Mascall Imperial Sport Grand Prix Round 1
And away we go...
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The first event of Season 2006 in the Western Australian table tennis calendar is the Mascall Imperial Sport Grand Prix Round 1. The format is as follows - there are 24 players, broken into 6 groups of 4, with the top 6 seeds separated into each group. The 6 groups then play a 4 man round robin, with the two top players going through to the second round, while the bottom two players go into a losers knockout tournament. The second round for winners is 4 groups of 3, and the winner of each group is then put through to a knockout semifinal. The winners of the semifinal then play off for the overall winner on the night. Points are allocated for every win, and for where you place on the night. This format is repeated for 5 rounds spaced about a month apart, and then a finals is played for double points, involving the top 8 players after the 5 rounds. The overall points winner for the 5 rounds and finals is declared the winner. With all that out of the way, let's go to what was happening on Friday night, 10th February 2006. It was a hot and sticky night, and we were all working up quite a bit of sweat out there considering we are in the middle of summer! Highlights of early roundsI was playing as well, so it's hard to give a full roundup of everything that was happening, but I'll do my best.
In Group 1, #1 Seed Jeff Drew was matching up against the newcomer from England, Becky Sparks, as well as Phil Ranger Jr and one of the 5 juniors in the event, Patrick Lim. Becky proved that she will be a force to be reckoned with, defeating Patrick and Phil Ranger Jr, before pushing Jeff with her relentless fast attacking. Jeff was not to be denied though, and came through as the winner of the group, with Becky in second place, Phil Ranger Jr in third and Patrick a creditable fourth. Group 2 was my group. As the #2 seed, I was up against the wily veterans Cedric Wilson and Gordon Lee, and the junior Brendan Lim (Patrick's brother). Gordon and Cedric had a 5 game dogfight, with Cedric winning the first two games comfortably before Gordon adjusted his tactics, dug in, and pulled out the next 3 games. With Cedric using antispin on his backhand, and Gordon using one of the Dr Nebauer slick pimples, it was quite an interesting matchup.
Brendan played hard against all his opponents, but was giving away many years of experience and finished fourth in the group. Cedric was third, and Gordon second. I went through as the winner after winning all three matches 3-0.
Group 3 was #3 seed Giovanni Cnapich's group. Also in his group were Phil Brown, Mike Andrews and the junior Cameron Lang.
Mike Andrews defeated Phil Brown 3-2, and then Phil threw the cat amongst the pigeons by defeating Giovanni 3-2. Gio then beat Mike Andrews 3-1 to put all three players on 2 wins and one loss, after they all defeated Cameron. In the resulting countback Gio came through in the top spot, with Phil Brown in second and Mike Andrews third, with Cameron Lang in fourth position. Group 4 consisted of #4 seed Craig Campbell, and his pennant team-mate Chris Hibbert. Also included were the junior Dejan Bijelic and Tjen Joeng, who was a late replacement for Nicole Low. Craig and Chris qualified for the winner's round in first and second places respectively, with their final position being decided by a 3-2 win by Craig over Chris. Tjen Joeng came in third with a win over Dejan, who was in fourth.
Group 5 saw Tas Gilbert come in as a replacement for the #5 seed Morten Kilden, who couldn't make it on the night. Also included in the group were Jeremy Khoo (another promising junior), Peter Williams, and Mick Lee. Tas defeated Jeremy and Peter Williams, but lost to Mick. Mick in turn beat Jeremy and lost to Peter. Peter defeated Jeremy. This left Tas, Peter and Mick all with 2 wins and one loss, so the countback saw Mick come through in first position, with Tas in second place, Peter in third, and Jeremy in fourth.
Group 6 had Irwin Parker as the #6 seed, and he lived up to that seeding, defeating Ben Banerjee, Nita Teoh, and Richard Ajayi along the way. Richard came in second, defeating both Ben and Nita, and Ben defeated Nita to claim the third spot, with Nita coming a hard fought fourth. Winners - Second Round
The top two placegetters from the early groups were put into 4 groups of 3, with the top finisher getting a place in the semi-finals. Group A had Jeff Drew, Chris Hibbert, and Richard Ajayi. Jeff made it through but had to work to get there, with a 3-1 win over Chris and a 3-2 win over Richard. Chris claimed second position with a 3-2 win over the third placed Richard. Group B consisted of myself, Phil Brown, and Tas Gilbert. I won the group with two 3-0 wins, with Phil Brown in second place with a 3-1 win over Tas. Group C saw Gio Cnapich, Becky Sparkes, and Irwin Parker fighting it out. This was another tough grouping. Gio avenged his earlier pennant match defeat by Becky, winning the group with a 3-2 win over Becky and a 3-1 success over Irwin Parker. Becky finished in second place with a 3-1 win against Irwin Parker. Group D's winner was Craig Campbell, with a 3-1 win over Mick Lee and a 3-0 triumph over Gordon Lee. Mick in turn had a 3-1 win over Gordon Lee to claim the second spot in the group, with Gordon in third position. Semi-FinalsThe first semi-final had Giovanni Cnapich playing myself. In a tight match Giovanni came through 3-0, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.
The second semi-final put old foes Jeff Drew and Craig Campbell against each other one more time. Jeff has had the edge over the last few years as Craig has been playing more tennis than table tennis, but Craig started out looking as if he was meaning to change that with a 12-10 win in the first game. From that point on Jeff moved into higher gear, taking the next 3 games 11-7, 11-6, and 11-9. FinalAnd so the final would pit Giovanni Cnapich, the young contender for the title of WA's #1 player, up against the current and longstanding #1, Jeff Drew. Gio's form had been hot and cold on the night, while Jeff looked understandably rusty after 5 or 6 months away from competition. Jeff started well, winning the first two games 11-5, 13-11, with his solid topspinning from both wings. Giovanni came good in the third to take it 11-7, imposing his powerful forehand loop and backhand flat hit on the match. The fourth was nip and tuck but in the end Jeff got over the line 11-9, winning 3-1. Loser's KnockoutIn the loser's knockout, Phil Ranger Jr and Mike Andrews made their way through their respective halves to meet in the final, with Mike taking the win 3-1. SummaryWell, it was a hot and humid night, but it was great to see so many faces playing at the centre, with a mix of the usual suspects, and some new juniors and the odd import as well! There was definitely a bit of rust on some players' games, but that should start to disappear by round two, with some more weeks of summer pennants and the Albany tournament to be held before we meet again on March 10. Thanks as always to our referee for the night, Nanako Nomura, and Dave Cooper and his team (Sue Lang, and anyone else I've forgotten) for running the show. Special thanks to Rebecca Hibbert for her efforts in umpiring the finals so well. Greg Letts 15th February 2006 Copyright Greg Letts 2006
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