120 players took part in the recent Sussex Series 2 Star in K2, Crawley sponsored by Tees Sport and Ray Hole Architects. Indeed 20 players had to be refused entry to the popular event as all 24 tables were fully in use all day.

A Champ Called Achampong:

There were 25 entrants in the junior boys event, which consisted of five groups of five, with the top player from each group going into the top group, second placed players going into the second group and so on. Top seed Gabriel Achampong (Mi) was dominant, only losing one end in the tournament, that being to Armagan Huseyin (E) in the first group. Second seed, Jamie Trevillion (Do) did manage to finish second, but did so the hard way. In his initial group he scraped an 11-9 in the fifth victory vs Oliver Hack (Ha). He then recovered from being 0-2 down in games to the hard-hitting Karim Khassal (Mi). In the top group, he was up against it again, only beating Jack Josephs (He) 12-10 in the fifth. Josephs ended up in third place. Finny Wilson (Sx) did well to finish 4th, as he defeated two higher ranked players. Group B was won by Khassal and Toby Bartram (K) topped Group C.

Zahna has the ‘Hall’marks of a top player:

Cadet Girls was a round robin group of 8 players. First and second seeds Hiba Feredj (Mi) and Zahna Hall (Mi) both won six of their seven matches, but Hall got the gold medal, by virtue of her 3-1 victory over Feredj. Third and fourth places went to Sussex stars Emma Sheen and Kate Cheer respectively. Sheen did particularly well, as she was expected to finish fifth, based on national ranking.

Gold for Gillen:

Cadet Boys Band 1 was also a round robin, this time with nine players involved. There was a lot of drama in this group to say the least and some keenly contested matches, with no less than 12 of the 36 matches going the distance to five ends. Both Alexander ‘Sasha’ Gillen (Sy) and Ryan Williams (E) won seven of their eight encounters, so the match between them proved decisive, meaning Gillen’s four game win over Williams won him the gold medal. There was another two-way count back for third place, with Jimmy Yeung’s (Ha) straight sets victory over Tom Windram (K) clinching him the bronze.

Glasstone shows his class:

Cadet Boys Band 2 was 30 players with six groups of five leading to five groups of six, with initial group finishing position dictating the final group in which the players were placed. In group 1 Sam Lu (Sx) beat top seed Arbi Tola (Mi) to top the group. Sam also won an epic match 15-13 in the fifth vs defender Sam Wilson (Bu), who also beat Tola. Third seed Connor Russell (K) also lost in the initial group to Curtis Welsh (Mi) 12-10 in the fifth. Another seed to fall at the first hurdle was fourth seed Diogo Freitas (Sy), who lost 11-9 in the fifth to James Arnold (Horsham Spinners) and also to Stuart Herriott (Mi). Arnold won the group. It was not a good day for the seeds in band 2, as fifth seed Jay Ghazi-Timms finished fourth in his group, which was won by Sam Liu (Bk) and to round it off, sixth seed Nathan Knowles was group 6 runner up to Luke Carter (K). In the top group, the only seed to get through (second seed Ezra Glasstone (Mi)) won all of his matches comfortably. The silver was won by Welsh, who beat third placed Carter 11-9 in the decider. Group B was won by Russell & Harrison Simmons (Bu) won group C.

Milestone for Miller:

Joe Miller (Mi) justified his top seeding for the cadet band 3, by winning all 8 of his group games followed by a semi final win vs Kai Ghazi-Timms (Mi) and a walkover in the final over Kudjo Kpordje (Sy). There had been ten groups of five players leading to ten further groups of five, with two equal ability top groups. Kpordje had been runner up in Miller’s group (A1), but had then defeated George Hazell (Sx), who had won group A2. Ghazi-Timms won the bronze medal by default. In winning the event, Miller came through two five game matches in group A1. He first beat Ibraheem Issack (Mi) in five and then recovered from 0-2 down in games to win vs David Poole (Horsham Spinners). Group B1 winner was Jack Batchelor (Mi). George Long (Mi) came out on top on count back to win Group B2.

The next Sussex Series 2 Star is on 6th January and there are still spaces available. See ETTA website (entry forms section) for the entry form.

