Winchester College dominates West of England Championships

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West of England Schools Championships 2017

Sherborne School, Dorset, January 7th/8th

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Winchester College achieved the remarkable feat of providing all the main competition finalists in this year’s West of England Schools’ Championships at Sherborne School.

Last year’s Colts’ champion Kidner beat the 2016 Senior winner Song with a finely judged display of singles, but Song had his revenge in an extremely close doubles final, as he and P Kullavanijaya retained their 2016 title by defeating Kidner and Younger.

The U16 event was dominated by Winchester as well, with Poyntz beating his doubles partner Matvienko to win the singles, while the pair of them were just too powerful for their plucky second pair, Bagnell and B Kullavanijaya, in the doubles final.

Malvern players won both singles plates, while Alleyn’s took the Senior doubles and St. Paul’s the Colts.

Organiser Lionel Lawson reports: These Championships were held at Sherborne School on 7/8 January and attracted a very healthy entry of 74 players. It was particularly good to have entries from Whitgift and Sedbergh, who had not been involved for a number of years.

After a busy first round of 12 matches, the 16 seeded players came into action. The majority of matches saw the seeded players come though untroubled but Whitham of St Paul’s was pushed hard by Yang of Alleyn’s, eventually winning to 12.

In the third round Kirwan of Alleyn’s had a very tight match against Alec Younger of Winchester, with Younger just coming through to 14. The remaining 3rd round matches gave rise to straight-forward wins for the seeded players.

The first quarter was an intriguing clash between last year’s champion, Albert Song of Winchester and his team-mate Alec Younger – Younger pushed the champion hard in the first game losing to 7 but Song then upped a gear to cruise into the semis. Pete Kullavanijaya of Winchester (4th seed) had a tough game against Whitham of St Paul’s in the second quarter winning each game to 7. The third quarter saw last year’s National and West of England Colts Champion, Tom Kidner of Winchester in action against Tudor of Malvern. Tudor gave him a good run for his money in the first – with Kidner winning to 7 – but Kidner then took full control and won the second to 1. The final quarter was an intriguing clash between Hanton of Alleyn’’s and second-seeded Monty Evans of St Paul’s. Hanton squeezed home in the first to 10 but, with Hanton troubled by cramp, Evans stormed home to win the 2nd and 3rd games to 3 and love.

We therefore had three Winchester players in the semis. In the first match Song took on his doubles partner Kullavanijaya in an intriguing tussle. There was very little between the players in the first game, which Song took narrowly to 9, but by then Kullavanijaya was starting to suffer with a degree of cramp and he could not hold on in the second, which Song won 11-1. In the second semi Kidner had too much firepower for Evans, who had come through 3 games with Hanton.

We thus had an exciting clash between last year’s Senior Singles Champion and last year’s Colts champion. As anticipated the game was very even, but Kidner demonstrated his class and great potential by marginally having the greater range of shots, coming home to 6 in each game. There is no doubt that Tom Kidner has a great and exciting future in the game. Song is also a fine player and it will be interesting to see how they both fare in the Nationals.

There were 30 players involved in the Colts singles and 7 of the 8 top seeded players reached the quarter-finals. The exception was Nelson of Malvern who narrowly beat Monro-Davies of St Paul’s 15-13. In the quarters Cochrane of Alleyn’s beat 4th seed Bagnell of Winchester, but the 3 top seeds came through untroubled. In the first semi Matvienko took control of the first game against Cochrane of Alleyn’s. In the second game Cochrane pushed him hard but finally conceded to 8. In the second semi McGuire of Sedbergh resoundingly won the first game to 2 but the second-seeded Poyntz of Winchester drew level in the second and then just outlasted his gallant opponent, taking the 3rd game to 9. The final between the two Winchester boys was a very close affair and could have gone either way but on this occasion Poyntz prevailed.

The Winchester squad took their excellent form in the Singles into the Doubles competitions. In the Senior competition the 8 top seeded pairs reached the quarters and the 4 top seeded pairs reached the semis. In the first semi Alleyn’s pushed Winchester I all the way before finally conceding. In the second semi Winchester II were too steady for St Paul’s I – thus again we had an all-Winchester final.

