Seventy-three players took part in the recent Sussex Series 2 Star at K2, Crawley on 8th July. There were 3 bands, with band 3 being divided into separate morning & afternoon sections. A decision was made to reduce the entry fee for bands 2 & 3, as the prizes were vouchers, whereas there was cash on offer for band 1. However most of the band 3 players played all day anyway, so next time there will not be the option of doing just the morning or just the afternoon, as it did mean more admin for the organisers. We would like to again extend our thanks to our sponsors this season who were Heritage Oil, Griffin Security & Technology, Ray Hole Architects & Tees Sport.
Band 1: Robinson Rises Up the Rankings
Band 1 was 23 players & therefore consisted of 3 groups of 5 & 2 groups of 4 initially. After the initial group stage the group winners went into group A for the afternoon, the group runners-up went into group B, 3rd placed players went into group C & so on. In Group 1 top seed Tyrone Wells (Mi) led the way with 4 wins from 4, but after that the players finished in reverse ranking order. Tom Windram (K) in particular had a good morning with 3 unexpected wins, the most noteworthy of which, being his win over tricky combination bat player Jamie Trevillion (Do). Group 2 went with ranking with Hugo Pang (Do) topping the group & Micah Salmon (Mi) coming 2nd. Again the top 2 ranked players came 1st & 2nd in group 3, with Raphael Lawanson (Sy) going forwards into group A & Armagan Huseyin (E) getting into group B. 4th seed Daniel Wright (Mi) just about made it into group A, but only on 2-way count back, as he surprisingly lost 3-0 to Jack Merton (K), the lowest ranked player in the group. That was Jack’s only win, so he ended up 5th, while Jack Anthony (Sk) came 2nd & therefore went into group B. In the final band 1 group yet again the top ranked player made it to group A. Josh Robinson (Bd) won his 3 matches. However 2nd place went to an inspired Dan Pound (Sx), who mauled the higher ranked Ryan Williams 11-0 in the 1st end & then took 2 tight sets 11-9, 14-12. He then survived a tough 5-set examination by Martin Matuzevicius (Ha) to make it into group B.
In group A Josh defied his 5th seeding to top the band with 3 wins & 1 loss (to Daniel) & picked up £300 cash for his efforts. Tyrone also had 2 wins, but lost to Josh & so finished in 2nd place overall & took home £125. The 3rd prize of £75 went to 2nd seed Hugo by virtue of another two-way countback with Daniel who got £25 for 4th place. Raphael came 5th. Group B was headed by Armagan with 2nd spot being taken by Jack, who for the 2nd time that day won on countback. Tom continued his good form from the morning with 2 more excellent wins over Armagan & Micah. Charlie Bates (E) continued his upward climb in the rankings with 2 good wins over Brian Gray (K) & Olamide Wuraola (Sy) to top group C. In group D it was Jimmy Yeung who impressed, with unexpected wins over Ryan Williams, Leon Thomson (He) & Finn Morgan-Bayliss (Do). Jamie Trevillion won group E with Farren Seamon (He) in 2nd place.
Band 2: Chris’ Clean Sweep
This consisted of 28 players in 4 groups of 5 & 2 groups of 4 & similar to band 1 led on to further groups (4 groups of 6 & 1 group of 4). Top seed for this band was Emma Tovey (K), who had done well in the last Sussex Series event. She continued in this vein, by winning group 1 at the expense of 2nd placed Musa Sharif-Ali (Mi). Unknown player Chris Morshead of Jersey ousted 2nd seed Aaron Baksh (K) in group 3 with a full complement of four 3-0 victories. Baksh came through 2nd in the group. 3rd seed Oliver Hack (Ha) had 3 easy wins in group 3, but he only won his remaining match 12-10 in the 5th vs Curtis Welsh (Mi), who finished last in the group. David Pringuer (Sx) took his expected place in group B, as he won 3 matches. His club mate George Tester (Sx) won group 4, getting the better of Shaquille Webb-Dixon (Sy), who got 2nd place. The Group 5 winner was Kester Pardoe (Mi), who beat the higher ranked Harry Collins (Sx) into 2nd place in the group. It was a similar situation in group 6 with Abdi Ahmed (Mi), beating the higher ranked Geme Ryder (Sy).
