Jarvis Sports Sussex Satellite Grand Prix Report:
(by Rory Scott-Referee)
There was a slightly lower entry for the Jarvis Sports Satellite Grand Prix this year with 74 entrants, compared to 101 last season. This is despite a doubling of the prize fund from last year’s event. It was mainly due to the Cheltenham 4 Star and other events such as the World Team events in Dortmund and a no. of 1 and 2 Star tournaments on the same weekend. Anyway most of the men’s events had a decent no. of entrants and 12 tables were used. Before I continue I must extend a big ‘Thank You’ to Tournament Organiser, Jane Geddes, without whom the tournament would not have run smoothly. Also thanks to county umpires Andy Larner and Damian Milton, who umpired the finals and to Amila Thilakarathna for his help on the Sunday. See attached for photos of all Band winners and runners up. Crusaders TTC, Surrey had a most successful tournament with 4 event winners and 3 runners-up over the weekend. The tournament started with the even numbered bands on the Saturday morning as usual.
High Ho:
Men’s Band 2 was a round robin group of 7 players. This was won by no. 2 seed, Michael Ho (Sy) with 5 wins and 1 loss 3-0 to Mohamed Imran Dawood Basha (Sy). Mike also went to 5 sets with Christoph Zickert (GER). Mohamed had 4 wins, but 2nd place went to 2nd seed Mark Scutts (Sx), who also had 4 wins, but he had beaten Mohamed. Mohamed took 3rd place with Christoph in 4th.
‘Victor’ Barna:
Band 4 (20 players) was in the traditional groups of 4 format. Top seed Paul Payen (FRA) made an early exit in the group stage, with two 5 set losses to James Meyers (K) and Alex Forshaw (Sx). Alex won the group. 2nd seed Tim Holtam (Sx) fared a little better, winning a three-way points count-back to finish 2nd in group 2, which was won by Ed Slot (Ha) who won his 3. 3rd seed Gavin West was lucky to survive his group, with two 11-9 in the 5th victories. Josh Band (JEY) won the group without dropping an end. 4th seed Raj Waterman (Av) suffered the same fate as Payen, finishing 3rd. Mohammad Owadally (Mi) won the group. In fact, the only seeded player to win his group was Leo Veinsreider the 5th seed, who won group 5 on count-back from Dan Barna (Sx) with 2 wins. The 2nd and 3rd seeds then met in the preliminary round, with Gavin coming out on top. The quarter finals saw the demise of the two remaining seeded players with Forshaw accounting for West and Owadally defeating Veinsreider. The remaining quarter finals were Band beating Meyers and Barna putting paid to Slot. In the semi finals Alex knocked out Mohammad in 4 sets and Dan had a straight sets victory over Josh. The final put two team mates up against each other. They both play for Horsham in both local league and British League and for Crusaders in Junior BL. On this occasion it was Barna who emerged the ‘Victor’, a repeat of his victory in the same event last year.
Quarter ‘Pound’er:
Band 6 (16 players) contained 3 high standard but unranked (at senior level) players. Steve Pound (Sx), Mickel Miller (Sy) and George Harris (Sy). Although not seeded, these players were placed in different groups. They duly won their groups with ease and made it to the semi finals with quarter final wins for Miller over Jack Mills (JEY), Harris over Paul Bergin (Sx) and Pound over David Pringuer (Sx). Top seed Erik Van-Mol (Sx) took up the 4th semi final spot. However he had to do it the hard way. Having been soundly beaten by Miller in Group 1, he faced group 2 winner, Alex Hill (Sx) in the quarters. This was a topsy turvy battle with good quality long rallies with Van-Mol the aggressor. All of the games were close and Erik prevailed with a last gasp 11-9 in the 5th win. The 2 Horsham players Pound and Van-Mol met in the 1st semi and Steve overcame Erik in 4 sets. The 2 Crusaders players contested the 2nd semi and it was a close match with Miller coming from 2-1 down to reach the final 11-8 in the 5th. Steve ‘The Wall’ Pound’s blocking and sidespin/topspin game proved way too consistent for the young Surrey junior, who did manage a consolation set.
Super Sue:
Women’s Band 2 was a round robin of 7 players. Top seed Sue Collier (Ch), who had been suffering from a migraine that morning, proved too strong for the opposition, but it was not all plain sailing. Sally Hughes (Sx) the 4th highest ranked player, took her to 11-8 in the 5th, despite not managing to win any of her other matches. 2nd place went to 2nd seed Jasmin Ould (K), who only dropped 1 end in her remaining matches. 3rd place went to the big-hitting no-nonsense German, Inken Diederich (Sx), who looks well under-ranked on this evidence.
Electric Emran:
The odd numbered bands took place in the afternoon and men’s Band 1 had a small but strong entry of 7 players, who all played each other. The quality of the event was obvious from the word go, when Mike Ho, the lowest ranked player in the competition took Emran Hussein (E), the 2nd seed, to 13-11 in the 5th. Ho continued his rich vein of form, with a tremendous over Sussex no. 1, Ritchie Venner, who is ranked almost 100 places higher on the ranking list. He also pushed top seed Craig Bryant (Dv) close, losing 2 very close ends of a 4-setter. After Hussein’s initial scare, he was yet again taken to 5 sets by Billy Pegg (Sp). After that he stepped up a gear, winning his remaining matches 3-1 to take the cash prize. Bryant came 2nd only dropping 2 ends, not including his loss to Hussein. 3rd place went to the in-form Ho.
