54 players competed in the recent Sussex Series 2 Star held at K2 Leisure Centre Crawley. Band 1 was for U21s & Bands 2-5 were for U18s. Band 2 was the largest event with 17 entrants. It was split into 2 groups (one of 9 players & 1 of 8). Dan Pound (from Sussex & son of Tournament Organiser Steve) was only the 4th highest ranked player in Group 1, but he defied the rankings, to come top of the group, winning all 8 of his matches. Interestingly, he only won 2 of these matches 3-0 & one of those was against top seed (& group runner-up) Daniel McTiernan (Bk). He had 5 setters vs Jamie Trevillion (Do), Ezra Myers (Sy) & Jimmy Yeung (Ha). McTiernan & Yeung both won 6 matches, but the former took 2nd place in the group, as he beat Jimmy. Martin Matuzevicius (Ha) is worthy of mention, as he was the lowest ranked player in the group (9th) & he picked up 5 unexpected wins to finish 4th in the group. Group 2 was slightly more straight forward in that the top 2 seeds Brian Gray (K) & Adam Corell (Sx) finished as expected in 1st & 2nd place respectively, although they had to be separated by count back, as they both had 6 wins from 7. However Tom Windram (K) punched above his weight, as he was 6th in the group on rankings, but ended up 3rd with 5 wins. 4th place in the group went to the 3rd highest player Jack Anthony (Sk).
For the next round the top 2 players from each group faced the top 2 from the other group in Group A, & the 3s & 4s did likewise in Group B, as did the 5ths & 6ths in Group C. Emma Tovey (K) decided to leave early & Scott Fletcher had scratched out before playing his final group game, without telling the organiser or referee, so that left 3 group 1 players to battle it out in Group D. In the top group, Dan Pound’s undefeated run came to an end with a comfortable 3-0 loss to team-mate Corell. However, this set up an exciting finale between Pound & Gray. There was huge pressure on young Pound here, as a win would give him £200 cash as the winner, but a loss would mean 4th place & £25 (2nd place got £125 & 3rd got £75). A very tight match followed (the last match of the tournament) & the momentum swung back & forwards, Dan-Brian-Dan-Brian. All the games were close, but Gray took an early lead in the 5th & looked like taking it, but fittingly Dan held his nerve to come back & finish it off 11-9 in the 5th. Dad & son were over the moon & many others were happy for them too. Dan had been only the 8th highest ranked, out of a field of 17 & previously had not featured at the business end of these events, plus with the added pressure of Dad being the Tournament Organiser, he has done very well! Dan McTiernan finished in 2nd place by virtue of 5th set victories over both Adam & Brian. Brian was 3rd & Adam 4th.
David Does It
U21s Band 1 consisted of a high quality field of 8 players, who all played each other. The top 3 seeds were particularly strong with Matt Ware (Dorset, England no. 8 Man), David McBeath (Hampshire-England no. 9) & Richard Andrews (Berkshire-England no. 18). These 3 beat the rest of the field with ease. Only Raphael Lawanson (Surrey-England no. 14 cadet) managed to take one end from both Matt & Richard. At the lower end of the group, Mark Collins (Sx) had a very good win over Raphael. However Mike White (Sx) beat Mark 3-0 & Raphael beat both Mike & Josh Robinson (Bd), who was the 4th seed. Josh still managed to clinch 4th place, as he & Dan Barna (Sx) both ended up with 3 wins each, but Josh beat Dan, all of whose results went according to ranking. So to the top 3 positions: The first encounter between the big three was David Vs Richard & although Richard sneaked the 1st at deuce, David stepped it up & won the next three. Next up was Matt Vs Richard & Matt found himself in deep water, dropping the 1st two ends only to make a recovery, taking the next three. Later Matt found himself in another 5-setter, this time with David, but came out on the wrong side this time, losing 11-4 in the 5th. This left David as the outright winner & Matt in 2nd & Richard 3rd. Thanks to generous sponsorship from Heritage Oil, Griffin Security & Technology Ltd. and Ray Hole Architects, there were handsome cash prizes for 7 of the 8 participants as follows: 1st: £300, 2nd: £200, 3rd: £125, 4th: £75, 5th: £60, 6th: £50, 7th: £40.
Baksh Takes Band 3
Band 3 was a round robin of 10 players. Top ranked Aaron Baksh (K) won 8 of his 9 matches, losing out only once, but surprisingly he lost 3-0 to Chris Clifford (He), who was the lowest ranked player in the band. Aaron did only scrape over the line 12-10 in the 5th on 2 occasions vs Mustafa Mohamed (Mi) & James Mason (Ha). David Pringuer (Sx) also extended him to 5 ends. Aaron therefore took 1st place. Young Chris did very well to pick up 4 unexpected wins on the day. 2nd place went to Mustafa Mohamed (Mi) with 7 wins, who also had a couple of 5-setters over Mason & Ben Foster (K). Mason took 3rd place on 6 wins. For 4th place there was a 3-way count back & 7th ranked Foster won the count back at the expense of 2nd ranked Toby Bartram (K), who finished 6th & 3rd ranked Oliver Hack (Ha), who ended up in 5th place.
