The relatively low turnout was mainly due to the Cheltenham 4 Star and other events such as the World Team events in Dortmund and a number of 1 and 2 Star tournaments on the same weekend.

Anyway most of the men’s events had a decent number of entrants and 12 tables were used. Thanks go to Tournament Organiser, Jane Geddes, without whom the tournament would not have run smoothly. Also thanks to county umpires Andy Larner and Damian Milton, who umpired the finals and to Amila Thilakarathna for his help on the Sunday.

Crusaders TTC, Surrey had a most successful tournament with four event winners and four runners-up over the weekend. The tournament started with the even numbered bands on the Saturday morning as usual.

Men’s Band 2 was a round robin group of seven players. This was won by number 2 seed, Michael Ho (Sy) with five wins and one loss, 3-0 to Mohamed Imran Dawood Basha (Sy). Ho also went to five sets with Christoph Zickert (GER). Basha had four wins, but second place went to Mark Scutts (Sx), who also had four wins, but he had beaten Basha. Bashad took third place with Zickert in fourth.

Band 4 had 20 players in the traditional groups of four format. Top seed Paul Payen (FRA) made an early exit in the group stage, with two five set losses to James Meyers (K) and Alex Forshaw (Sx). Forshaw won the group. Second seed Tim Holtam (Sx) fared a little better, winning a three-way points count-back to finish second in group 2, which was won by Ed Slot (Ha) who won his three. Third seed Gavin West was lucky to survive his group, with two 11-9 in the fifth victories. Josh Band (JEY) won the group without dropping an end. Fourth seed Raj Waterman (Av) suffered the same fate as Payen, finishing third. Mohammad Owadally (Mi) won the group.

The only seeded player to win his group was Leo Veinsreider the fifth seed, who won group 5 on count-back from Dan Barna (Sx) with two wins. The second and third seeds then met in the preliminary round, with West coming out on top. The quarter finals saw the demise of the two remaining seeded players with Forshaw accounting for West and Owadally defeating Veinsreider.

The remaining quarter finals were Band beating Meyers and Barna putting paid to Slot. In the semi finals Forshaw knocked out Owadally in four sets and Barna had a straight sets victory over Band. The final put two team mates up against each other. They both play for Horsham in both local league and British League and for Crusaders in Junior BL. On this occasion it was Barna who emerged victorious, a repeat of his victory in the same event last year.

Band 6 of 16 players contained three high standard but unranked (at senior level) players - Steve Pound (Sx), Mickel Miller (Sy) and George Harris (Sy). Although not seeded, these players were placed in different groups. They duly won their groups with ease and made it to the semi finals with quarter final wins for Miller over Jack Mills (JEY), Harris over Paul Bergin (Sx) and Pound over David Pringuer (Sx). Top seed Erik Van-Mol (Sx) took up the fourth semi final spot. However he had to do it the hard way. Having been soundly beaten by Miller in Group 1, he faced group 2 winner, Alex Hill (Sx) in the quarters. This was a topsy turvy battle with good quality long rallies with Van-Mol the aggressor. All of the games were close and Van Mol prevailed with a last gasp 11-9 in the fifth win.

The two Horsham players Dan Pound and Van-Mol met in the first semi and Pound senior overcame Van Mol in four sets. The two Crusaders players contested the second semi and it was a close match with Miller coming from 2-1 down to reach the final 11-8 in the fifth. Steve Pound’s blocking and sidespin/topspin game proved way too consistent for the young Surrey junior, who did manage a consolation set.

Women’s Band 2 was a round robin of seven players. Top seed Sue Collier (Ch), who had been suffering from a migraine that morning, proved too strong for the opposition, but it was not all plain sailing. Sally Hughes (Sx) the fourth highest ranked player, took her to 11-8 in the fifth, despite not managing to win any of her other matches. Second place went to second seed Jasmin Ould (K), who only dropped one end in her remaining matches. Third place went to the big-hitting no-nonsense German, Inken Diederich (Sx), who looks well under-ranked on this evidence.

The odd numbered bands took place in the afternoon and men’s Band 1 had a small but strong entry of seven players, who all played each other. The quality of the event was obvious from the word go, when Mike Ho, the lowest ranked player in the competition took Emran Hussein (E), the second seed, to 13-11 in the fifth. Ho continued his rich vein of form, with a tremendous over Sussex number 1, Ritchie Venner, who is ranked almost 100 places higher on the ranking list. He also pushed top seed Craig Bryant (Dv) close, losing two very close ends of a four-setter.

After Hussein’s initial scare, he was yet again taken to five sets by Billy Pegg (Sp). After that he stepped up a gear, winning his remaining matches 3-1 to take the cash prize. Bryant came second only dropping two ends, not including his loss to Hussein. Third place went to the in-form Ho.

