The third Horsham Spinners TTC 2 Star of the 2016-17 season at the College of Richard Collyer, Horsham had a lower entry this time of 56 entrants, due mainly to the fact that the Regional Qualification tournaments were happening on the same day across the regions.

However, four out of six events still got the minimum of 16 players to qualify for bonus ranking points.

Of the six event winners from the March 2 Star, four of them were triumphant again. Charlie Nabarro (Mi), who won U12s last time, won the U11s this time, while Max Wilson (Sx-Brighton City TTC) won the U12s, which was his first gold medal at a 2 star.

Ollie Michell (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) won the U13s for the third time in a row and Charlie Graham-Adams (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) took advantage of the fact that his team-mate Owen Brown was taking part in the regional trials and won the U14s. By the way, Owen did qualify for the regional team.

Both the U15s and U18s were repeats from the last 2 star, with Alex Ahl (Mi) winning the U15s and Matt Daish (Do) winning the U18s.

Under-11

There were just seven players in the U11s, so the format was a round-robin. Top seed Nabarro came through unscathed with six wins, only conceding one end to eventual runner-up Wilson.

Wilson did not have it quite as easy, with a hard-fought win over Jenson Moreno (Mi) 11-8 in the fifth set and he lost an end to Jack Jordan (K). He did however overcome the second seed, Troy Williams (Ha) 3-0. Moreno beat Williams 3-1 for the bronze medal.

Under-12

There were 12 players in this age group. Having won his first two group matches, top seed Nabarro unfortunately had to pull out ill. This meant Moreno topped the group. In Group 2, the unranked Joel Osaghae (Mi) raised some eyebrows by winning all three of his matches, only losing one end to No 2 seed, Abbie Hurley (K).

The seed-beating trend continued in Group 3, which meant none of the three seeds topped their group. Wilson again beat the higher ranked Williams this time 3-1.

In the only quarter-final, Hurley defeated Williams in straight sets. In the semis, Hurley knocked out Moreno in four sets and Wilson beat Osaghae in four.

Moreno beat Osaghae 3-0 for the bronze medal. Danny Klinger (Ha) won the consolation event, beating Elliot Jones (WAL) 3-1 in the final.

Under-13

There were 21 players in this category. The top three seeds all won their groups, but the remaining seeds didn’t. Tom Nguyen (Sx-Brighton City TTC) beat fourth seed Hurley in three, No 5 seed Akash Shah (E) lost two matches, with unranked Vasi Kasakov (He) winning the group. Finally, sixth seed, Finn Holder (Sx-Brighton City TTC) lost to Jai Chaudhari (E) by 12-10 in the fifth end.

In the quarters, the top three seeds progressed, with favourite Ollie Michell (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) accounting for Hurley in three, Larry Trumpauskas (K) repeating the feat vs Jones and No 2 seed, Zach Hodges (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) needing four ends to advance vs Joe Milne (Sx-Brighton City TTC).

The star players from the host club were both imperious in their semi-finals, not dropping an end with Michell seeing off Trumpauskas and Hodges matching that against Nguyen. So that meant it was the same U13s final as it had been in March. The result was the same, with Michell triumphing, but this time it was in straight sets, as opposed to the five sets from last time. This meant Michell did not drop an end in the whole event.

Nine-year-old Trumpauskas did well to get the bronze medal in a four-setter, playing vs players up to three years older than him. Shah beat club-mate Shaurya Malhotra (Mi) 3-0 in the consolation final.

Under-14

This consisted of 18 players. There were no major upsets at the group stage. In the quarters, top seed, Graham-Adams brushed aside Stephen Fajemilusi (Mi) 3-0, Harry Yip (Sx-Horsham TTC) upset fourth seed Ed Cozens (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) in a very close four-setter, Sam Watts (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) was too strong for Donald Marcus (Mi), winning in three and second seed, Alessio Marrocco (Sx-Brighton City TTC) overcame Shay Graham (Np) in four.

The semis were very different from each other, with Graham-Adams teaching young Yip a lesson in three quick games and Marrocco being pushed all the way to 11-9 in the fifth, by Watts. In the final, Graham-Adams continued his utter dominance in the event, like Michell in the U13s, not conceding an end in the age group, even including whitewash in game two in the final.

Club-mate Watts, on the other hand, continued with close losses, with another 9-11 in the fifth loss, this time to Yip in the third/fourth place play-off. The consolation event was won by Nguyen at the expense of Isaac Egginton (K) in the final with a 3-0 score line.

