The IOMSRA U11 and U15 championships for boys and girls were held at the NSC on 3 Feb. The top 2 seeded girls in both age groups were also invited to compete in the boys events.
U11 Girls
It was nice to see 3 newcomers in this event. However, no-one could match the skill and experience of Amaline Batty who beat Emma Leith in the final. Marcella Dillon was third.
U11 Boys
The best game of the first round was between Christian Webster (4) and Emma Leith (5). Leith squeezed through to the next round 15-14. In the semi-finals Rhys Keown (3) upset the seedings by beating Amaline Batty (2) to set up a final against Oliver Wait (1) who beat Leith in the other semi. Batty won the play off for 3rd against Leith. In the final Wait stormed through the first game with Keown unable to cope with Wait’s powerful serving. However, Keown produced a spirited recovery in the second game before Wait took it 11-9.
U15 Girls
This was played as a round robin event with play-offs for the top places at the end. The best matches of the round robin were Rebecca Keeley (4) almost beating top seed Hannah Dixon before losing 15-14 and Clare Townsend (3) beating Chloe Corrigan (2) 15-12. This meant that Corrigan had to get at least 10 points against Dixon in the last match of the round robin to meet her in the final -the score was 15-10. Townsend beat Keeley for 3rd place before Dixon beat Corrigan in a good quality final.
U15 Boys
This was an outstanding competition with many seeding upsets. In the first round Chloe Corrigan (11) was unlucky to lose 15-14 to Macklin Wilson (6). The first round losers went into a round robin plate competition which was decided in the last match between Lewis Bridson (9) and Calum Baker (10). Baker won 15-12.
In the second round of the main competition. Harry Douthwaite (8) played an excellent game to beat Liam Townsend (1) whilst Sidney Batty (5) beat Hannah Dixon (4).
In the semi-finals Douthwaite couldn't quite keep up the quality of his previous match losing to Batty 2-0. In the other semi, as usual there was nothing between Edward Batty (2) and Dewald Joubert (3). This time Joubert narrowly secured victory 2-1.
In the final, Joubert started very strongly and overpowered Batty in the first game. However, a change of tactics from Batty turned the tables in the second as he lured Joubert into many front-of-court rallies. It was the same story at the beginning of the third game. Joubert then staged a fight-back by forcing Batty to the back of the court but it was just too late as Batty narrowly won 2-1.
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