Placings lists:
Junior Boys:
1) Gabriel Achampong (Mi)
2) Jamie Trevillion (Do)
3) Jack Josephs (He)
4) Finny Wilson (Sx)
5) Daniel Pound (Sx)
6) Karim Khassal (Mi)
7) Shane Clark (Mi)
8) Armagan Huseyin (E)
9) Charlie Austen (Mi)
10) Charlie Bates (E)
11) Toby Bartram (K)
12) Tommy Gritton (He)
13) Dale Campbell (K)
14) Musa Sharif-Ali (Mi)
15) Andre Dunkley (Sy)
16) Micah Salmon (Mi)
17) James Mason (Ha)
18) George Tester (Sx)
19) Oliver Hack (Ha)
20) David Pringuer (Sx)
21) Jake Coombes (K)
22) Lucas Papantoniou (Mi)
23) Ovi Eyarhono (Sy)
24) Ryan Gregory (Sx)
25) Luke Jones (He)

Cadet Girls:
1) Zahna Hall (Mi)
2) Hiba Feredj (Mi)
3) Emma Sheen (Sx)
4) Kate Cheer (Sx)
5) Soffi Jenkins (WAL)
6) Eda Aydin (Mi)
7) Tiana Dennison (E)
8) Shristi Ghosh (Bu)

Cadet Boys Band 1:
1) Alex Gillen (Sy)
2) Ryan Williams (E)
3) Jimmy Yeung (Ha)
4) Tom Windram (K)
5) James Smith (K)
6) Jack Merton (K)
7) Blair Phillip (K)
8) Adam Corell (Sx)
9) Aaron Baksh (K)

Cadet Boys Band 2:
1) Ezra Glasstone (Mi)
2) Curtis Welsh (Mi)
3) Luke Carter (K)
4) Sam Lu (Sx)
5) James Arnold (Sx)
6) Sam Liu (Bk)
7) Connor Russell K
8) Stuart Herriott (Mi)
9) Sam Wilson (Bu)
10) Marcus Bracey (Sx)
11) Marley Cross (Sy)
12) Nathan Knowles (Mi)
13) Harrison Simmons (Bu)
14) Andrew Chapman (Sy)
15) Diogo Freitas (Sy)
16) Maxwell Allen (Sy)
17) James Knudsen (E)
18) Arbi Tola (Mi)
19) Che Marshall (Sy)
20) George Coulson (He)
21) Jamie Liu (Bk)
22) Jay Ghazi-Timms (Mi)
23) George Mills (Mi)
24) Eren Gozcu (Mi)
25) Kevin Fang (Sy)
26) Viral Varsani (Sx)
27) Gbolohan Hassan (Mi)
28) Ben Naylor-Smith (Mi)
29) Alistair Smith (Sx)
30) Claudiu Andrei (Mi)

Mixed Cadet Band 3:
1) Joe Miller (Mi)
2) Kudjo Kpordje (Sy)
3) Kai Ghazi-Timms (Mi)
4) George Hazell (Sx)
=5) Ibraheem Issack (Mi)
=5) Emre Karabardak (Mi)
=7) Benz Sangsuwan (Mi)
=7) Anthony Atkins (Sy)
=9) David Poole (Sx)
=9) Hamza Ansari (K)
=11) Jack Batchelor (Mi)
=11) George Long (Mi)
=13) Maria Wang (Mi)
=13) Viona Fejzullahu (Mi)
=15) Bobby Langley (Mi)
=15) Dexter Sherin (Sx)
=17) Seun Sontan (Mi)
=17) Ignitius Kalule (Mi)
=19) Daniel Olubanjo (Mi)
=19) Liam Smith (K)
=21) Shayan Naserbakht (Mi)
=21) Joe Russell (Sx)
=23) Tendai Davis-Smith (Mi)
=23) Pavle Svrdlin (Mi)
=25) Matthew Langley (Sx)
=25) Nathan O’Toole (Mi)
=27) Dominic Hawkins (Sx)
=27) Ollie Field (Sx)
=29) Luke Bergin (Sx)
=29) Sarah Menghistab (Mi)
=31) Jake Dale (Mi)
=31) Hammad Ansari (K)
=33) Bashir Warsame (Mi)
=33) Raffi Chowdury (Mi)
=35) Luke Stewart (Sx)
=35) Joe Worskett (Sx)
=37) Alfie Dillon (Mi)
=37) German Ocampo-Barrera (Sx)
=39) Urim Osmani (Mi)
=39) Callum Donaghey (Mi)
=41) Kieran Bonner (Sx)
=41) Joe Tarnoky (Mi)
=43) Roddy McGillivray (Sx)
=43) Ryan Barnett (Mi)
=45) Connor White (Mi)
=45) Matthew Weller (Sx)
=47) Kyan Ogbe (Mi)
=47) Ollie Whiting (Sx)