Under-15

16 players contested the U15s in four groups. Only one of the four seeds failed to win his group, which was when fourth seed, Nahom Goitam (Sy) lost to team-mate, Thevian Loganathan (Mi) in three very close games.

And so to the quarters, where top seed Ahl and Goitam both won in four sets vs Howard Onweng (Mi) and third seed, Will Michell (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) respectively and Loganathan and Graham-Adams both won in straight games vs Fajemilusi and Adrian Balbacal (Mi) respectively.

In the semis, Ahl saw off Goitam in four and Graham-Adams swept aside Loganathan in three, including an 11-1 first end. Ahl won the final in four sets. In the bronze medal match, Loganathan repeated his win over Goitam again in straight sets. Cozens won the consolation final at the expense of Graham in the deciding end.

Under-18

There were 16 players in the U18s. The top two seeds, Daish and Ahl, were the only seeds to win their groups. Third seed Murhad Hussain (Mi) found himself in the consolation, with two four-set losses to Will Michell and Adam Wilson (Np). Michell beat Wilson in five to win the group.

Fourth seed Mohammed Raqueeb (E) fell to Loganathan in three in Group 4. Ollie Michell also had a good win in his group vs Goitam in the fifth set. Goitam ended fourth from a very tough group, with Ahl as the winner and Sam Wilson (Np) the runner-up.

After the groups, again Daish and Ahl progressed serenely with straight sets wins over Sam Wilson and Howard Onweng respectively, but in the other quarter-finals the lower ranked players progressed, with Adam Wilson seeing off Loganathan in four and Will Michell beating Raqueeb in three.

The semi-finals saw both the top two seeds Daish and Ahl, advance with fourth-set wins over Adam Wilson and Will Michell respectively.

The final result was the same as the U18s final from March, but the match went quite differently. Daish got first blood, with an 11-7 win, but Alex upped his game taking the next two games -8 and -10 and then held three match points in the fourth set at 10-7 up. Slightly passive play allowed Daish back into the match, as Daish reeled off five points in a row to win game four and carried the momentum into the fifth set, taking it 11-8.

Adam Wilson got revenge on Will Michell in the bronze medal match, winning comfortably in three this time. In a high-quality consolation final, Goitam overturned his higher ranked club mate, Hussain in four ends.

Forthcoming Events

Remaining Junior 2 Stars in Sussex this season will be held on 28th May (Burgess Hill), 11th June (Burgess Hill) and 2nd July (Horsham). There will also be the Burgess Hill Satellite Grand Prix (a senior tournament, but also open to juniors) on 29th & 30th April.

For any veterans reading this, there will be a Veterans 2 Star in Brighton on 4th June and a Veterans 1 Star in Horsham on 9th July.

Added to these events, there will be non-ranking ‘Circuit’ Ability Banded Tournaments open to all ages and standards (even raw beginners) on Saturdays 22nd April, 27th May, 24th June and 8th July.

There is also an Easter Training Camp in Horsham from 18th to 21st April at just £25 per day, with coaches Rory Scott, Matt Ware and Kazeem Adeleke. There will also be a summer camp in Horsham in August. For further details of any of these events, please contact Rory on [email protected].

Results:

Under-11
Round Robin: 1st: Charlie Nabarro (Mi), 2nd: Max Wilson (Sx)

Under-12
Main: Max Wilson (Sx) beat Abbie Hurley (K) 3-0 (11-8, 16-14, 11-3)
Consolation: Danny Klinger (Ha) beat Elliot Jones (WAL) 3-1 (11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 11-8)

Under-13
Main: Ollie Michell (Sx) beat Zach Hodges (Sx) 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 12-10)
Consolation: Akash Shah (E) beat Shaurya Malhotra (Mi) 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-5)

Under-14
Main: Charlie Graham-Adams (Sx) beat Alessio Marrocco (Sx) 3-0 (11-2, 11-0, 11-9)
Consolation: Tom Nguyen (Sx) beat Isaac Egginton (K) 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-8)

Under-15
Main: Alex Ahl (Mi) beat Charlie Graham-Adams (Sx) 3-1 (11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12)
Consolation: Ed Cozens (Sx) beat Shay Graham (Np) 3-2 (11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6)

Under-18
Main: Matt Daish (Ha) beat Alex Ahl (Mi) 3-2 (11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8)
Consolation: Nahom Goitam (Sy) beat Murhad Hussain (Mi) 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 15-13)