U15/U19 Midland Junior: Alfie Martin Treble, Doubles for Deepti Vijayakumar & Jaagruti Mannem
By Gordon Bay (17th/18th Feb)
Alfie Martin enjoyed a 100% success rate at the Midland Junior Championships (NICC Perth) on 17 and 18 February, lifting the titles in all three of his events.
Opening with U15 Boy’s Singles, Alfie (seeded 1) met Charlie Junnor (2) in the final following semi-final wins over Calum Tsang and Reyansh Arora respectively. The final went the distance with Charlie playing an impressive match, before Alfie took the 3rd set 21-17.
Playing up an age group in U19 Mixed with Katrina Chan, No1 seeds Alfie/Katrina edged a terrific 3 set match with Lingyun Xiao/Qing Yang Xiao to top their pool, before defeating Lewis Smith/Lanna Campbell (3) at the semi-final stage.
In the bottom half of draw pairing Thomas Fragell/Disha Nandish topped their group with a fine 3 set win over Callum Jack/Shannon Leslie (2) to reach the semi final. However their run would end there, with Blair Tait/Deepti Vijayakumar progressing to the final. Blair/Deepti had earlier upset Lewis/Lanna to top their pool, but Alfie/Katrina put in a strong performance to take the Mixed title in straight sets.
The U19 BD pools and SFs were played on Saturday afternoon. The top half of draw opened up following injury withdrawal of No1 seeds, with Ben Ross/Abhi Vinjam grabbing the opportunity to reach SF stage where they faced Fraser Banks/Callum Jack (3/5), with Fraser/Callum taking the match in straight sets.
The bottom half SF saw Alfie/Lewis (3/5) meet Blair/Lingyun (2). This proved to be one of the most exciting games of the weekend, with Alfie/Lewis coming out on top, 21-14 in 3rd set of a high quality match.
In the final on Sun afternoon, Fraser/Callum put up a good fight but Alfie/Lewis proved to be just too strong winning in straight sets, completing Alfie’s fine treble. Congratulations Alfie!
Elsewhere in U19 age group, Matthew Waring (1) showed his class to claim the U19 BS title, first defeating Lingyun (3/4) at SF stage before beating Lewis (3/4) in the Final. Both Lingyun and Lewis (who had earlier beaten Ewan Stewart in SF) put up very spirited and energetic fights but Matthew would prove to be too strong.
The U19 GS SFs saw Katrina Chan (1) defeat Disha Nandish to set up a final with Deepti Vijayakumar (2) who had been pushed all the way by Qing Yang Xiao (3/4) in their SF before taking the decider 21-18.
The final lived up to expectation, another exciting topsy turvy match, with Deepti claiming the honours 21-19 in the 3rd.
The U19 GD saw Orkney pairing Gemma Foulis/Shannon Leslie (1) overcome Lanna Campbell/Anna Sugden to reach the final where they faced Deepti/Qing Yang Xiao (2) who received a SF walkover following unfortunate injury withdrawal of Iona Aitken/Anshita Jaiswal.
The final was a thriller, in particular the 2nd set which saw multiple set points/match points saved before Deepti/Qing Yang eventually won 30-28 to take the title. A very successful weekend for Deepti, with 2 titles and a runner-up medal, well done!
U15 Round Up / Jaagruti Mannem Double
With smaller number of entries in U15 BD and GD, both events were played to completion on Saturday afternoon.
Melrick Dsouza/Dylan Jia (1) defeated Aryan Aniruddhan/Anton Valanraj in 1st SF, to face Avi Mittal/Calum Tsang who earlier won their SF against Drew Murdoch/Kaliq Raffidi (2). The final was an exciting close match with Melrick/Dylan taking the deciding set 21-18.
The U15 GD was played as a round robin pool, with Jaagruti Mannem/Shreya Vargheese (1) winning all their matches in straight sets to emerge as comfortable winners.
The Runner-up position was a much tighter contest, Amy Hunter/Emma Joshua (2) claiming the silver medals.
With Jaagruti/Shreya playing up an age group in U19 singles, the most closely contested event of the weekend proved to be U15 GS with many games going to 3 sets. Emma Joshua booked her spot in the final with a fine win over Elona Kennedy (1) , taking the 3rd set 21-18. Emily Jobson (2) also had a hard fought SF win against Maia Baker, coming out on top 21-14 in the 3rd. Emily went on to win the final in straight sets, but well played both girls.
Charlie Junnor/Jaagruti (1) progressed to the U15 Mixed final with a SF win over Murray Hogg/Maia Baker, where they faced Reyansh Arora/Shreya Vargheese who knocked out Calum Tsang/Elona Kennedy (2) in their SF match.
In another 3 set match, Charlie/Jaagruti came out on top 21-14 in the decider to lift the title – and complete a double triumph for Jaagruti.
Thanks as always to BSCO Officials for smooth running of all the SFs and Finals on Sunday, and to NICC/LiveActive staff for their help during the weekend.