In Group A Chris Morshead continued his impressive run & amazingly won all of his matches 3-0, mostly with very low scores. That meant he had won 9 matches all 3-0! All that & he was only the 10th highest ranked player in the event! For his efforts he was awarded a £100 Tees Sport voucher. Kester Pardoe also gave the computer ranking system something to think about by finishing in 2nd place in the band, beating 3 players above him in the process. 3rd place went to Emma Tovey who came good in a 3 way count back with Abdi & Oliver. Aaron Baksh recovered from his defeat to Chris & topped group B with 5 wins from 5. 2nd place went to Shaquille with 3 wins. Joe Farry (He) & Zac Dowling (Do) were 1st & 2nd respectively in group C & in group D those positions were occupied by Jordan Ingles (He) & Jake Henley (He). The final group E was won by Curtis Welsh (Mi) at the expense of 2nd placed Andrew Chapman (Sy).
Band 3 AM: Ivan in the Vanguard
There were 19 entrants in this event split into 3 groups of 5 & 1 group of 4, with the top 2 in each group going on to the main knockout draw, the 3rd & 4th placed players going into the consolation KO draw & the remaining players going into the ‘wooden spoon’ event. 8 year-old Michael Tunubu (Sy) impressed by winning Group 1 with 4 wins. His club mate, scratch entry David Busari (Sy) stole 2nd spot from Toheeb Jimoh (Sy). Claudiu Andrei (Mi) took group 2 & Nick West came 2nd. Unranked Ivan Monderin (Sy) was untroubled in group 3 winning all his matches 3-0. Easton Facey (Sy) was group runner-up. Owen Bryan (Sy) won group 4 on countback from Jack Batchelor (Mi), as both had 3 wins.
In the main draw knockout Owen progressed to the final with wins over Easton & Michael. Ivan continued his unbeaten run accounting for Jack & Claudiu. The final was a formality for Monderin, as he came through in straight sets. Michael beat Claudiu in the 3rd place play-off. Toheeb was the in form player in the consolation event. He put paid to 3 Sussex players; Lee Oldham, Luke Stewart & Alistair Smith in the final. Alistair had knocked out Miles Elliott-Kennedy (Sy) & Pavle Svrdlin (Mi). The wooden spoon event contained 3 Whiting cousins from Brighton City TTC & it was Jordan who topped the group.
Band 3 PM:
The format for this was the same as the morning band 3, except that there were 20 players meaning 4 groups of 5. Group 1 was once again won by pocket rocket Tunubu with 4 wins & Andrei was the runner-up. However in group 2 the no. 1 seed, David Poole (Sx) of Horsham Spinners TTC lost in 4 to Busari. These 2 both finished on 3 wins, meaning Busari took 1st place in the group. In group 3 Monderin picked up where he left off, winning with ease, but losing his first end to Elliott-Kennedy. Batchelor took 2nd spot with 3 victories. In the final group Easton Facey had a full house of wins with Smith going through in 2nd place.
Ivan again breezed through the knockout stages brushing aside Smith & Andrei en route to the final where he met Facey. Facey had overcome Batchelor & Tunubu. The final was again a walk in the park for Monderin, who won 3-0 at a canter. On this performance he would have done well in band 2. A few more tournaments & he should get himself a ranking. The third place play-off was again between Michael & Claudiu, but this time it was the latter who prevailed 11-9 in the 5th set. In the consolation event under 9 player Anish Padalkar (Sx) from the Horsham Spinners club had a good run. He played 3 very competitive matches vs Toheeb, Tarik Hamdou (Sy) & Pavle. He showed great nerve to sneak through these tight matches to take the consolation event. Pavle had been too strong for Jordan Whiting & Elliott-Kennedy. Joe Worskett (Sx) also from Horsham Spinners TTC won the wooden spoon knockout by beating Jake Whiting.
Summary of Results:
Band 1:
1st: Josh Robinson (Bd)
2nd: Tyrone Wells (Mi)
3rd: Hugo Pang (Do)
Band 2:
1st: Chris Morshead (JEY)
2nd: Kester Pardoe (Mi)
3rd: Emma Tovey (K)
Band 3 AM:
1st: Ivan Monderin (Sy)
2nd: Owen Bryan (Sy)
3rd: Michael Tunubu (Sy)
Band 3 PM:
1st: Ivan Monderin (Sy)
2nd: Easton Facey (Sy)
3rd: Claudiu Andrei (Mi)