The first Jarvis Sports Horsham Spinners TTC 2 Star of the 2017-18 season took place on 26th November at the College of Richard Collyer, Horsham.

There was a very small entry of just 46 entrants for this one, partly due to Sussex County running their junior and cadet training sessions that weekend and other tournaments on the same day.

The U12s, U14s and U16s were played in the morning and the U13s, U15s and U18s in the afternoon. Although no player won two events, there were five players who won two medals each, the best being Bertie Kelly (So) and Ollie Maric-Murray (Sy), with a gold and a silver each.

Under-12

There were nine players in this age group in two groups. There were no upsets at the group stage, with Group 1 being won by top seed, Charlie Nabarro (Mi) with Francesco Bonato (Mi) in second place. Group 2 was won by second seed, Jenson Moreno (Mi), with Joe Hunter (Mi) in the runners-up spot.

In the semis Hunter upset Nabarro in three and Moreno was too strong for Bonato, winning comfortably in three. Hunter also won the final in three to complete a good tournament. Bonato beat Nabarro 3-1 for the bronze medal.

Saskia Key (K) defeated Daniel Clark (Sy) in the consolation final, overturning the result when the two had faced each other at the group stage.

Under-13

There were eight players in this category in two groups of four. Group 1 went to form, with Maric-Murray beating group runner-up Hunter in three sets. However, in Group 2 there was an upset, with Moreno toppling Nabarro in three surprisingly easy ends.

Maric-Murray had an easy win over Nabarro in the semis, while Moreno had to work his socks off to defeat Hunter in the bottom half 3-2 (12-10, 13-11, 11-13, 9-11, 11-5).

The final was a very straightforward win for Maric-Murray. Hunter got the bronze medal by default. Key again contested the consolation final, but this time lost to Bonato in four.

Under-14

This consisted of 16 players in four groups. The top three seeds Kelly, Maric-Murray and Ben Poulter (Ha) all won their groups comfortably but fourth seed Arthur Bracken (K) was taken out by Barney Mindlin (Mi), who is only slightly below him in the rankings.

In the quarters Kelly beat Nadia Zoppos (Mi) 3-0, Poulter knocked out Bracken 3-1, Henry Maric-Murray (Sy) beat Mindlin 3-0 and Ollie Maric-Murray took out William Agombar (Ha) 3-0.

In the semis Kelly ended Poulter in four and Ollie beat his older brother in three. Kelly won the final in four sets. In a keenly contested bronze medal match, Poulter emerged victorious in five ends. James Goncalves (Sy) defeated Josh Jackson (Mi) 8, 8, 8 in the consolation final.

Under-15

20 players contested the U15s in five groups. At the group stage there was only one slight upset, with Ed Cozens (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) overcoming Julio Key (K) 3-2. However, No 2 seed, Owen Brown (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) struggled to just beat Poulter in the fifth end after going 2-0 up.

In the preliminary round Sam Watts (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) had a good but comfortable 3-0 win over the higher ranked Charlie Cunningham (Sy).

In the quarters top seed Charlie Graham-Adams conceded, due to feeling under the weather. This gave Cozens a bye to his first ever main event semi-final. In the other quarters Herbie Sage (Dv) beat Jacob Evans (Sx-Horsham and Horsham Spinners TTCs) 3-0, Kelly only just beat Henry Maric-Murray in five and second seed Owen Brown (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) overcame club-mate Watts in four.

In the semis Sage ended Cozens’ run in four and Kelly toppled Brown, 12-10 in the fifth, having trailed 6-9 in the deciding end. Sage beat the higher ranked Kelly in the final 3-1. Brown beat club mate Cozens 3-0 in the bronze medal match. Ollie Nutting (Sy) beat Julio Key 3-0 in the consolation final.

Under-16

16 players took part in the U16s in four groups. There was one major upset at the group stage, as No 2 seed Sage was toppled by Natalia Ianau (Mi) 3-0. Evans defeated Ianau in three tight ends, but lost to Sage 1-3. This meant the second seed found himself in the consolation event after losing out in the three-way countback. Evans (unranked at junior level at the time) won the group. In a minor rankings upset Valerio Bucci (Mi) beat fourth seed Alejandro Ito-Aramendia (Sy) in four games.

In the quarters, top seed, Graham-Adams took out Ianau in three, Bucci only just overcame club-mate Mihnea Dascalu (Mi) 13-11 in the fifth, Brown put paid to Ito-Aramendia in three and Evans took out John Strang (Sx-Warden Park TTC) in four.

In the semis Bucci defeated Graham-Adams in four for his first win over him and Brown knocked out Evans also in four. The final was very close, with Bucci taking the first two games to 11-9, 12-10. Brown hit back with 11-6, 11-8 wins and won the fifth set 11-8 with a couple of excellent backhand counter hits down the line, leaving Bucci ‘calling for a taxi’.

Evans beat Graham-Adams in three for the bronze medal. Sage made up for his early group exit, but winning the consolation event in three close games in the final vs Cozens.

Under-18

There were just six players in a round-robin in the U18s and one did not turn up without informing the referee, leaving just five players. In the very first match the second seed Will Poulter (Ha) went 2-0 up vs Reiss Vydelingum (Sy) but missed out 10-12 in the fifth end. Vydelingum has dropped completely off the ranking list, as he hasn’t played for over a year, but he will be representing England Schools in Malta in April, so needs to get some match practice in.

Ito-Aramendia also overturned Poulter in four ends. Top seed, Jamie Nordin (Sy) defeated Vydelingum 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 12-10, 12-10). Vydelingum clinched second place, with a tight three-setter vs third placed Ito-Aramendia.

Ito-Aramendia came very close to toppling Nordin, as he succumbed 10-12 in the fifth end. Nordin beat Poulter 3-1 to secure the gold medal. Curtis Sage (Dv) competed well, but didn’t get any wins.

The next two stars in Horsham will be 7th and 27th January, the latter is being changed to a 2 star.

Results:
U12
Main: Joe Hunter (Mi) beat Jenson Moreno (Mi) 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-6)
Consolation: Saskia Key (K) beat Daniel Clark (Sy) 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 11-6)

U13
Main: Ollie Maric-Murray (Sy) beat Jenson Moreno (Mi) 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-7)
Consolation: Francesco Bonato (Mi) beat Saskia Key (K) 3-1 (12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6)

U14
Main: Bertie Kelly (So) beat Ollie Maric-Murray (Sy) 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10)
Consolation: James Goncalves (Sy) beat Josh Jackson (Mi) 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-8)

U15
Main: Herbie Sage (Dv) beat Bertie Kelly (So) 3-1 (13-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-3)
Consolation: Ollie Nutting (Sy) beat Julio Key (K) 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-8)

U16
Main: Owen Brown (Sx) beat Valerio Bucci (Mi) 3-2 (8-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8)
Consolation: Herbie Sage (Dv) beat Ed Cozens (Sx) 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-9)

U18
Winner: Jamie Nordin (Sy), Runner-Up: Reiss Vydelingum (Sy)