JUNIORS dominated the singles at the Annual Handicap Tournament. This year’s event was the first to be held using the new rally-point scoring scheme and it was with some trepidation that the handicapping meeting made up of delegates from each club, set the handicaps for this year’s event.
They need not have worried, though, as it saw more close games than have been seen for many seasons and the finals night saw some very closely contested events.
The female singles saw under-15 Emily Trebert, daughter of island players Wendy and Andre, come back from a -4 handicap to beat newcomer (and possibly under-handicapped) Zephanie Curgenven in three close sets.
The men’s singles was an all-junior affair with under-15 player Glenn Le Tissier (+4) overcome his under-17 opponent Harry Southwell (scratch) in three sets, the final one going to Le Tissier 21-10.
It was a pleasure to see the obviously talented Le Tissier keep his emotions under control and the fact that this led to him emerging as a winner against the controlled Southwell, should prove to him that this is something to build on.
The men’s doubles A event was a step back in time, the island champions from the late 1970s, Graham Martin and Chris Le Tissier, overcoming a their handicap of -10 to take the title from James Lawrence and the unlucky Southwell (+2).
The B section saw the Sunbeam pairing of Peter Scholey and John White (+6) take the title from the veteran/junior pairing of Roger Mahy and Tristan Naylor (-2) in two sets.
The women’s doubles section was won by the unaffiliated pairing of Debbie Allen and Chantelle Le Tissier (-10) who emerged victorious over the Rohais league pair, Steph Stuart and Katie Pearce (-8), in a very tight affair, 21-19 in the final set.
There were two sections in the mixed events this year and the A-class final was contested between two veteran pairings of Angela and John Stuart (on a very generous +4) and Roger Mahy and Jane Koller (also on +4).
Three very close sets saw the Stuart pairing emerge victorious.
The B section saw three players competing in their second event of the evening and the +8 combination of White and Curgenven overcame the promising junior combination of Matt Thoume and Emily Trebert, playing off scratch.
The latter pairing are playing in the forthcoming Jersey Junior Open and hope to build on their successes in the earlier rounds of this tournament.
As always the veterans’ events were keenly contested, no more so than by Chris Stagg, who reached the semi-finals in all five events he was able to enter and on the opening evening played in 19 sets of badminton.
However, in the one final he featured in, the men’s doubles, partnering Graham Martin, their -8 handicap proved too much against the +14 pairing of Eddie Dragun and Peter Scholey who won in the most comfortable result of the evening.
Scholey is a newcomer to the local badminton scene and he and his partners benefited this year from the fact that his play is relatively unknown and possibly of a higher standard that was relayed by his club delegate.
The veterans ladies was an all-St Michael’s affair with Shelly Greenfield and Jane Le Tissier (+4) beating Anne Stuart and Wendy Trebert (-4) in straight sets.
Le Tissier had a very good week in all events and hopefully this will be taken into account when the island veterans team selectors choose their players for trials later in the season.
The veterans mixed finals saw a clash of the husband and wife combinations of John and Angela Stuart (-5) emerging victorious in three very tight sets against Wendy and Andre Trebert (-10).
It was very pleasing to see Andre back on court in a final after many years out of the game following a series of serious knee injuries.
As always, this tournament was played in excellent spirit and thoroughly enjoyed by those taking part and the new scoring system certainly seemed to give the weaker players more of a chance against the stronger ones who entered.
Article posted on 29th January, 2008 - 12.00am
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