There was a massive entry of 79 players (142 entries) in the Burgess Hill 2 Star on 29th May on eight tables, which led to a late finish.

This was a very good day for Ollie Maric-Murray (Sy) who won his second consecutive U10s title, but then got a scratch entry for the afternoon U11s event and defied the rankings to win that too.

Under-10

This was just a group of four players, due to one player having to withdrawn. Top ranked Maric-Murray won his matches comfortably to get the gold medal. Charlie Nabarro (Mi) got silver and Thomas Nicol (Bd) got the bronze.

Although seven-year-old Sophie Barcsai (Do) didn’t win any matches, she looks a great prospect for the future and did actually take a game off Maric-Murray.

Under-11

This event consisted of two groups of four and two groups of three. In Group 2, Maric-Murray defeated the second seed, Felix Thomis (Bk) in four close games and in Group 4 Sophie Chiang (E) beat fourth seed Arthur Bracken (K) 3-0.

In the quarter-finals, Thomis made amends for his earlier defeat, by knocking out the top seed, Bertie Kelly (So) in the fifth set. At the same stage Chiang knocked out Shem Lejarde (K) 3-0, Bracken narrowly overcame third seed, Mikaeel Toosy (Sy) 12-10 in the fifth set and Maric-Murray beat Nabarro 3-1.

In the semi-final Chiang continued her good run, with a 3-1 victory over Thomis, while in the lower half of the draw, Maric-Murray had a second unexpected win (over Bracken this time), by three games to one.

In the final it was a case of ‘Three Time’s A Charm’ for Maric-Murray, as he had his third unexpected win of the day, winning a gruelling five-setter against Chiang to pocket the gold. Bracken won the bronze medal by default, as Thomis had to leave.

There were a few dropouts from the consolation, leaving just three players, so there was a round-robin group, which was won by Nicol, with Charlie Jannels (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) in second place.

Under-12

This was originally six groups of three, but two groups only had two players, due to no shows. All of the group matches went according to ranking, as did the first round matches.

In the quarters, there was a very strong line-up. Top seed Mahmood Kelani (K) beat Ollie Michell (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) 3-1, fifth seed Arthur Bracken (K) beat fourth seed Mikaeel Toosy (Sy) 3-1, sixth seed Sophie Chiang (E) beat third seed Felix Thomis (Bk) 3-0 and second seed Bertie Kelly (So) beat Max Chowdhury (Mi) 3-1.

In the semi-finals the top two seeds both prevailed, Kelani accounting for Bracken in three and Kelly taking out Chiang in four. Kelani had enough in the bag to defeat Kelly in the final 3-1.

Chiang overcame Bracken in the bronze medal match in a very close four-setter. Scarlett Anders won the consolation with two five-set wins, beating Henry Maric-Murray (Sy) in the final.

Under-13

This age group contained seven groups (two groups of four and five groups of three). The top four seeds all topped their groups, but seeds five to seven all finished runners-up in their groups.

Adam Benmohamed (Mi), who had beaten No 5 seed Ed Cozens (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) in the group, went on to knock out sixth seed Lewis Marsh (K) in Round 1, both of his wins in four sets. Also in Round 1 seventh seed Shikhar Pandey (Mi), who had lost in the group to Oliver Gray (Sy), beat No 4 seed Michell, although Michell was suffering with a stomach ache and had to concede at 2-2 in games. Sam Watts (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC), who had beaten Marsh in the group lost out to Nahom Goitam (Sy) 3-1 in Round 1 and Cozens overcame Gray in four.

In the quarters, No 1 seed Kelani was taken the distance to five sets by Ziyad Chentouf (Mi), who is almost 600 ranking points below him. Pandey beat Benmohamed 3-1, third seed Owen Brown (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) was victorious over Goitam 3-1 and No 2 seed Julio Key (K) took out Cozens 3-1.

In the semis, Kelani ended Pandey’s good run 3-1 and Key put out his South East Region team-mate Brown also 3-1. In the final Kelani raced off to a 2-0 lead, but was pegged back by a determined Key, who finally won 14-12 in the fifth set. Pandey had a good win over Brown in the bronze medal match in three sets.

Samadhi Udamulla (He) played well to win the consolation event, beating Mihnea Dascalu 11-7 in the fifth set in the final.

Under-15

This was the largest event, with a massive 47 entries in 16 groups. There were eight seeds and only one of these failed to win their group, as Alexey Aliji (Mi) had a good win over seventh seed Jared Schaller (Ha) in three. Other upsets included Robel Berhanykun (Mi) beating Damien Gray (Sy), Natalia Ianau (Mi) beating Charlie Hough (Sx-Warden Park TTC) and Tyrell Brown (Mi) getting the better of Will Michell (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC).

