SDBA Championships Day 1 - Westcliff, Riverside and Fitzwimarc pairings all take home titles
Find out how the first day of action unfolded at the Championships with the Men's Doubles (Championship and Lower divisions), Men's Singles and Ladies Doubles all taking place.
The SDBA season came to a close last weekend with the end of season Championships. On day 1 there were four events taking place with the Men’s Doubles Championships, Lower Division Men’s Doubles, Ladies Doubles Championships and the Men’s Singles.
Men’s Doubles Championship
There were eight entries into the Men’s Doubles Championship meaning they were divided into two groups of four, playing best of three games. In Group A, Matt Allum and Adam Sibley won the group with relative ease as they triumphed in all three rubbers in straight games. The battle for second was harder to predict but the crucial rubber was between Ben Bradford and Fraser Bradshaw and Greg Roffey and Nathan Burrell. Greg and Nathan came through 21-17, 21-14 to finish in second. Ben and Fraser finished third on one win, but were pushed all the way by Jay Crewe and Bish Ale, winning 21-14 in the third game.
In Group B, Lee Scott and Raff Badrinath were pushed close in several games but came through unscathed winning all three rubbers without dropping a game. Tom Grafton and Tom Pennington claimed second spot after winning two rubbers, both in straight games. However, both were very tight with only a few points difference in each of them. Matt Lawrence and Rob Clark finished third after they beat Jay Clark and Danny Peach 21-17 in the decisive third game of their rubber.
The first semi final saw group A winners Matt and Adam face Tom G and Tom P. Matt and Adam continued their fine group stage form and eased past the two Toms in straight games and into the final. The other semi final between Lee and Raff and Greg and Nathan was a much closer affair. Again though, it was settled in straight games with Greg and Nathan playing superbly to win 21-17, 21-18 and beat the group A winners.
Matt and Adam had won a pretty convincing 21-10, 21-11 in the group stage against Greg and Nathan. However, the first game of the final was a much tighter affair with Matt and Adam taking it 21-16. Greg and Nathan sensed their opportunity though and after a good run of points in the second game, they managed to force a decider as they won 21-19. The final game saw some terrific badminton on show with both pairings giving their all, but in the end, Matt and Adam were able to come through and win 21-18 and crowned Men’s Doubles Championship winners.
Men’s Lower Division Doubles
The Men’s Lower division doubles was a handicap tournament with again, eight pairings entering meaning two groups of four. In Group A, Brodie and Oaklen Beaven (+3) topped the group after winning all three of their rubbers in straight games. Andy McMahon and Gavin Lewis (-4) finished in second as they won two rubbers, also in straight games. Dave Hollister and Alex Marcus (+4) won one rubber in straight games to finish in third, with Joe Aguinaldo and Max Tanto (+1) coming in fourth place.
Group B saw several tighter matches with the group winners, Andrew Millham and Jamie Lammas (+1), pushed to three games in two of their three rubbers as they managed to win all three. Joeal Peter and Jithu Yesodharan (+2) finished second after winning two rubbers and narrowly losing the other to Andrew and Jamie. James Georgiev and Tim Baskett (-2) claimed third after winning one rubber in straight games. Jonathan Beaven and Chris Roberts (+1) finished fourth but did push the group winners to a third deciding game.
The first semi final saw group A winners Brodie and Oaklen meet Joeal and Jithu, and with just one point difference in handicap it was set to be a close match. That was how it panned out with long tiresome rallies. Joeal and Jithu won the first and had match point in the second but Brodie and Oaklen snatched it 21-20 to go to a decider. Joeal and Jithu weren’t to be denied though as they triumphed 21-17 in the third to move to the final.
The second semi final between Andrew and Jamie and Gavin and Andy had a much bigger five point handicap difference. Andrew and Jamie used this to their advantage in the first as they won 21-12. Gavin and Andy pushed them in the second but just couldn’t claw back the points and Andrew and Jamie won 21-15 to progress into the final with a straight games victory.
This meant the two group B pairings met again. In the group stage, Andrew and Jamie triumphed in a close three game match. That psychological advantage seemed to make a difference as they took the first game 21-14. Joeal and Jithu tried to respond in the second but Andrew and Jamie used the momentum and held their nerve to win 21-15 and take the Lower Division Men’s Doubles title.
Men’s Singles
In the Men’s Singles, there were just two entries meaning it was straight into a final as Lee Scott faced Jay Clark. Lee has lifted the Men’s Singles title on numerous occasions over the years meaning it was a tough task for Jay. He gave a good account of himself though but Lee showed his class to triumph 21-14, 21-13 and win a third tournament title of the season.
Ladies Doubles Championship
The Ladies Doubles Championships only had seven entries in total meaning a handicap competition with all pairings playing against each other in one big group. The format was just two games to 21 points meaning the pairing with the most games won would be crowned champions.
Everyone picked up at least one game with Heidi Paine and Caroline Trace (+5) finishing seventh after winning one game against Corinne Telling and Jo Howard-Simpson (+4). Kelly McPherson and Sam Cooper (+5) placed in sixth after winning two games, both against Heidi and Caroline. Corinne and Jo were just above them on three wins and in fifth place after getting one against Heidi and Caroline and both against Kelly and Sam.
Abi Campbell and Judy Slater (+8) finished in fourth spot after they won seven games. They beat all three pairings that finished below them and took a game off Sarah Hall and Clare Roberts (-9). That proved to be a decisive game for denying Sarah and Clare second spot as they won nine games in total. Farnaz Siddiq and Philippa Pearson (-7) also finished on nine games and after winning the same number of points for then it came down to points against. Farnaz and Philippa had lost six less than Sarah and Clare so they claimed the runners-up spot.
The winners were nearly faultless as they won eleven out of the twelve games that were played. Hannah Summons and Claire Page (-18) only lost to Clare and Sarah, and that was by a point as it was 21-20. Hannah and Claire worthy winners in the end and Ladies doubles champions.
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