17 players took part in the Horsham Spinners Junior 1 Star on 12th June at Horsham Spinners TTC. They were split into 2 Round Robin Bands based on national ranking points.

Band 1 had nine players and Band 2 had eight players. It was such a lovely day, that the organiser set up three table tennis tables outside for the kids to practise on when they were not playing, and they were well used.

Band 1: Austin Powers!

6 of the 9 players in Band 1 were from Brighton TTC. Top seed, Lewis Austin (Sx) powered though the opposition in Band 1, winning all 8 of his matches. He only conceded 3 games in total. He beat Matt Ley (Bu) 3-1 and just overcame Georgie Hunter (Sx) 11-9 in the 5th game.

Jeffrey Man (Mi) won 6 matches and finished second. He lost to teammate Kyle Kam (Mi) 3-2. He beat Matt, Georgie & Daniel Thomson (Sx) all 3-2 and beat Elliott Knott (Sx) 3-1, His remaining wins were 3-0.

Both Matt & Spike Ward (Sx) won 5 matches. Matt, who was the lowest ranked player in the band, finished in 3rd place as he beat Spike. He lost in straight games to a hard-hitting Georgie, but beat Kyle 3-2, beat Elliott & Daniel both 3-1 & beat Spike & Angus Priestley-Tonner (Sx) both 3-0. Spike took out Elliott 14-12 in the 5th, defeated Daniel, Georgie & Kyle all in 4 and the other two in 3.

Two players also won 4 matches: Kyle & Georgie. Since Kyle beat Georgie (11-9 in the 5th), he took 5th place. He was also taken to 5 by Angus & Elliott but beat Daniel in 3. Impressively, all 4 of Georgie’s wins were in straight games & 3 of her 4 losses were in 5 sets. She lost to Spike 3-1. Elliott beat Kyle 12-10 in the 5th and beat Daniel & Angus 3-0. He ended up in 7th place with 3 wins. Daniel defeated Angus in 4 to get 8th place.

Band 2: Miles Better!

Interestingly, there were no five-setters in this band, despite there being as many as 28 matches. 18 of these were decided 3-0. Unranked Jamie Miles (Sx) turned out to be miles better than the other band 2 players and won all his matches in straight games to get the gold medal in his first tournament.

The silver medal went to 2nd seed, Aryan Sarma (Sy), who won his remaining 6 matches. 5 of them were 3-0 and the other was in 4 vs Justin Holmes (Sy). Both Kenny Beach (Sy) & Stuart Moseley (Sx) won 4 times each, but since Kenny beat Stuart (in 4) he got 3rd place. Kenny beat school mate Justin Holmes (Sy) in 4 and his other 2 were 3-0. Stuart beat Daniel Ojok (Sx) & Justin in 4 and won his other 2 in 3.

Justin & Elliott Rocha (Sx) both won thrice. Justin beat Elliott (3-1) and therefore finished 5th. He also beat Lewis Maunder (Sx) in 4. He beat Daniel 11-9, 11-9, 12-10. Elliott defeated Kenny & Daniel both in 4. He beat Lewis in 3. Daniel got one win over Lewis in 4 to get 7th place.

Final Placings:
Band 1:
1) Lewis Austin (Brighton TTC)
2) Jeffrey Man (Ellenborough TTC)
3) Matt Ley (Chiltern TTC)
4) Spike Ward (Brighton TTC)
5) Kyle Kam (Ellenborough TTC)
6) Georgie Hunter (Brighton TTC)
7) Elliott Knott (Brighton TTC)
8) Daniel Thomson (Brighton TTC)
9) Angus Priestley-Tonner (Brighton TTC)

Band 2:
1) Jamie Miles (Haywards Heath TTC)
2) Aryan Sarma (Graham Spicer TTC)
3) Kenny Beach (Sy)
4) Stuart Moseley (Horsham Spinners TTC)
5) Justin Holmes (Sy)
6) Elliott Rocha (Crawley Community TTC)
7) Daniel Ojok (Crawley Community TTC)
8) Lewis Maunder (Crawley Community TTC)