The 44th year of the ‘Cotswold’ was again held at the delightful venue of Cheltenham College on 18 tables with a capacity entry although the number of girls was disappointingly much lower than usual.
Saturday kicked off with the Cadet boys banded with 2nd seed Jack Bennett winning the final against 6th seed Christopher Griffiths who had earlier upset both Daniel McTiernan and top seed Vincent Stacey.
In the girls’ equivalent Hannah Noutch beat Bethany Wilson having eliminated Amy Humphreys in the semi-final.
In the Under 13 boys top seed Marcus Giles failed his morning fitness test but neither Vincent Stacey nor Hugo Pang was able to capitalise as both fell victim to Luke Savill on his way to the final where he maintained his fine form against Joshua Bennett who had earlier ended the hopes of Daniel McTiernan.
Normality was restored in the Under 13 girls with Letitia McMullan outpointing Amy Humphreys in the final.
In the Cadet Girls open event Charlotte Carey and Megan Knowles both reached the final without dropping a set, most notably Megan against Isobel Ashley in her semi, and Charlotte prevailed although Megan did take a set.
In the Cadet Boys open event the late withdrawal of Igor Morais opened the door for 3rd seed Adam Harrison in the top half of the draw and he took full advantage. However in the bottom half it was a different story with unseeded Ollie Buddell of Devon grabbing the attention; not content with relegating 8th seed Jack Bennett to runner-up in his group he went on to oust both 16th seed Stephen Ward and 2nd seed Daniel Lawrence in close 5-setters on his way to a semi-final with Daniel Wright which again went the full distance but it was Daniel who progressed. Adam was victorious in the final.
Sunday opened with the Junior Boys Open which saw a triumph for 5th seed Liam McTiernan who fought his way through the rounds, beating Bradley Tuttle in a 5-set semi, to meet top-seeded James Ward who had moved smoothly to the final via a semi-final win over Luca Mariano. Liam proceeded to a straight sets win over James to take the title.
There were no surprises in the Girls Open with Tin-Tin Ho confirming her superiority. However it was far from straightforward as Charlotte Carey stretched her to 5 sets in the semi-final and she also had to come from a set down in the final against Angharad Phillips.
The tournament concluded with the Banded events where there were a number of fine individual performances upsetting the form book.
The Boys competition saw Mark Scutts overcome Luca Mariano and Daniel Lawrence on his way to the final where he faced Matthew Outhwaite who numbered Ping Ho and Bradley Tuttle among his victims.
Mark emerged the winner in four sets.
In the Girls Banded second seed Jasmin Ould put an end to the fine run of Helen Rutherford who had toppled Sophie Neil and Maria Tsaptsinos en route to the final.
Results of Finals:
Under 13 Boys
Luke Savill (K) bt Joshua Bennett (Sx) 11-7,11-8,11-3
Under 13 Girls
Letitia McMullan (Ha) bt Amy Humphreys (Dy) 12-10,8-11,11-7,11-7
Cadet Boys open
Adam Harrison (Li) bt Daniel Wright (Mi) 11-6,11-7,11-8
Cadet Boys banded
Jack Bennett (Sx) bt Christopher Griffiths (WAL) 13-11,17-15,11-8
Cadet Girls open
Charlotte Carey (WAL) bt Megan Knowles (Bk) 12-10,7-11,11-9,11-4
Cadet Girls banded
Hannah Noutch (Li) bt Bethany Wilson (Dv) 11-6,11-9,11-4
Junior Boys open
Liam McTiernan (Bk) bt James Ward (St) 11-6,11-8,14-12
Junior Boys banded
Mark Scutts (Sx) bt Matthew Outhwaite (Wa) 11-6,9-11,11-4,11-8
Junior Girls open
Tin-Tin Ho (Mi) bt Angharad Phillips (WAL) 7-11,11-8,11-8,12-10
Junior Girls banded
Jasmin Ould (K) bt Helen Rutherford (Sx) 12-10,12-10,11-6
By Ken Bridle