SSBU: 2009 & 2006 Round Up
By Hugh Ainsley
On 13 January, two Age Groups were played at Wishaw – players born 2009 or later and 2006 or later.
For the 2009 boys singles there were 15 entries. ¾ seed Rory Meldrum (West) was relegated to the B knockout after losing pool games to each of G & NS’s Nathan’s – Nathan Luo and Nathan Wong.
The other seeds got through safely to the main knock-out by winning their pools, where Lakshya Sharma (G & NS) had a good day beating second seed Reyansh Arora (G &NS) in the semi final before taking on and beating top seed Calum Tsang (G & NS) in a close final (25-23,21-16).
For the girls singles there were 10 entries but unfortunately 2nd seed Valentina Peterson took ill shortly after arriving at Wishaw and was unable to play.
The other seeded players came safely through the pools with G & NS player Shona Brown justifying her top seeded spot by winning the final 21-18,21-15 against West’s Layla Shaw.
On to boys doubles where there were 6 pairs. It was played as 2 pools of 3 with the 3rd placed pair in each group playing off for the consolation medal.
The 2 top seeded pairs got through to the final where Lakshya paired up with Adam Li (Midland) to get his second victory of the day again and Calum Tsang took the runner up spot with partner Nathan Luo.
For the girls event there were 4 pairs entered but with Valentina being ill the top seeded pair did not take part. This led to an exciting tussle to decide the winners with Flo Kirkpatrick & Esme Williamson (Borders) pushing Midland pair Esme Burns & Nikita Gupta into second place with a 21-13,15-21,21-11 victory in the pool game.
For the older age group there were 9 boys in the singles so there were 3 pools of 3. The 4 seeded players all got through to the A knock-out but Kieran Tsang (G & NS) had a good victory over ¾ seed Adam Li in the quarter final while in another quarter final the other 3/4 seed Ciaran Hope had to retire injured in the second game. This left the way clear for the 2 top seeds to reach the final with Finn Callister taking 48 minutes to beat Alfie Sweeney 18-21,21-19,21-17 to take the title.
Only 3 girls took part in the 2006 singles. The event was won by G & NS player Anshita Jaiswal who gained straight set victories against both Jaagruti Mannem and Tsz Ying Lee. There was no girls doubles event.
The boys doubles was a pool of 3. Fortunately Ciaran was able to play but had to settle for the runners up spot as with partner Alfie Sw
eeney he lost the final to West of Scotland/Midland combination Matthew Brown & Max Law.
A few weeks rest now before the next SSBU event on 10th February but this will hopefully give the committee time to find a new venue for the secondary quaichs and primary championships on 28th as Bells Sports Centre in Perth have indicated that flood damage means the hall will not be available as booked. Hopefully a replacement venue can be found.