Winter Tournament 2011:
Our club's inaugural Winter Tournament was very well supported with 24 members entering in the doubles American format. It was eventually won by Dave Di Claudio and Ade Salako. The pairings were randomly picked on the evening just before start of play, with handicaps calculated by the tournament organisers there and then. Whilst a partnership or two stood out, the mixed pairings came through strongly with two of the six pairs making the semi-finals.
The pairs as they were picked were as follows:
| Draw | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group A | Group B | ||||
| Draw | Pairing | HCP | Draw | Pairing | HCP |
| 1. | Clare Wilson/Duane Peters | -2 | 7. | Muriel Moore/Steve Bird | 0 |
| 2. | Mitt Rahman/Alex Giddion | 0 | 8. | Matt Littlechild/Antony Price | -1 |
| 3. | Pernille Woods/Pete Warman | -3 | 9. | Grant Davis/Dan Jones | -2 |
| 4. | Emma Rossiter/Kev Snow | -3 | 10. | Debbie Nightingale/Chris Dewing | +1 |
| 5. | Dan McLeod/Colin Taylor | -4 | 11. | Dave Di Claudio/Ade Salako | -2 |
| 6. | Frank Di Claudio/Matt Miflin | +1 | 12. | Lindsey Ritson/Dan Collier | -2 |
| Group Stage Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group A | Group B | ||||
| Pos | Pairing | Total | Pos | Pairing | Total |
| 1. | Dan McCleod/Colin Taylor | 105 | 1. | Muriel Moore/Steve Bird | 105 |
| 2. | Emma Rossiter/Kev Snow | 97 | 2. | Dave Di Claudio/Ade Salako | 101 |
| 3. | Pernille Woods/Pete Warman | 95 | 3. | Debbie Nightingale/Chris Dewing | 95 |
| 4. | Frank Di Claudio/Matt Miflin | 95 | 4. | Grant Davis/Dan Jones | 92 |
| 5. | Mitt Rahman/Alex Gliddon | 92 | 5. | Lindsey Ritson/Dan Collier | 92 |
| 6. | Clare Wilson/Duane Peters | 75 | 6. | Matt Littlechild/Antony Price | 75 |
With the handicaps doing their job and levelling the playing field, the group stages produced some fantastic games with everyone rising to the occasion. At the draw, the pairing of Dan McLeod and Colin Taylor stood out and drew pretty much unanimous comment as being favourites to take the trophy. Poetically perhaps, our highest handicap was drawn with our lowest handicap to produce the partnership of Muriel Moore with Steve Bird, but every pairing had to fight and earn their points. With only one game to 21 in a round-robin format it gave little time for individuals to find their rhythm. It was a testament to the balance the handicaps introduced that only one pair from each group won every game but every pair had at least one victor in their group - see the full results tables for more detail.
At the semi-finals, it was great to see two mixed pairs come through the group stages and the way it worked out we were guaranteed to have one mixed pair in the final. A scintillating game to watch saw Emma Rossiter and Kev Snow as runners-up from group A beat Muriel Moore and Steve Bird (who themselves had topped group B) with a final score of 21-15. It was a similar story in the other semi-final with the runners-up from group B, Dave Di Claudio and Ade Salako, seeing off a strong challenge from the winners of group A, Dan McLeod and Colin Taylor, winning 21-18. In the play-off for the 3rd place, Muriel and Steve got the better of Dan and Colin at 21-12 with Muriel playing her socks off - well done. So, the final pitted the two pairs that didn't top their groups and despite a valiant effort from Emma and Kev, Dave and Ade crossed the line first to take the trophy with 21-17. A fantastic final. Well done to all.
A huge thank you to all who took part for their support in what was a very fun and enjoyable evening. The tournament has raised around £50 for the club which will go towards some more nets for club and match nights.
Photos:
Winners - Dave Di Claudio and Ade Salako (20110109-2011WinterTournamentWinners-v1.jpg (2Mb))
2nd Place - Emma Rossiter and Kev Snow (20110109-2011WinterTournament2ndPlace-v1.jpg (2.2Mb))
3rd Place - Muriel Moore and Steve Bird (20110109-2011WinterTournament3rdPlace-v1.jpg (1.6Mb))
Winter Tournament 2011 - Group Photo (20110109-2011WinterTournamentGroup-v1.jpg (1.8Mb))