Cippenham Young Players’ New Year Festival (31.1-1.2.09)
The Cippenham Young Players’ New Year Festival brought players from far and wide, including the usual successful contingent from Wales, to Slough at the weekend. Almost 300 entries were received for this 1-star open tournament, played on 17 tables over two days in two halls at the Club’s Westgate School headquarters.
The fourth running of the annual New Year tournament was played in four age groups. The locals also had a title to cheer as Cippenham’s top boy, 14-years old Eddie Mitchell, seeded three, won the blue riband event, the Under-18 Boys’ Singles. He did it the hard way, beating both the top two seeds en route.
After winning his group, a result that earned him a first round bye, Mitchell beat Rafi Conn-Kowlessar 3-1 in round 2 and then the up and coming Mikael Papantoniou 3-0 in the quarter-final. His semi-final was far less straight-forward. Second seed Damilola Thomas took the first and third games to lead 2-1, before Mitchell hit back to win the last two 11-9, 11-8. Waiting for him in the final was Welsh protégé Daniel O’Connell. The top seed had looked fairly comfortable until then, winning his quarter and semi-final matches both 3-0, the latter an 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 win over Jarred Knowles, conqueror of fourth seed Daniel Moses in an all-Berkshire quarter-final.
Mitchell, though, had other ideas and turned the rankings upside down, winning the final 3-1. Three of the other seven titles disappeared down the M4 towards Wales. There is nothing unusual in this as the Welsh juniors always do well at Cippenham. One of those titles went to O’Connell in the Under-16 Boys’ Singles, whilst Chloe Thomas won both the U18 and U16 Girls’ Singles. O’Connell was, as he was again later in the U18 event, top seed in the
U16’s and was barely troubled as he swept his way to the title. Laurence Williams did manage one game in the final as did Ashley Facey-Thompson in the second round. Mitchell was seeded second for this event but found Williams just too good in their semi-final. This heralded a good run for the unseeded Williams who had already seen off challenges from Lawrence Sweeney and Danny Spaull, the conqueror of fourth seed Thomas Dantzig. The other semi-final saw O’Connell win 3-0 in comfortable fashion against third seed Daniel Moses.
It all turned out well for Chloe Thomas in the end, as the top seed won both the U18 and U16 titles. However, she was made to work hard for it, no more so than in the U18 semi-final when she came from two games down to beat Sushmita Limbu 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8. A round earlier she had also been taken to a deciding fifth game by Chantal Wilson. By contrast, the 3-0 win over Sally Hoang in the final was easy. Thomas and Limbu had met each other earlier in the final of the U16s. This time Limbu only managed to win the first game before Thomas
got going to win 3-1. Hoang’s was probably the best performance as she reached the final of the U18s from an unseeded position as well as the semi-final of the U16s. Four counties shared the U14 and U12 titles on the Saturday. The boys’ titles were won by Ashley Facey-Thompson of Middlesex and Jack Bennett of Sussex, whilst Surrey’s Lucy Lou and Berkshire’s Maria Tsaptinos won the girls’ events. The latter was the star of the day as she featured in two finals.
The event was organized and refereed by Ken Phillips with invaluable assistance from Jan Chapman, Steve Smith and an army of helpers.
Results:
Event /Winner /Runner-up
U18 Boys' Singles /Eddie Mitchell (Bu)/Daniel O’Connell (WAL)
U18 Girls' Singles /Chloe Thomas (WAL) /Sally Hoang (Mi)
U16 Boys' Singles /Daniel O’Connell (WAL) /Laurence Williams (E)
U16 Girls' Singles /Chloe Thomas (WAL) /Sushmita Limbu (Mi)
U14 Boys' Singles /Ashley Facey-Thompson (Mi) /Laurence Williams (E)
U14 Girls' Singles /Lucy Lou (Sy) /Maria Tsaptinos (Bk)
U12 Boys' Singles /Jack Bennett (Sx) /Hilkiah Adebanjo (E)
U12 Girls' Singles /Maria Tsaptinos /(Bk) Elizabeth Roberts (WAL)
U18 Boys' Consolation /Foluso Thomas (Mi) /Lawrence Sweeney (Wa)
U18 Girls' Consolation /Sayeeda Miah (Mi) /Chrissie Slot (Ha)
U16 Boys' Consolation /Philip Barthee (E) /Alexander O’Connell (WAL)
U16 Girls' Consolation /Alice McGahon (E) /Harriet Taylor (Mi)
U14 Boys' Consolation /Tyrone Wells (Mi) /Damola Fenuyi (E)
U14 Girls' Consolation /Connie Hodges (E) /Nicole Cleminson (E)
U12 Boys' Consolation /Jack Collins (Gs) /George Weller (Bu)
U12 Girls' Consolation /Nicole Bird (Np) /Emily Hodges (E)