Concorde Club Squash Tournament Finals Day 2008
05 June 2008
Report on a very successful Squash and Racquetball Finals Day.
Concorde Club Squash Tournament Finals Day 2008
BA Club Championships 2008 - Finals Day Report
The finals of the 2008 Club Championship were held on Saturday, 28th June. The tournament comprised six draws - Open A, Open B, Handicap, Vets Handicap, Vintage Handicap and Racquetball - all of which, with the exception of Racquetball, had a Main and a Plate draw. As such, 11 matches had to be played starting at 14.00 with the Open A Plate and culminating at 17.00 with the Open A Main draw.
Throughout the afternoon, participants and spectators were treated to some excellent squash and some truly nail-biting matches.
Alan Pilkington was unable to defend his Racquetball title, losing to Mike McGregor 3-1 (15-10, 15-7, 7-15, 15-11).
In the Vintage Handicap, Maurice Lyons (-1) beat Brendan Lally (+3) 3-2 in the Plate. This was arguably the closest fought match of the afternoon, with Maurice emerging victorious despite a 4 point disadvantage. But only after taking it right down to the wire 15-6, 8-15, 15-13, 11-15, 15-14.
In the Main draw, Chris Smith (-6) managed to fight off Mushtaq Siddiqui (+1) despite his best efforts. Mushtaq caused Chris some concern after winning the second game to draw level at 1-1, but ultimately Chris managed to pull through 3-1 (15-11, 5-15, 15-13, 15-9).
In the Vets Handicap Plate Patrick Prunty, handicapped at -9, managed to overcome Tarsem Samra despite his +4 handicap in five games. Having lost the first two games, Pat managed to turn the match around by clinching the third 15-14. Probably the best comeback of the afternoon, he finally won 13-15, 8-15, 15-14, 15-12, 15-11.
In the Vets Main Draw, Barry Gage saw off Alan Boulden who had a two point advantage over him 3-0 (15-7, 15-8, 15-12). Whilst Alan might not have been at his peak, having returned from holiday a few days previously, the better player on the day won.
The Handicap tournament saw Surinder Kalsi beat Jas Bhambra in another of the afternoon's five-setters in the Plate. Surinder, who started 6 points ahead of Jas, levelled the game score twice having gone 0-1 and 1-2 down before winning the deciding fifth. Final score: Surinder 3-2 (13-15, 15-7, 7-15, 15-9, 15-13).
In the Main Draw, Kully Garcha started two points behind Harry Chana. After narrowly losing the first game, Harry then found his stride and won the next three to take the match 3-1 (14-15, 15-9, 15-8, 15-4).
The Open matches were all decided in straight sets. The Open B Plate saw Kalwant Bhalla beat Nick Steer 9-6, 9-4, 9-7 and in the Main Draw Alan Leeks beat Jas Bhambra 9-7, 9-2, 9-5.
In the Open A, Alan Pilkington managed to make up for his defeat in the Racquetball final by beating Ash Battoo 10-9, 9-7, 9-5 in the Plate. And, Gurbhaj Kahlon showed he is still the BA number one by beating Andrew Long 9-4, 9-4, 9-7 to retain his title.
A big thank you to all the participants, spectators and markers who made it a memorable afternoon, and hopefully, if the squash wasn't enough, the food and drinks that followed made it all worth it.
