Success for young players in the National U13 Championships

News

The National U13 Championships
St. Paul’s School
Sunday, 17th March 2019

STOP PRESS:  Players from 7 schools and clubs contested this year’s National U13 Championships. Among them was a first ever contingent from Stamford School, plus one young player, Camille Beattie, from the new City of Durham Club, who distinguished herself in the Singles by winning the Bronze Medal for Third Place. The later stages of both Singles and Doubles were dominated by competitors from Pilgrims’ School, Bedford Modern School and, above all, Alleyn’s School, whose players did the double

Organiser Sam Russell reports: 38 schoolchildren travelled to London from far and wide to compete in the National U13 Championships at St Paul’s School.

The day was filled with many tight contests, none more so than the Singles final, where Theo Vernacchio (Alleyn’s) beat Malachi Griffith (Bedford Modern) 15-11. Griffith, having managed to grind out an 11-9 lead, appeared to have the strength to close out victory, but Vernacchio skilfully dug in and focused well to come back to win. The wild celebrations amidst the Alleyn’s supporters in the crowd contrasted with the camaraderie of the players, who embraced warmly before posing for pictures. 
 
Earlier in the day Camille Beattie (City of Durham Club) gave a fantastic account of herself by navigating her way through a tough group to the semi-finals. Although many suspected that she would go on to win, being one of the most adept players at reading the angles around the back walls, she had to make do with victory in the third place playoff against Joe Cleary of Bedford Modern. Camille’s extensive support group were very proud, including her physiotherapist, brother Simon Beattie, as bookmakers slashed the odds on her becoming a future women’s national champion.
 
Elsewhere in the Singles tournament, a multitude of talent had been on display. Chase Burgess (Stamford) did well to almost qualify for the knockout stages, having only practised on squash courts, and Karanveer Singh from Derby Moor entertained with a mature and enthusiastic display. Blundell’s showed typical spirit and tactical nous without getting the results they were looking for and Pilgrims’ demonstrated the greatest depth of squad with the most players from any school making the knockout stages. It is likely that at least one of these players will emerge as a future champion, as individuals develop their skills at different rates.
The Doubles largely mirrored the Singles, as Alleyn’s 1 (Milner & Vernacchio) beat Bedford Modern 1 (Garcha & Griffith) 15-11, also overturning an 11-9 deficit. Both pairs had defeated a top Pilgrims’ pair in the semi-finals, with the 11-9 victory for Bedford Modern 1 over Pilgrims’ 2 one of the best in the tournament. The all-girl pairingof Beattie & Davey almost took down Bedford Modern 1 in the second round and certainly would have dominated the Plate had they been eligible to enter.
The Plate competition was successfully run by Alex Smith and was won by Bedford Modern 3, despite spirited competition from Blundells’ and Stamford. 
A fantastic day was rounded off with the presentation of medals, trophies and chocolate eggs. The new Peter de Winton Cup was awarded to the Singles winner, named in honour of Peter who had run this competition for many years.

Key: AS (Alleyn’s School); BS (Blundell’s School); BM (Bedford Modern School); CoD (City of Durham Club); DM (Derby Moor Club); PS (Pilgrims’ School); StS (Stamford School)

Scores

Singles (for the Peter de Winton Cup)

From the Pool stage the following progressed to the knock-out:

Pool A  Fairbrother (PS); Winlaw (AS); Innes (BM)
Pool B  Vernacchio (AS); Boissier (PS); Hull (BS)
Pool C  Burnand (PS); Mynors (AS); Williams (BM)
Pool D  Cleary (BM); Bradshaw (PS)
Pool E  Garcha (BM); Kennedy (PS); Turner (PS)
Pool F  Griffith (BM) Beattie (CoD)

Also played: Davey, Dorokhov, Milner, Sternby (AS); Leach, Doherty, Noonan (BM); Pugsley, Templeton, Tomlinson (BS); Singh, Valentine (DM); KIngsbury, Wither (PS); Burgess, Cowin, Laud, Nusair-Palmer, Selkin, Thory, Wienand, Wojciechowski (StS)

Knock-out

1st round: Vernacchio bt Williams 11-1; Garcha bt Bradshaw 11-1; Beattie bt Mynors 11-0; Fairbrother bt Turner 11-2; Cleary bt Innes 11-5; Kennedy bt Hull 11-3; Burnand bt Winlaw 11-2; Griffith bt Boissier 11-4
Quarter-finals: Vernacchio bt Garcha 11-3; Beattie bt Fairbrother 11-1; Cleary bt Kennedy 11-5; Griffith bt Burnand 11-6
Semi-finals: Vernacchio bt Beattie 11-6; Griffith bt Cleary 11-0
Final: Vernacchio (Alleyn’s) bt Griffith (Bedford Modern) 15-11
Plate for Third Place: Beattie (City of Durham) bt Cleary (Bedford Modern) 11-6

Doubles (for the Alastair Mackenzie Trophy)

Preliminary round: Bedford Modern 3 bt Pilgrims’ 4 11-1; Alleyn’s/City of Durham bt Stamford 4 11-0; Bedford Modern 4 bt Stamford 3 11-4
1st round: Alleyn’s 1 bt Bedford Modern 3 11-1; Pilgrims’ 3 bt Stamford 2 11-0; Pilgrims’ 1 bt Bedford Modern 2 11-3; Alleyn’s 2 bt Stamford 1 11-2; Bedford Modern 1 bt Alleyn’s/City of Durham 11-8; Alleyn’s 3 bt Blundell’s 2 11-0; Pilgrims’ 2 bt Blundell’s 1 11-2; Bedford Modern 4 bt Derby Moor 11-5
Quarter-finals: Alleyn’s 1 bt Pilgrims’ 3 11-3; Pilgrims’ 1 bt Alleyn’s 2 11-3; Bedford Modern 1 bt Alleyn’s 3 11-2; Pilgrims’ 2 bt Bedford Modern 4 11-0
Semi-finals: Alleyn’s 1 bt Pilgrims’ 1 11-4; Bedford Modern 1 bt Pilgrims’ 2 11-9
Final: Alleyn’s 1 (Milner & Vernacchio) bt Bedford Modern 1 (Garcha & Griffith) 15-11
Plate: Bedford Modern 3 (Cleary & Innes)

The Organiser does his maths!

The President with the finalists