Tester Passes the Test
Band 4 had 11 players & 2nd seed George Tester (Sx) emerged triumphant with 8 wins & 2 losses. This is the 2nd time he has won a band at these events, as he won a band 5 back in December. His losses were to top ranked Harry Trawley (Bu), who only finished 8th (with 5 wins) & to runner-up Mohamed Al-Saabari (Mi), who had 7 wins. Both of George’s losses were in the 5th. Mohamed lost deuce in the 5th to Jake Coombes (K) & lost to both girls Emma Sheen (Sx) & Evie Foster (K). However he was a 5 set winner on 3 occasions. There was a 4-way count back for places 3-6, as 4 players had 6 wins! 9th ranked Coombes showed us he is under-ranked by taking 3rd place. William Goodstone (Sx) came 4th. Tees Sports vouchers were awarded to the top 3.
Midson Miles Above the Rest
Band 5 consisted of only 7 players, so it was decided to have them play each other twice in separate morning & afternoon sessions. As it happened there was a scratch entry in the afternoon event, which brought it up to 8 players. In both morning & afternoon sessions, unranked Jacob Midson (K) was head & shoulders above his opponents, as he managed to win all 13 of his matches over the course of the day without even dropping an end! Luke Stewart (Sx) was the only player to get as many as 9 points in a game from Jacob, a feat he managed three times. In both morning & afternoon bands Alistair Smith (Sx) defeated all but Jacob, to finish in 2nd place. Luke finished 3rd in both morning & afternoon events. In the morning he came 3rd on count back with Becky Hancock, who came 4th, but in the afternoon, it was more clear cut, as he only lost to Jacob & Alistair. The difference was that he beat Evie Quiroga (Sx) in the afternoon, but not in the morning. In the afternoon it was Evie who took 4th place, having been 6th in the morning. Tees Sports vouchers were awarded to the top 3.
By Rory Scott (Referee)
Positions:
(Medals were also awarded to the top 3 in each band)
Band 1
1) David McBeath (Ha)
2) Matt Ware (Do)
3) Richard Andrews (Bk)
4) Josh Robinson (Bd)
5) Daniel Barna (Sx)
6) Raphael Lawanson (Sy)
7) Mike White (Sx)
8) Mark Collins (Sx)
Band 2
1) Dan Pound (Sx)
2) Dan McTiernan (Bk)
3) Brian Gray (K)
4) Adam Corell (Sx)
5) Jimmy Yeung (Ha)
6) Tom Windram (K)
7) Martin Matuzevicius (Ha)
8) Jack Anthony (Sk)
9) Ezxa Myers (Sy)
10) Murray Wilson (Sy)
11) Jack Davies (K)
12) Andre Dunkley (Sy)
13) Charlie Bates (E)
14) Jamie Trevillion (Do)
15) Enisa Kamara (Sy)
16) Emma Tovey (K)
17) Scott Fletcher (Ch)
Band 3
1) Aaron Baksh (K)
2) Mustafa Mohamed (Mi)
3) James Mason (Ha)
4) Ben Foster (K)
5) Oliver Hack (Ha)
6) Toby Bartram (K)
7) David Pringuer (Sx)
8) Chris Clifford (He)
9) Michael Bridger (Sx)
10) Harry Collins (Sx)
Band 4
1) George Tester (Sx)
2) Mohamed Al Saabari (Mi)
3) Jake Coombes (K)
4) William Goodstone (Sx)
5) Emma Sheen (Sx)
6) Evie Foster (K)
7) Ryan Gregory (Sx)
8) Harry Trawley (Bu)
9) Marley Cross (Sy)
10) Jake Mitchell (Sy)
11) George Hazell (Sx)
Band 5 Morning
1) Jacob Midson (K)
2) Alistair Smith (Sx)
3) Luke Stewart (Sx)
4) Becky Hancock (K)
5) German Ocampo-Barrera (Sx)
6) Evie Quiroga (Sx)
7) Lauren Pound (Sx)
Band 5 Afternoon
1) Jacob Midson (K)
2) Alistair Smith (Sx)
3) Luke Stewart (Sx)
4) Evie Quiroga (Sx)
5) Becky Hancock (K)
6) Lauren Pound (Sx)
7) German Ocampo-Barrera (Sx)
8) Ollie Cann (Sx)
The next Sussex Series 2 Star is on 8th July & we are currently still accepting entries, so if interested please contact Referee Rory Scott on [email protected] asap.