which attracted 170 competitors from across the UK.

U13 Girls

There were no surprises in the knockout stages, with the top four seeds progressing to the semi-finals. Jasmin Wong had to battle for her place in the final – Darcie Proud proving a worthy opponent. Third seed Anna Hursey defeated second seed Patricia Ianau 3-0 in the other semi. In the final, Jasmin defeated Anna 3-0.

U13 Boys

As with the girls, the four top ranked boys progressed through to the semi-finals. Joshua Weatherby eased past Louis Moyes 3-0, but Amirul Hussain had a tough battle against Aadil Anand. Joshua beat Amirul 3-1 in the final.

Cadet Girls Band 1

Second seed Frederica Bonato and fourth seed Medha Verma finished as runners-up in their groups. This put them into the top half of the knockout, where they were beaten by the top seed (Charlotte Weatherby) and third seed (Darcie Proud) respectively.

Meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw, Hannah Ward, having finished runner-up in her group cruised through to the final without dropping a leg. Her opponent in the final was Charlotte Weatherby, who had beaten Darcie Proud in four tight ends. Charlotte was crowned champion, beating Hannah in three close ends.

Cadet Boys Band 1

Harry Boston beat third seed Max Stevens 3-2 to progress to the last eight but he found Thomas Rayner a tough nut to crack and lost 3-2. Justin Wong was to face Rayner in the semi-final, having made short work of the number two seed Kieran Wardell 3-0.

In the top half of the draw top seed Zaiim Premji moved into the semi-final but had to come back from 2-0 down against Vincent Cheung to do so. Joe Walker also had a tough path, needing five ends to beat both Ali Malloch and George Long. In the semis, Joe beat Zaiim, again in five ends and having to come back from a 2-0 deficit. Justin Wong beat Thomas Rayner 3-1 in the other semi. The final was won by Justin 3-1.

Cadet Girls

Anna Hursey defeated fourth seed Mollie Patterson to finish top of Group 4. Mollie, now in the bottom half of the knockout, found Group 8 winner Megan Gidney in good form and was beaten 3-1. Megan’s progress came to an end in the quarter-finals, where she lost 3-1 to second seed Charlotte Bardsley. Jasmin Wong (Seeded 3) was to be Charlotte’s semi-final opponent but only after Jasmin had beaten Danielle Kelly in a very tight five-setter.

Charlotte eased into the final with a 3-1 over Jasmin. In the top half of the draw, local girl Bhavika Mistry reached the semi-finals with a 3-0 defeat of Anna Hursey. Bhavika’s opponent would be top seed Denise Payet, who had reached the same stage without dropping a leg. This pattern continued, with Denise moving into the final with a 3-0 win.

In the final, Charlotte took the first game but Denise fought back, taking the next three and securing the Cadet title.

Cadet Boys

The top eight seeds all won their groups and progressed to the quarter-finals, with Shayan Siraj (S2) having to battle from 2-0 down to overcome Louis Moyes. Jamie Liu (S5) then beat Shayan 3-2, having lost the first two ends.

Jonathan McMullan (S6) beat Harry Dai 3-1 to meet Jamie in the semi-final. Jamie beat Jonathan 3-2 in a match of wildly fluctuating scores to progress to the final. Top seed Ethan Walsh moved into the semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Joshua Weatherby (S7), having lost the first end in deuce. In the semi-final he would meet Amirul Hussain (S8) who beat Naphat Boonyaprapa (S4) 3-2, having been 2-1 down.

Ethan progressed to the final with a tight 3-1 win over Amirul, coming from 1-0 down. The final saw Ethan beat Jamie 3-0.

Junior Girls Band 1

Out of the top four seeds, only Holly Williams (S1) made it through to the quarter-finals, where she met Megan Gidney, who beat her 3-1. Kerry O’Mahoney was having a good day, first seeing off third seed Holly Holder and then fourth seed Charlotte Boston. In the quarter-finals she faced Danielle Kelly, with Kerry winning 3-2 (-9, 2, 3, -4, 3). Her run came to an end in the semi-final, beaten by Megan Gidney 3-0.

In the bottom half of the draw, Nicole Scott reached the semi-final by beating Medha Verma 3-2 (from 2-0 down), Charlotte Weatherby 3-0 and Chloe Lingard 3-0. There she would meet Gemma Kerr, who had a walk over against Lydia John and beat Zoe Hewitt 3-1. Nicole beat Gemma 3-1 to progress to the final. In the final, Nicole beat Megan in a very close four ender, with Nicole winning three deuce ends.

 

Junior Boys Band 1

Tom McIntosh beat Samuel Chesterman (S5) 3-2 to reach the quarter-finals but found top seed Matthew Daish in good form and lost 3-1. Will Ibbitson took out eighth seed George Coulson to reach the quarters where he met Amirul Hussain, who had taken out Joshua Weatherby (S4) 3-0. Amirul – having a good weekend – beat Will 3-0 to meet Matthew Daish in the semi-final. Amirul reaching the final with a 3-0 win.

In the bottom half of the draw Lawrence John (S3) met Israel Awolaja (S7) in one quarter-final, with Lawrence winning by a 3-0 margin. Gaurav Aravind reached the other quarter-final by knocking out Nick Keast (S6) and James Kelly. Here, he would meet the second seed Edward Haskell. Edward went 2-0 down, Gaurav fought back to 2-2, but Edward took the last end to move into the semi-final. Lawrence John progressed to the final with a 3-0 win over Edward. Amirul beat Lawrence 3-2 to take the banded title.

Junior Girls

The top four seeds made the semi-finals, although Zahna Hall had to dig deep to beat a determined Tiana Dennison 3-2. Notable performances came from Anna Hursey, with wins over the higher ranked Isabelle Joubeily and Holly Williams and Bhavika Mistry, who beat Stephanie Cross and Sophie Barlow. In the semi-finals, Zahna came from 1-0 down to take out top seed Denise Payet 3-1 and second seed Kate Cheer did likewise, recovering from 1-0 down to beat Charlotte Bardsley in four tight ends. In the final, Kate beat Zahna 3-0 to win the Junior title.

Junior Boys

In the top half of the draw, local player Alex Ramsden (S1) progressed to the semi-finals with wins over Amirul Hussain (3-0), Harry Dai (3-2) and Shayan Siraj (3-0). There he would face Omar Khassal (S6), who had beaten Gus Thomis (3-1), Jonathan McMullen (3-0) and Joe Clark (3-2), from 2-1 down. Clark (seeded 5) was in the top half of the draw having finished runner-up in his group but had beaten Alex Ward (S3) and James Chappell before his progress was halted by Omar.

In the bottom half, Josh Bennett reach the semi-finals with wins over Matthew Daish (3-1), Jimmy Yeung (3-0) and Israel Awolaja (3-1). He would face Joshua Harland, who beat Connor Whitehead (3-1), Jack Cope (3-0) and James Garrod (3-1). Alex made the final with a 3-2 win over Omar but had to come back from 2-1 and 6-4 down in the fifth to do so. In the other semi, Josh Bennett beat Joshua Harland 3-1. In the final, Josh beat Alex 3-1 to become Junior champion, taking over the title from his older brother.

Thanks go to Westfield Table Tennis Club, for their help in setting up and packing away after a long weekend. Thanks also to the staff at Weavers Leisure Centre for their assistance.