27th May By Geoff Ware
The Final Days Play Both the girls and boys events were still in the balance after the first seven matches had been played on Saturday, with more drama to be unfolded. Referee Mick Strode called the first matches to be played at the Cippenham Premier Club’s eight table venue and play was soon under way, with the first round of girls matches starting at 9.30 am on Sunday 25th May. The girls competitionwas soon thrown wide open on table six, the leader Emily Bates taking on the lowest ranked player, ten year old Tin Tin Ho. Surely this tiny superstar could not upset the current leader? Emily started shakily, she however forged her way to a two sets to one lead. The diminutive figure of Tin Tin, only just tall enough to see over the table with her lightning reactions both in attack and counter attacking gave Emily hardly any time to react. With many eyes looking to this match, it was Tin Tin that caused the biggest early upset by taking the next two ends 11-7 and 11-8, to notch up her biggest career win so far, and throw the event wide open. Early victories for Lucy Davidson against Jordan Layfield, and Ayonija Sundararajan beating Martha Travis, with Hannah Hicks recording a win over Rachel Jamieson and Mary Fuller overcoming Hayley Potts, put a new focus on the title race. Emma Vickers now jointly in first place recorded good wins over Rachel Farquhar, Hannah Hicks, Karina Le Fevre and Caroline Hallows, putting herself firmly in a winning position. Meanwhile Emily Bates, recovering from the loss against Tin Tin Ho, continued in the form of yesterday to gain victories over Caroline Hallows and Hayley Potts to get to all square with Emma Vickers, with a penultimate showdown with Vickers possibly for the title. Mary Fuller, after suffering three defeats on Saturday, put that firmly behind her and had a phenomenal day winning all her six matches, placing her into the bronze position. Rachel Jamieson, also fought back strongly after a first round loss to Hannah Hicks. She then had gritty wins over Karina Le Fevre, followed by a 3-0 battering to joint leader Emily Bates, with also wins over Tin Tin Ho and Caroline Hallows to put herself firmly in the hunt for a medal. Karina Le Fevre after a slow start gradually got into top gear, winning four of her six matches. Rachel Farquhar competed extremely gallantly throughout the two days play taking Emily Bates, Mary Fuller and Karina Le Fevre the full distance, and also recording two wins. Ayonija Sundararajan and Lucy Davidson both played their part with six good successes each. It wasn’t Hannah Hicks best event, with Jordan Layfield also finding the going very tough. The much-improved Hayley Potts enjoyed a good tournament, recording five wins. She was so close to gaining a famous win over Caroline Hallows, however, Caroline to her tremendous credit, following a rotten weekend, showed terrific courage and great determination to fight back from two sets to love down to win 11-6 in the fifth. So the real showdown was the match between Emily Bates and Emma Vickers to decide the title. A win for Emma would clinch it, however if Emily could beat Emma, she would win it on countback. Emily was soon two sets to one down and the Masters looked firmly in the hands of Emma. The match was such a close affair and it was Emily who just shaded it, winning 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9. With one more round to play Emma narrowly fought off the challenge of Rachel Jamieson, and Emily outpointed Jordan Layfield, so by virtue of Emily beating Emma, both having lost two matches all weekend, the 2008 Junior Masters Gold medal went to Emily Bates, with a gallant Emma Vickers taking Silver, and Bronze going to Mary Fuller.