As anticipated the final was a close run affair – both games were evenly matched and standard of play and the spirit in which the game was played was highly commendable. Albert Song and Pete Kullavanijaya ran out narrow winners against their team-mates Tom Kidner and Alec Younger to 10 and 9.

The Colts Doubles was also dominated by Winchester, who provided 3 of the 4 semi-finalists. 4th seeds Malvern were the other team to come through. The 2 top Winchester pairs sailed through to the final and Winchester l (Matvienko and Poyntz) had just about too much fire-power for Winchester II (Seymour Bagnell and Ben Kullavanijaya), winning to 8 and 5.

Thus a hectic weekend of Fives came to a late close. The RFA is indebted to Sherborne School (and in particular to Nick Scorer) for the use of their excellent facilities and for their generous hospitality throughout.

 

Results

Senior Singles:

1st Round: Nurzhanuly (Tonbridge) bt Manur (Malvern) 15-10, Ambukumar (Whitgift) bt Ames (Blundell’s) 15-2, Davies (St Paul’s) bt Hanley (Tonbridge) 15-6, Yang (Alleyn’s) bt Russell (Whitgift) 15-5, Rentoul (Alleyn’s) bt Von Rein (Tonbridge) 15-2, Maclaurin (Blundell’s) bt Yass (St Paul’s) 15-11, Francis (Blundell’s) bt Nielsen (Bedford Modern) 15-2, Colbert (Bedford Modern) bt Lockwood (Blundell’s) 15-12, Smith (Sherborne) w/o Clarke (Blundell’s) scr, Burton (Whitgift) bt Clark (Bedford Modern) 15-3, Barnard (Alleyn’s) bt Cabburn (Blundell’s) 15-7, Shardlow (Sherborne) bt Williams (St Paul’s) 15-1.
2nd Round: Song (Winchester) bt Wells (St Paul’s) 15-2, Jackson (St Paul’s) bt Nurzhanuly 15-3, Younger (Winchester) bt Ambukumar 15-8, Kirwan (Alleyn’s) bt Davies 15-2, Whitham (St Paul’s) bt Yang 15-12, Chai (Blundell’s) bt Rentoul 15-8, Low (Whitgift) bt Maclaurin 15-2, Kullavanijaya (Winchester) bt Francis 15-3, Kidner (Winchester) bt Colbert 15-3, Smith bt Patel (Tonbridge) 15-10, Byers (Winchester) bt Burton 15-3, Tudor (Malvern) bt Barnard 15-0, Hanton (Alleyn’s) bt Shardlow 15-5, Sumner (Bedford Modern) bt Gueroult (St Paul’s) 15-3, Mackison (Winchester) bt Dickinson (Eastbourne) 15-0, Evans (St Paul’s) bt Naumenko (Alleyn’s) 15-1.
3rd Round: Song bt Jackson 15-5, Younger bt Kirwan 16-14, Whitham bt Chai 15-9, Kallavanijaya bt Low 15-8, Kidner bt Smith 15-0, Tudor bt Byers 15-4, Hanton bt Sumner 15-4, Evans bt Mackison 15-0.
Quarter-finals: Song bt Younger 11-7 11-1, Kullavanijaya bt Whitham 11-7 11-7, Kidner bt Tudor 11-7 11-1, Evans bt Hanton 10-12 11-3 11-0.
Semi-finals: Song bt Kullavanijaya 11-9 11-1, Kidner bt Evans 11-5 11-3
Final: Tom Kidner (Winchester) bt Albert Song (Winchester) 11-6 11-6

 

Colts Singles:

