Moderates Tournament 2022
On Saturday 3rd December we hosted our largest moderates Tournament yet with over 70 entrants! The Norfolk moderates tournament brings together players who have not played at senior county level before, with a wide range of players competing in singles, level and mixed doubles events.
Singles
We started the day with the Men’s Singles event. 8 players progressed from the group stage to reach the Quarter Finals; Lebon, Bale, Clarke, Thompson, Ridpath, Evans, Plaistow & Butler. The Plaistow vs Bale Quarter final set the bar high with a tightly contested 24-22, 21-23, 8-21 3 set thriller. The top 4 seeds then went head-to-head in the semi-finals with Freddie Clark and Charlie Bale moving forward winning their respective semi-finals in straight games against Lebon and Thompson. The final was a hard fought contest but Freddie proved too strong for Bale, winning the match in straight games and thus claiming the men’s singles title.
Final placings;
Winner: Freddie Clakre
Runner up: Charlie Bale
In the ladies singles we saw Banfield, Crombie-Ergen & White compete against each other in a round robin box. White started proceedings with a close 2-0 win over Banfield. Banfield then dispatched Crombie-Ergen, also 2-0. In the last match of the group when Crombie-Ergen took the first game 22-20 it looked like the event could be decided on points. However, White displayed impressive resilience to come back and win the next 2 sets to claim the title.
Final placings;
Winner: Connie White
Runner Up: Katie Banfield
Men's Doubles
The Men’s Doubles Group stage saw 24 pairs battle it out in 4 boxes to book a place in the semi-finals. Rumsey/Hudson topped group 1 with 5 straight wins. Box 2 was neck and neck with a 3 way tie between Narayan/Vashishat, Butler/Zhao & Clark/Wong with 4 wins each. After taking to the calculator Narayan/Vashishat proceeded on a point difference win. Ershandi/Loh cleanly won box 3 with 5 straight wins. In another tightly contested box, group 4 required a points tally to see Bhushan/Singh move forward with 4 wins.
The semi-finals hit the courts at the same time with 2 fast paced, exciting match-ups! Stewart Hudson/Stephan Rumsey defeated Anurag Singh/Bharat Bhushan 21-16, 21-10 and Sean Loh/Nicky Ershandi defeated Sameer Narayan/Mohit Vashishat 21-18, 15-21, 21-14. The final was just as thrilling, Loh/Ershandi took the first game 21-16 but Hudson/Rumsey weren’t going down without a fight, levelling proceedings at one set all with a 21-11 second game. Loh/Ershandi gave it everything in the third leaving it all on the court taking the title 2-1.
Final placings;
Winner: Sean Loh / Nicky Ershandi
Runners up: Stewart Hudson / Stephan Rumsey
Ladies Doubles
We had 4 Ladies doubles pairs competing in a round robin format for the top spot. After competing against each other in the Ladies Singles Banfield and White partnered up to kick off the doubles event defeating Crombie-Ergen/BV 2-0. Farquhar/Appleby won the next match 21-17, 21-16 against Mutten/Green. 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions were tied with 1 win and 3 losses so Sarah Farquhar / Grace Appleby were awarded runners-up as they dropped the least games of the 3. Connie White / Katie Banfield claimed the Winners trophies with three 2-0 wins over the other pairs!
Final placings;
Winners: Connie White / Katie Banfield
Runners Up: Sarah Farquhar / Grace Appleby
Mixed Doubles
11 mixed doubles pairs, split into two groups, all had eyes on the 4 semi-final spots. Abordo/Hughes stormed box 1 with 4 straight wins, Farquhar/Spaul placed second with 3. Then in Box 2 Lebon/Lebon Placed first with 5 clean victories. With 4 wins and 1 loss Bale/Banfield claimed the remaining semi-finalists position. Farquhar/Spaul & the Lebon’s kicked off the semi-finals with a nailbiter! This match could have gone either way but was closed out 26-24, 21-19 by Lebon/lebon, a particular highlight of the event! Meanwhile on court 3 Hughes/Abordo defeated Banfield & Bale, another great match, ending up 21-14, 21-17. In the final we witnessed another fantastic display of skill and determination. The mother and son duo of George Lebon and Faye Lebon defeated Alex Abordo/ Ranscilia Hughes 21-15, 21-12.
Final placings;
Winners: George Lebon and Fay Lebon
Runners up: Alex Abordo and Ranschilia Hughes
On behalf of Wensum Sports Centre we are very grateful to have hosted this event. Many thanks to all the participants for playing and to the spectators for coming to support on the day. Congratulations to all our finalist’s great performance all round. Last but not least a massive thankyou to our tournament organisers; James Salter and Daniel Hughes. A great event!
For the full draws and results follow the link here;
https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/WSC-Badminton-Moderates-2022