LEAGUE SUPPLEMENTARY CHAMPIONSHIPS SUMMARY
Published 18/11/2019 at 14:43:45 by David Wackrill.
ADE TREBLE BID HALTED BY BATTLING BERNIEMK Tonkings’ Ade Odetayo was the star of the show at the annual MK Supplementary (aka ‘fun’) tournament on Sunday which incorporated 4 minor events in the form of Handicap Singles, Lower Division Singles (in honour of the late Nick Warton), Hard Bat Singles and ‘Pot Luck’ (partners drawn for) Doubles. Ade belied his Division 3 status with his all round play, but particularly his fierce forehand attack which workedeffectively for him throughout the long day.
HANDICAP SINGLES
There were 24 competitors with most coming, refreshingly, from Division 6 and many of these entering their first ever tournament. The only division unrepresented was 5. The Premier’s Alan Cherry was given the heaviest handicap at minus 24 (games up to 21, best of 3 games) and 9 year old James Carter, a nephew of Andrew Baggaley, the highest at plus 12. Initially split into groups of 4, by the time we got down to the knock-out stage it was plain to see that Division 3 man Ade was on a roll. He had beaten David Rusted, Michael Howard and Bernie Raffe in his group, then Pedro Anastacio, Dylan Cox and Alan Cherry in the ko rounds, all without dropping a single game. In one of his games in the semi-final Alan could not even reach plus figures, so you can see just how well Ade was playing at this juncture.
Then it was Bernie again, who qualified as runner-up in his group, in the final after the St.Christopher Spitfire had disposed of Glen Davison 21-19 in the 3rd game of their last 16 encounter, Danny Walters in the quarters and Kareem Omar in the semis. The handicap’s were plus 4 v plus 3 and brilliant Bernie managed to turn the tables on Ade to reverse their group result, winning by 22-20, 21-17, his busy, bustling style managing to thwart Ade when it mattered most and the stakes were at their highest.
LOWER DIVISION (2 AND BELOW) SINGLES – THE ‘NICK WARTON’ TROPHY
There were 20 contestants for the title in what proved to be a closely fought competition. The winners from the past 2 years, Glen Davison and Dylan Cox, were still in the hunt at the semi-final stage but fell to the irresistible skills of Bernie and Ade respectively. So it was a third meeting of the day between the victors and this time round Ade got the better of his persistent rival, winning it at 11-3 in the 4th.
We have now had 8 different winners of this competition in it’s 8 years since inauguration.
HARD BAT SINGLES
Pick of the early rounds here was the battle royal between the 2017 finalists Sue Lewis and Geoff Turner, who were a well matched couple, with Sue coming through in 5 close games. Sue reached the semi-final where she lost to me, whilst Alan Cherry strolled through the other half of the draw to beat me easily in the final. Alan has won this title for the last 7 years that he has entered. He is in a class of his own using these old fashioned bats and it would have needed the presence of James Carter’s famous uncle to give him a good game with them here.
‘POT LUCK’ DOUBLES
Young James teamed up with Alan in the doubles and they fought their way through to the semi-finals where they lost to Dylan Cox/David Bartlett. In the other semi the dream team of Ade/Sue Lewis were beating Dany Walters and myself. Sue’s ‘pot luck’ doubles record is immaculate. She’s won the title for the past 2 years with different partners and here she was again, in yet another final and pairing up with the ‘man of the moment’ who’s playing style complimented her own perfectly. How could she go wrong? Dylan and David had other ideas of course but to no avail. In a close encounter the score reached 10-10 in the 5th, at which stage ‘lucky Sue’ got an edge to the side of the table and then on match point David mistimed his shot going for a forehand drive. Well played all!
Mant thanks to Michael Howard for organising the competitions and acting as tournament referee. That was a lot of hard work for him and everything ran smoothly on the day, which I'm sure all the players appreciated.