Fettes College, Edinburgh
Saturday/Sunday, 4-5 May 2024
15 players contested the Singles and 18 the Doubles, with pairs composed as usual à la President’s Cup. The event was played on the two courts at Fettes, where the organiser was still able to schedule the matches to finish comfortably in time for the customary post-match dining.
Defending champion Richie Murby sailed easily through to the final, dropping just 3 points in all. Second seed Andrew Boyd had much more challenging quarter-final and semi-final matches against Terry McElvaney and Ben Jourdan, and got off to a good start in the final, winning the first game 11-9. Richie then found his form, to win the second game to 1, which set up a top-class third game, which the champion took 11-9. In the Plate Terry McElvaney defeated Scottish Schools champion James Milburn, while two other early losers’ competitions kept everyone very much involved.
The Doubles pairings, initially allocated to two groups, produced plenty of close games from which 4 pairs emerged to play out the semi-finals. Malcolm Borthwick & Enrique enjoyed victory in a close but energy-sapping battle with Ed Hodges & Terry McElvaney in theirs, but the win left them somewhat depleted in the final against Penn Chai & Max Khurnan. So new names on the magnificent trophy yet again. The Plate meanwhile went to Ewan Lee & Alex Benson.
Singles
1st round: R Murby bt J McIntyre 11-0, 11-0; R Brown bt N Groombridge Westacott 3-11, 11-9, 11-4; P Chai bt X Millar 11-0, 11-0; J Milburn bt E Hodges 11-0, 11-0; B Jourdan bt P Tamimi 11-0, 11-1; M Teo w/o M Reid; A Boyd bt A Hopkins 11-0, 11-4; T McElvaney bt H McFarlane 11-1, 11-5
Quarter-finals: Murby bt Brown 11-0, 11-0; Chai bt Milburn 11-5, 11-0; Jourdan bt Teo 11-0, 11-3; Boyd bt McElvaney 11-8, 11-2
Semi-finals: Murby bt Chai 11-2, 11-1; Boyd bt Jourdan 11-1, 11-6
Final: Murby bt Boyd 9-11, 11-1, 11-9
Plate: McElvaney bt Milburn 15-4
2nd Plate: Millar bt McFarlane 15-13
Doubles
Group A: 1st E Hodges & T McElvaney; 2nd P Chai & M Khurnan; 3rd A Benson & E Lee; 4th R Murby & C Shears
Group B: 1st A Hopkins & J Milburn; 2nd M Borthwick & EC Carbonell; 3rd N Groombridge Westacott & H McFarlane; 4th B Jourdan & J McIntyre; 5th M Cunningham & H Rintoul
Semi-finals: Chai & Khurnan bt Hopkins & Milburn 15-7; Borthwick & Carbonell bt Hodges & McElvaney 15-11
Final: Chai & Khurnan bt Borthwick & Carbonell 11-0, 11-4
Plate: Benson & Lee bt Cunningham & Rintoul 11-8, 11-4
Organiser and Singles Champion Richie
Silver for Andrew
Terry wins the Plate for the Executioners’ Trophy Cabinet
The three Singles medallists
Proud champions Penn & Max
Delighted runners-up Enrique & Malcolm
Doubles Plate winners Ewan & Alex
We’re in the final!