1st Round: Horsey (Blundell’s) bt Standen (Malvern) 15-6, Kullavanijaya (Winchester) bt Bavasha (St Paul’s) 15-0, Wiseman (Alleyn’s) bt Bruce (Malvern) 15-11, Cochrane (Alleyn’s) bt Ames (Blundell’s) 15-0, Harvey (Sherborne) bt Ryder (Blundell’s 15-9, Parsapour (St Paul’s) bt Tulloch (Malvern) 16-14, Bagnell (Winchester) bt Ali (Derby Moor) 15-3, McGuire (Sedbergh) bt Singh (Derby Moor) 15-1, Mercer (Sherborne) bt Fraser (Winchester) 15-7, Odgers (St Paul’s) bt Burgess (Tonbridge) 15-7, Percival (Winchester) bt Murphy (Blundell’s) 15-1, Monro-Davies (St Paul’s) bt Vause (Blundell’s)15-2, Nelson (Malvern) bt Skoczylas (St Paul’s)15-8, Ward-Jackson (St Paul’s) bt Crooke (Tonbridge) 15-5.
2nd Round: Matvienko (Winchester) bt Horsey 15-0, Wiseman bt Kullavanijaya 15-5, Cochrane bt Harvey 15-3, Bagnell bt Parsapour 15-9, McGuire bt Mercer 15-2, Percival bt Odgers 15-6, Nelson bt Monro-Davies 15-13, Poyntz (Winchester) bt Ward-Jackson 15-0.
Quarter-finals: Matvienko bt Wiseman 11-2 11-0, Cochrane bt Bagnell 11-8 11-1, McGuire bt Percival 11-5 11-2, Poyntz bt Nelson 11-0 11-1
Semi-finals: Matvienko bt Cochrane 11-2 11-8, Poyntz bt McGuire 2-11 11-3 11-9
Final: Alex Poyntz (Winchester) bt Stepan Matvienko (Winchester) 11-7 12-10.

 

Senior Doubles:

1st Round: St Paul’s II bt Tonbridge II 15-5, Alleyn’s III bt Bedford Modern II 15-12, St Paul’s IV bt Blundell’s III 15-1, St Paul’s III bt Tonbridge I 16-14, Bedford Modern I bt Alleyn’s II 16-15, Sherborne w/o Eastbourne scr
2nd Round: Winchester I bt St Paul’s II 15-5, Blundell’s I bt Alleyn’s III 15-12, Winchester III bt St Paul’s IV 15-3, Alleyn’s I bt Blundell’s II 15-1, Winchester II bt Whitgift II 15-1, Malvern bt St Paul’s III 15-6, Whitgift I bt Bedford Modern I 15-12, St Paul’s I bt Sherborne 15-2
Quarter-finals: Winchester I bt Blundell’s I 11-5 11-2, Alleyn’s I bt Winchester III 11-3 11-6, Winchester II bt Malvern 11-8 11-6, St Paul’s I bt Whitgift I 11-5 1-11 11-2
Semi-finals: Winchester I bt Alleyn’s I 12-10 11-6, Winchester II bt St Paul’s I 11-5 11-6
Final: Winchester I (Albert Song and Pete Kullavanijaya) bt Winchester II (Tom Kidner and Alec Younger) 12-10, 11-9.

 

Colts Doubles:

1st Round: Tonbridge bt Derby Moor 15-11, Sherborne bt St Paul’s II 15-13, Malvern I bt Blundell’s II 15-2, Winchester III bt Blundell’s I 15-5, St Paul’s III bt Malvern II 15-5
Quarter-finals: Winchester I bt Tonbridge I1-0 11-5, Malvern I bt Sherborne I1-5 11-3, Winchester III bt St Paul’s I 11-6 11-8, Winchester II bt St Paul’s III 11-0 11-1
Semi-finals: Winchester I bt Malvern I 11-4 11-2, Winchester II bt Winchester III 11-2 11-6
Final: Winchester I (Stepan Matvienko and Alex Poyntz) bt Winchester II (Seymour Bagnell and Ben Kallavanijaya) 11-8, 11-5.

 

Senior Singles Plate: Advait Manur (Malvern)
Colts Singles Plate: Matt Bruce (Malvern)
Senior Doubles Plate: Alleyn’s (Billy Rentoul and Sky Yang)
Colts Doubles Plate: St Paul’s (Max Skoczylas and Kian Parsapour)