Tournament Report
NDBA Level Doubles Handicap Championship
Elstree School - Sunday 26th January 2014
This year’s tournament was made up of two men’s leagues of 6 pairs in each and really good support from the ladies entrants with a league of 8 pairs.
The Men’s A league saw lots of games go close to 19 or 20 and this was particularly on show with the last minute formed partnership of Andy ‘Bod’ Norman (Shaw) and Cliff Verrall (Kintbury), who the night before the tournament had their respective partners drop out due to injury, so finishing as League A Winners was even more an impressive feat. Runners-Up in League A were Alan Arnold and Matt Holtom (Bucklebury) just finishing a single point behind the winners.
Men’s League B saw St Marys pair Andy King and Lee Frith power their way through to win the league with straight wins although they had to dig deep and earned their position. Finishing in the Runners-Up spot was Andrew Neville & Chris Brimms (Bucklebury) who almost managed a maximum points haul except of course dropping a couple of points against the League B Winners.
As time permitted Quarter Finals were played.
Cliff Verrall & Andy Norman won through to the Semi’s against Malcolm Taylor & Rory Muse (Kennet) 21-17, Ben Ansell & Simon Williamson (Shaw) squeezed through to the Semi’s 21-19 against Andrew Neville & Chris Brims (Bucklebury). The 3rd Quarter Final saw an all Bucklebury affair Rojen Amatya & Andrew MacDonald against Alan Arnold & Matt Holtom which went really close with Rojen & Andrew edging it 21-20. The last Quarter Final had Steve Keats & Paul Dennis (Downlands) pitched against ‘The Power’ of League B Winners King & Frith which saw Keats & Dennis exiting gallantly going down 21-16.
After a short rest the Mens Semi Finals began in earnest with Cliff Verral & Andy Norman against Ben Ansell & Simon Williamson where the tournament came to an end for the stalwart performance of Verral and Norman seeing Ansell & Williamson easing through to the Final 21-7. Bucklebury pair Rojen Amatya & Andrew MacDonald fought well but were edged out by Andy King & Lee Frith 21-17 who booked their place in the Final.
The final took an uneasy step for King & Frith of St Mary’s who found themselves 0-11 down on swapping ends but then they took the game to Ansell & Williamson of Shaw, seeing some end to end entertaining rally’s from both pairs where the match could have gone either way, but in the end Andrew King & Lee Frith won a tight encounter 21-19 making for an excellent exhibition of Newbury & District Badminton for the on looking crowd.
The Ladies League saw a very busy afternoon with 8 pairings entered with the majority of games all going close on points but one clear winner emerged with Lucy Burton & Holly Ellis (Shaw) gaining maximum points winning all their league games. Runners-Up, 2 points behind the winners, were Gina Rapacioli & Linda Rapacioli (Downlands) with Semi Final places also gained by 3rd and 4th placed pairings Linda Curson & Cate Poore (Shaw) and Latha Taylor & Rebecca Chivers (Shaw).
The Semi Finals took shape and saw Shaw pairings Lucy Burton & Holly Ellis take on Latha Taylor & Rebecca Chivers where Burton and Ellis came through to win 21-16 to book their place in the Final.
The other Semi Final of Downslands pair Gina Rapacioli & Linda Rapacioli facing Shaw pairing Linda Curson & Cate Poole saw ‘team Rapacioli’ come through winners 21-11 to also book their place in the Final.
The final found Lucy Burton & Holly Ellis start strong to come level and eliminate the handicap difference only to see Gina and Linda Rapacioli move on to win 21-10 and take the title.