{"id":9433,"date":"2016-04-01T18:41:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T17:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/209.97.129.249\/?p=9433"},"modified":"2020-06-06T18:04:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T17:04:51","slug":"titles-for-three-schools-at-the-national-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therfa.uk\/titles-for-three-schools-at-the-national-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Titles for three schools at the National Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"
St. Paul’s School, Barnes<\/strong> Peter King reports:\u00a0<\/em> This year\u2019s tournament was again played over four days with three age groups; nineteen schools were represented, with over 110 competitors in all (the U14 entry being down on recent years) and although Winchester were again the dominant force across the three competitions there were winners from a further six establishments. There was a very high standard of play, of sportsmanship and genial enjoyment of the occasion.<\/p>\n The Open singles tournament went largely with the seeding, and Andrew Boyd became the first Edinburgh Academy pupil to lift the trophy. The final featured a long and hard-fought first game, in which Albert Song of Winchester made Andrew work extremely hard for his points. Only one other game in the singles went to three games, but the overall standard was encouragingly high, and many of the Plate quarter-finalists might in other years have graced the last 16 of the main competition. The Plate final was won by Ben Jourdan of Edinburgh Academy in an epic three-game final against Charlie Mabbutt (Whitgift) and the second plate went to Jussi Grut of Whitgift. In the doubles St Paul\u2019s I (Harveer Mahajan & Archie Taylor) came through as champions, defeating the top-seeded Edinburgh pair in a three-game semi and the tough Winchester pair in the final 11-6, 11-8.<\/p>\n The Colts\u2019 singles event was always a matter of whether anyone could get close to Tom Kidner, the top seed from Winchester; and the answer was a fairly emphatic \u201cno\u201d! Cameron Low of Whitgift made him work in the semi-final, as did Matthew Cheveley (St Paul\u2019s) in the final, but this was a class act and a well-deserved win. And in the doubles it was Kidner and his partner Alex Poyntz (a junior colt who enjoyed his singles win against the reigning U14 champion) who proved strongest, defeating Whitgift\u2019s second and first pairs in the semi and final respectively. Both Whitgift pairs had won epic three-gamers against the equivalent Pauline pairs to reach the Winchester match and, as in the Open, the standard of fives played was encouragingly high.<\/p>\n The U14 tournament arrives on the third day and despite slightly lower numbers this year proved extremely enjoyable for all who took part. Winchester dominated the later stages of the singles, with three semi-finalists, and they provided the eventual winner in Dominic Percival who was pushed all the way in the final by Teddy Monro-Davies of St Paul\u2019s, who took the middle game and led 8-0 in the third before succumbing to sustained excellence of serving and pressure from the right. St Paul\u2019s had three pairs in the doubles semi-finals, but it was Winchester who took the trophy in an exciting three-game final.<\/p>\n Many thanks to all involved in organisation and support, especially Ian Jackson, who again shouldered the burden of managing the U14 events, to parents, fanclubs, and some extremely devoted staff without whom the school players would not be developing such an obvious love of the game and skilful enjoyment.<\/p>\n See below for full results<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nMarch 29-April 1st, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n