At just 12 years of age Emily Bates from Lincolnshire must be the youngest ever Junior Girls Masters winner. To win the Cadet Masters only last week, and to then play exceptionally well throughout in the Junior Masters,competing against girls up to 6years older and losing only two matches all weekend, is a fantastic, and historic achievement. Many Congratulations Emily, an incredible "double gold performance
I cannot end the girl’s report without a special mention for the very young Tin Tin Ho. She competed all weekend with a smile on her face, win or lose and is a shining example to all- what a talented young lady and a joy to watch. Her parents must be so proud of her. Have we seen the future England number 1? Junior Girls Full Results. 1. Emily Bates (Li) 24 points Gold 2. Emma Vickers (Dy) 24 points Silver 3. Mary Fuller (Y) 23 points Bronze 4. Rachel Jamieson (E) 22 points 5. Karina Le Fevre (Cv) 20 points 6. Martha Travis (Co) 20 points 7. Ayonija Sundararajan (Bk) 19 points 8. Lucy Davidson (Dy) 19 points 9. Hannah Hicks (Ha) 19 points 10. Caroline Hallows (Ch) 18 points 11. Hayley Potts (He) 18 points 12. Rachel Farquhar (Bk) 16 points 13. Tin Tin Ho (Mi) 16 points 14. Jordan Layfield (Ch) 15 points. Could the Junior Boys Event have the drama of the Girls Tournament? The simple answer was YES. Chris Doran, the overnight leader by one point over Damien Nicholls and Matt Ware, continued where he left off, with good performances over Will Maybanks and Kim Daybell to keep himself at the top. Damien Nicholls also started well and was looking a huge threat to Doran, outpointing Richard Marshall, Will Maybanks and Kim Daybell to keep himself in sight of the leader. Matt Ware, also lying in joint second place, fought off the challenges from Alim Hirji and a tough match against Richard Marshall looking down and out at 3-7 down in the fifth end. He battled back to a fine win, but then came the crunch match against Chris Doran. Ware won the first leg, then Chris came back very strong to take the next three sets to really stamp his name in Masters history. He still had to play Damien Nicholls, and Ware had to play Nicholls also. Following a first match loss to Billy Deville, David Mcbeath started making huge steps forward up the ladder recording victories over Richard Andrews, Garth Kinlocke, Kim Daybell and Alim Hirji to reach a challenging position. Sean Cullen continued in good form, despite his lowly ranking to get the better of Richard Andrews, Garth Kinlocke and Richard Marshall to keep some glimmer of a possible medal. Will Maybanks then came good with an excellent victory over Matt Ware, to take away any chance Ware had of the title, so it was down to the encounter we all waited for. The Doran versus Nicholls epic could decide the Masters title for Chris, with a win over Damien! What a treat we were in store for, the match was a classic, it had everything; drama, excitement and the trademark long topspin rallies, treating the audience to some great table tennis. Could the expected title be slipping away from Chris, as Damien eventually got his head in front running out a 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 16-14, 14-12 winner, so now would the title go Damien’s way! With Chris winning his last match against Danny Lowe three sets to one, could Matt Ware be the fly in the ointment for Damien Nicholls, as it was down to the very last match? Could Damien defeat Ware and be the champ, or could Matt Ware pull off a win and hand the title to Doran? With only one match to be played all eyes were on the Nicholls v Ware match to decide the final outcome. Ware was soon in his stride and took the first end. Nicholls came back quickly to level the match at one set all. Matt Ware then found other gears to take the next two legs 11-7, and take the title out of Damien’s grasp, with a relieved Chris Doran looking on. Chris was the Champion, losing just the one match all weekend. Well done Chris, the 2008 Junior Masters Winner, a fantastic effort throughout the two long days play. JUNIOR BOYS FULL RESULTS. 1. Chris Doran (Np) 23 points Gold Medal 2. Damien Nicholls(Sp) 22 points Silver Medal 3. Matt Ware (Ha) 21 points Bronze Medal 4. David Mcbeath (Ha) 19 points 5. Sean Cullen (Dy) 19 points 6. Richard Marshall (Dv) 18 points 7. Will Maybanks (He) 17 points 8. Billy Deville (E) 17 points 9. Alim Hirji (Mi) 17 points 10. Danny Lowe (Dy) 17 points 11. Richard Andrews (Bk) 16 points 12. Kim Daybell (Ys) 14 points 13. Garth Kinlocke (Ha) 14 points. 14. Darren Reed (Co) Withdrew
On a final note we are ever grateful to the Cippenham Premier Table Tennis Club for offering their premises for the Junior Masters event. The hard work put in by so many volunteer members of the club does not go unnoticed. Jacquie Lovell and her helpers in the kitchen looked after all the players, officials, parents and coaches extremely well with a never-ending supply of quality food at very reasonable prices. A huge vote of thanks to Mick Strode and his team of Umpires who worked tirelessly throughout the two long days of play, and I would like to mention that they were all “stars in their own right” for remaining cheerful and positive to all the competitors, offering words of wisdom and encouragement to the younger competitors.
Image 1: Girls, left to right, Gold Emily Bates, Silver Emma Vickers and Bronze Mary Fuller.
Image 2: Boys, Chris Doran Gold, Damien Nicholls and Silver Matt Ware bronze.
Image 3: Masters Winners 2008, Chris Doran and Emily Bates.
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