Larcombe ‘Ben’t on Success:
In Band 3 (19 players), unlike the other bands, most of the seeds won their groups. The only exception was in group 5 where the 5th seed Christoph Zickert (GER) was beaten 11-9 in the 5th by the 6th highest ranked player-The Octopus Paul Beck (K). Furthermore the top 4 seeds also made it through to the semi finals. In the quarter finals top seed Valmiki Sinanan (Ha) beat Gavin West (E), 4th seed Andrew Hodges (Wi) ousted Beck, 3rd seed (wait for it) Mohamed Imran Dawood Basha (Sy) (a real pain if you have to write this name out numerous times over the weekend, which we did as he did very well) took out Rajan Waterman and last but not least no. 2 seed Ben Larcombe (Sy) ended the run of Josh Band, who had knocked out Zickert in the preliminary round. Both semi finals went to 5 sets with Hodges knocking out Sinanan and Larcombe coming out the best of the 2 Crusaders players in the other semi. The final was a straight forward 3-0 win for Ben.
Magic Mickel:
Band 5 was the largest band with 23 players. Top seed Finny Wilson (Sx) won his group, but was taken to 5 sets by ‘Celt in Kent’ Andy Larner. 2nd seed Mohammad Owadally (Mi) also won his group, but in group 3, unranked George Harris beat 3rd seed Simon Mitcheson (Dv) into 2nd place. Simon just scraped over the line vs awkward pimples player Steve Chambers (Sx). 4th seed Dan Pound (Sx) won his group with ease with Alex Hill the runner-up, but 5th seed Andrew Calloway did not get past the group, as Mickel Miller (group winner) and David Pringuer (Sx) advanced. The final group was won by Pound Senior, who had a 5 set tussle over fellow Horsham player, Mark Collins (Sx). Maybe a blessing in disguise for Mark, as he won his following 2 matches vs Ben Cunningham (Dv) and top seed Finny to progress to the semis, whereas Pound fell at the quarter final stage in 5 ends to Harris. Other quarter finals were Mickel overcoming Pound the younger and Owadally accounting for Pringuer. In the semis Mickel beat Mark in 3 close games and Mohammad beat George easily. The final went in 4 sets to Mickel, who had a great day and made up for losing in the band 6 final.
Collier Conquers:
Women’s Band 1 was only 3 players, as 1 player dropped out ill. Sue Collier beat Jasmin Ould 3-0, but top seed Yolanda King (Sx) had two 5 setters. She beat Sue 11-8 in the decider and lost to Jasmin 11-5 in the 5th. Therefore it was a 3-way count-back as they had all won 1 match each. Sue won the group by virtue of her 3-0 win and Yolanda was 2nd. Jasmin came 3rd because she lost 3-0.
Inken In Control:
Women’s Band 3 was a group of 4 players. It did not go with ranking and Inken Diederich continued to defy her ranking to top the group with 3 wins, only dropping 1 set vs 2nd seed Sandra Rider (Y). Top seed Sally Hughes improved her form from the morning and won 2 matches to finish in 2nd place. Sandra had to concede to Samantha Meredith and so Samantha came 3rd.
Summary of Results:
Men’s Band 1 (Round Robin):
1) Emran Hussein (E)
2) Craig Bryant (Dv)
3) Mike Ho (Sy)
4) Ritchie Venner (Sx)
5) Billy Pegg (Sp)
6) Mark Scutts (Sx)
7) Owe Karlsson (K) (retired injured after 3 matches)
Men’s Band 2 (Round Robin):
1) Mike Ho (Sy)
2) Mark Scutts (Sx)
3) Mohamed Imran Dawood Basha (Sy)
4) Christoph Zickert (GER)
5) Andrew Hodges (Wi)
6) Ben Larcombe (Sy)
7) Valmiki Sinanan (Ha)
Men’s Band 3: Final-Ben Larcombe (Sy) beat Andrew Hodges (Wi) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6
Men’s Band 4: Final-Dan Barna (Sx) beat Alex Forshaw (Sx) 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8
Men’s Band 5: Final-Mickel Miller (Sy) beat Mohammad Owadally (Mi) 13-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10
Men’s Band 6: Final-Steve Pound (Sx) beat Mickel Miller (Sy) 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5
Women’s Band 1 (Round Robin):
1) Sue Collier (Ch)
2) Yolanda King (Sx)
3) Jasmin Ould (K)
Women’s Band 2 (Round Robin):
1) Sue Collier (Ch)
2) Jasmin Ould (K)
3) Inken Diederich (GER)
4) Sandra Rider (Y)
5) Jurate Brazaityte (K)
6) Samantha Meredith (Wa)
7) Sally Hughes (Sx)
Women’s Band 3 (Round Robin):
1) Inken Diederich (GER)
2) Sally Hughes (Sx)
3) Samantha Meredith (Wa)
4) Sandra Rider (Y)