The annual finals were played on Friday night 16th April at the Beverley Squash and Racketball Club, Norwood Park.
The tournaments commenced in January with the first round matches and since then over 130 knockout matches have been played to get to the finalists.
Results
1) Junior Squash Championship – James Robinson beat Ben Robinson. James (aged 14) played brother Ben (aged 11) in a gripping match with polite but determined sibling rivalry making for a great start to the night. Ben fought valiantly against his older and bigger brother, however James used his height and strength to his advantage to take the match. Watch out next year James, Ben is getting closer. Our Junior Coach, David White, presented James with the Dave Mason Cup.
2) Squash Championship – Dave Harris beat Graham Robinson. This was the first senior match played to allow after match rest time for Dave Harris, who also made it to the Racketball final. With a well strapped ankle, Dave powered his way through with brilliant court movement and lightening reactions against Graham who really gave everything to get the ball down the wall and away from his opponent, but Dave wins again to make Champion two years running.
3) Veterans Championship – Steve Flanigan beat Eddie Cook. This was played at the same time on Court 1 to allow after match rest time for Steve Flanigan, who also made it the Racketball final. Eddie put up a great defence, but Steve was able to control the game and get Eddie bounding round the court to retrieve.
4) Racketball Plate – Harry Avison beat Darran Tomlinson. The Racketball first round losers play for the Plate and this is the first final for Darran at the club. Harry (the clubs favourite Septuagenarian) used all his squash and racketball experience to control the T and keep Darran guessing and running. Darran came back with massive determination to force the match to a fifth game, but Harry held on and took the last game to win.
5) Squash Plate – James Walkington beat John Bottomley. The squash first round losers play for the Plate and this is the first final for John at the club. James was keen to win this final after coming losing it last year. John battled to take games to tie break, nail biting finishing, but James reached his target and added the win to his already wonderful day – we were glad he could make it to the club after his son was born earlier. What a day to remember!
6) Squash Handicap – David White beat Phil Moses. The handicap scoring worked out by Ian Morrison was spot on this year and we were treated to a gripping and lengthy match with David starting on -8 and Phil on -1. David had a mental and physical mountain to climb and managed to stay focused, despite Phil playing probably his best squash ever. This was a fantastic match and the fully gallery of spectators showed their appreciation with loud applause.
7) Racketball Championship – Dave Harris beat Steve Flanigan. The two players had recovered a bit from their earlier matches and soon got the big bouncy ball flying at high speed around the court. This was a repeat of the final last year and Steve again used his killer drops, but failed to get the better of Dave who used speed, reaction and accuracy to take the match again.
The senior presentations took place on the club house with a few drinks to quench the thirst. The whole evening was very entertaining and was conducted with excellent court etiquette and fairness.
Congratulations to the organisers for another brilliant tournament and finals event.
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