A large entry of about 65 players contested the annual Cippenham Cadet and Under-13
2-Star Open Championships on Saturday. This year the event was tagged with the final
event in the Cippenham Junior Series that took place the following day, enabling
table tennis playing kids the opportunity of two days’ play before the holiday Monday.
Groups of players arrived from far and wide and several of the titles made their
way back to destinations as far flung as Wales and Staffordshire.
The weekend started with the under-13 events on Saturday morning. In both the top
seeds from Wales prevailed in the form of Lewis Williams and Charlotte Carey, both
regular visitors to events at Cippenham. Williams was head and shoulders above the
rest of the boys’ field and did not drop a game en route to his title. In the final
he outgunned second seed Eddie Freeman 3-0 although two of the games were decided
at deuce. Freeman was to have his day later in the cadet event. Best performance
from a Cippenham member came from Daniel McTiernan who upset the seeding by beating
fourth seed George Heath in the group stage and took his form forward into the semi-final
where he became another victim of the peerless Williams. George did make it through
to the quarters where he lost to the third seed Jesse Kendrick-Hill.
Charlotte Carey only dropped one game and that was in the final against Chrissie
Slot. Slot’s place at the bottom of the draw came after she defeated second seed
Megan Knowles in the group stage. However, Knowles was suffering from a shoulder
injury that prevented her participation the following day. Knowles and Letitia McMullen
were the semi-finalists.
In the Cadet Boys’ event local hopes rested with Eddie Mitchell, the latest in a
long line of protégés to emerge from the Cippenham coaching factory run by Ken Phillips.
However, on this occasion, Eddie disappointed and capitulated to Eddie Freeman in
the quarter-final. This was no freak result as the boy from the developing Uxbridge
club in Burton went on to beat fourth seed Matthew Outhwaite in the semi-final and
then third seed Michael Ho 3-0 in the final. That was the start of a good weekend
for the boys from the Uxbridge club. Another Cippenham member did reach the semis
and that was Liam McTiernan. The sixth seed powered through his group and then dispatched
Scott Dowsett and second seed Jesse Kendrick-Hill before falling victim to Ho. The
new under-13 champion Lewis Williams made it through to the quarters and led Ho 2-1
before falling in the fifth.
Charleigh Kirby, who has been practising at Cippenham for a couple of months, justified
her top billing by winning the Cadet Girls’ event. Charleigh beat her four opponents
in the group stage for the loss of only two games and then brushed aside the challenge
of Chantal Wilson 3-0 in the semi-final. Waiting for her in the final was Charlotte
Carey, who had eliminated Nicole Hall in her semi, and it was Charleigh who prevailed,
inflicting upon the Welsh girl what proved to be her only defeat of the weekend in
three events.