In Band 3 (19 players), unlike the other bands, most of the seeds won their groups. The only exception was in group 5 where the fifth seed Christoph Zickert (GER) was beaten 11-9 in the decider by the sixth highest ranked player Paul Beck (K). Furthermore the top four seeds also made it through to the semi finals. In the quarter finals top seed Valmiki Sinanan (Ha) beat Gavin West (E), fourth seed Andrew Hodges (Wi) ousted Beck, third seed Mohamed Imran Dawood Basha (Sy) took out Rajan Waterman and lastly number 2 seed Ben Larcombe (Sy) ended the run of Josh Band, who had knocked out Zickert in the preliminary round. Both semi finals went to five sets with Hodges knocking out Sinanan and Larcombe coming out the best of the two Crusaders players in the other semi. The final was a straight forward 3-0 win for Larcombe.

Band 5 was the largest band with 23 players. Top seed Finny Wilson (Sx) won his group, but was taken to five sets by ‘Celt in Kent’ Andy Larner. Second seed Mohammad Owadally (Mi) also won his group, but in group 3, unranked George Harris beat third seed Simon Mitcheson (Dv) into second place. Mitcheson just scraped over the line vs awkward pimples player Steve Chambers (Sx). Fourth seed Dan Pound (Sx) won his group with ease with Alex Hill the runner-up, but fifth seed Andrew Calloway did not get past the group, as Mickel Miller (group winner) and David Pringuer (Sx) advanced.

The final group was won by Pound Senior, who had a five set tussle over fellow Horsham player, Mark Collins (Sx). Maybe a blessing in disguise for Collins, as he won his following two matches vs Ben Cunningham (Dv) and top seed Wilson to progress to the semis, whereas Pound fell at the quarter final stage in five ends to Harris. Other quarter finals were Mickel overcoming Pound junior and Owadally accounting for Pringuer. In the semis Mickel beat Collins in three close games and Owadally beat Harris easily. The final went in four sets to Mickel, who had a great day and made up for losing in the band 6 final.

Women’s Band 1 had only three players, as one player dropped out ill. Sue Collier beat Jasmin Ould 3-0, but top seed Yolanda King (Sx) had two five setters. She beat Collier 11-8 in the decider and lost to Ould 11-5 in the final set. Therefore it was a three-way count-back as they had all won one match each. Collier won the group by virtue of her 3-0 win and King was second. Ould came third because she lost 3-0.

Women’s Band 3 was a group of four players. It did not go with ranking and Inken Diederich continued to defy her ranking to top the group with three wins, only dropping one set versus second seed Sandra Rider (Y). Top seed Sally Hughes improved her form from the morning and won two matches to finish in runners-up spot. Rider had to concede to Samantha Meredith and so the latter came fourth.

Summary of Results

Men’s Band 1 (Round Robin):
1) Emran Hussein (E)
2) Craig Bryant (Dv)
3) Mike Ho (Sy)
4) Ritchie Venner (Sx)
5) Billy Pegg (Sp)
6) Mark Scutts (Sx)
7) Owe Karlsson (K) (retired injured after 3 matches)

Men’s Band 2 (Round Robin):
1) Mike Ho (Sy)
2) Mark Scutts (Sx)
3) Mohamed Imran Dawood Basha (Sy)
4) Christoph Zickert (GER)
5) Andrew Hodges (Wi)
6) Ben Larcombe (Sy)
7) Valmiki Sinanan (Ha)

Men’s Band 3: Final-Ben Larcombe (Sy) beat Andrew Hodges (Wi) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6

Men’s Band 4: Final-Dan Barna (Sx) beat Alex Forshaw (Sx) 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8

Men’s Band 5: Final-Mickel Miller (Sy) beat Mohammad Owadally (Mi) 13-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10

Men’s Band 6: Final-Steve Pound (Sx) beat Mickel Miller (Sy) 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5

Women’s Band 1 (Round Robin):
1) Sue Collier (Ch)
2) Yolanda King (Sx)
3) Jasmin Ould (K)

Women’s Band 2 (Round Robin):
1) Sue Collier (Ch)
2) Jasmin Ould (K)
3) Inken Diederich (GER)
4) Sandra Rider (Y)
5) Jurate Brazaityte (K)
6) Samantha Meredith (Wa)
7) Sally Hughes (Sx)

Women’s Band 3 (Round Robin):
1) Inken Diederich (GER)
2) Sally Hughes (Sx)
3) Samantha Meredith (Wa)
4) Sandra Rider (Y)

See photo gallery of winners

Report by Rory Scott (referee)