Tyrell, only the 21st-ranked player in the event, defied all expectations to reach the final beating Anthony Pereira (Mi), sixth seed Charlie Graham-Adams (Sx-Horsham Spinners TTC) 3-0, Evan Delage (Mi) and Gray 3-0 on his way. Delage had had an excellent fifth-set win over third seed Robert Pelc (Sy) in Round 2.

On the other side of the draw Daniel Olsberg (La), the top seed, got to the final with wins over Mya Sultan (Mi) Sacha Chowdhury (Mi) 3-2, Hough and fifth seed Alex Ahl (Mi) by 11-9, 11-9, 11-9. To get to the semis, Gray beat Pandey, Brown and Mojtaba Adel and Ahl defeated Schaller, Berhanykun and fourth seed Ali Malloch (Do).

The final was 3-0 to Olsberg, but Tyrell had done extremely well to get to the final, having beaten four players ranked above him. Ahl beat Gray 3-1 for the bronze medal.

Joe Sheppard (Gs), who had been expected to win his group on ranking, but didn’t get through, made amends by winning the consolation event with a final victory over Valentin Sepsi (Mi) 3-1.

Under-18

This was another very large category with 38 entries in 12 groups. Again eight players were seeded and two seeds failed to win their groups. Josh Amanor (Mi) had a very good win over sixth seed Ollie Guile (Sx-Brighton City TTC) in the fifth set and Berhanykun had an equally good win over seventh seed, Malloch 13-11 in the fifth.

Other upsets in the groups included Aliji beating club-mate Tom Black (Mi) 3-1 and Will Michell, who is unranked in juniors, winning his group against three ranked players, including Valerio Bucci (Mi) by 11-9 in the fifth. The final unexpected win at the group stage was Ahl beating Billy Keegan (Sx-Brighton City TTC) 11-8 in the 5th, but there was only a 10-point difference in their rankings.

In Round 1, unseeded Ahl knocked out Malloch 12-10 in the fifth. Michell continued his winning ways in Round 1, knocking out Joel Attah (Sy) 12-10 in the fifth and indeed was 8-2 up in the fifth set in Round 2 against fifth seed Abdur-Rahman Kelani, but Kelani surged back to win 11-9. A major upset occurred in Round 2, with Bucci knocking out fourth seed and the U15s winner Olsberg in four games. Aliji had a couple of good wins, beating Keegan in Round 1 and Berhanykun in Round 2.

In the quarters, brothers Richard & Robert Pelc met each other and top seed and older brother Richard won comfortably. At the same stage, Ahl beat Bucci in four, Kelani came back from 0-2 down to defeat Schaller and second seed Cantor was too strong for Aliji.

Both semi-finals went to four sets, with Pelc defeating Ahl and Cantor stopping Kelani. The final was also in four, but Cantor upset the seedings by getting the better of Pelc. A battle ensued for the bronze medal, with Kelani coming through 12-10 in the decider, despite having been match point down, thereby winning his third consecutive five-setter.

Sheppard proved he was the consolation king, as he won his second consolation event of the day, beating Sepsi for a third time that day, two of the wins being in consolation finals. This shows how strong Group 11 was, as it contained both consolation finalists, Bucci & Michell. The surprise of the U18s event, was that Tyrell Brown, who had done so well to reach the U15s final, failed to win any matches in the U18s. Perhaps he had used up all of his energy in the morning.

Results

U10s:
Round Robin: 1st: Ollie Maric-Murray (Sy), 2nd: Charlie Nabarro (Mi)

U11s:
Main: Ollie Maric-Murray (Sy) beat Sophie Chiang (E) 11-9, 4-11, 4-11, 11-3, 11-8
Consolation: Round Robin: 1st: Thomas Nicol (Bd), 2nd: Charlie Jannels (Sx)

U12s:
Main: Mahmood Kelani (K) beat Bertie Kelly (So) 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9
Consolation: Scarlett Anders (Mi) beat Henry Maric-Murray (Sy) 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8

U13s:
Main: Julio Key (K) beat Mahmood Kelani (K) 6-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 14-12
Consolation: Samadhi Udamulla (He) beat Mihnea Dascalu (Mi) 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7

U15s:
Main: Daniel Olsberg (La) beat Tyrell Brown (Mi) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6
Consolation: Joe Sheppard (Gs) beat Valentin Sepsi (Mi) 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8

U18s:
Main: Zak Cantor (La) beat Richard Pelc (Sy) 11-3, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6
Consolation: Joe Sheppard (Gs) beat Valentin Sepsi (Mi) 13-11, 11-9, 11-7