Kinnaird Cup 2018: Wet Weather Fails To Dampen Spirits
12/03/18: The Kinnaird Cup qualifying rounds took place at the weekend with a good-sized field surviving slippery courts on the first morning to provide an exciting and enjoyable weekend of Fives.
Thirty pairs arrived on the Saturday morning dreaming of glory and despite the tricky underfoot conditions, there were some exciting first round matches. The top seeds all made it through in relative comfort, but eighth seeds Tony Barker & Joey Prior let slip a 12-3, 12-8 2-0 lead to go out to Westminster school pair Alex Benson & Can Koksal. Wulfrunians Sid Simmons and Chris Austin came through a tight contest with Lancing's Tom Betts & Mylo Scurr but the match of the round saw Richard Tyler & Nick Shaw up against Cholmeleians Abhishek & Aroop Bhattacharya. Richard & Nick established a fairly regulation 2-0 lead, with no hint of what was to come, before Abs & Aroop began to find their form, turning the match on its head to level at 2-2. With a good sized crowd now watching, the fifth game was a tense battle, with conditions still tricky and a new ball thrown into the mix. In the end it was Richard & Nick who managed to halt the Bhattacharya comeback, finally winning 12-8 in the fifth after well over three hours.
The second round again saw the seeded pairs progress, although not without more of a battle in some cases. Old Millhillians Vishal Bhimjiyani & Jitesh Patel moved into the vacant number eight slot, although sadly Vishal suffered a blow to the face during his match (which he completed and went on to win) which meant a trip to A&E later in the evening and a suspected fractured cheekbone, meaning he was unable to come back and play his quarter-final on Sunday. Elsewhere in the draw, new pairing Ed Taylor & Sunil Tailor saw off the challenge of Oxford's James Piggot & Tom Kirkby who pushed hard in the second game to 12-10; fifth seeds Andrew Joyce & Laurie Brock held off a strong third game challenge from Cholmeleians Joe Marks & Matt Kovar and the all-Salopian clash between Rex Worth & Tom Cox and Chris Hughes & Tom Welti was ended prematurely after a close first game due to a pulled muscle for Chris Hughes. The top four seeds again all made it through fairly untroubled.
Thankfully, the courts had fully dried out in time for the Sunday quarter-finals. Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley were the beneficiaries of Bhimjiyani & Patel's enforced withdrawal and Howard Wiseman & James Toop saw off the challenge of Cox & Worth in the morning. In the two afternoon matches, Peter Dunbar & George Campbell won the first and third games comfortably against Laurie Brock & Andrew Joyce and held on impressively in the face of a sterner challenge in the second game to take their place in the last four, while Jonny Ho & Riki Houlden had to work hard to get the better of Taylor & Tailor, edging the first game 15-12, losing the third to 10 having fallen 0-7 behind and finally winning 3-1 having successfully solved the problems posed by playing against two tricky left-handers.
As always, the Pepperpot Trophy for first round losers produced some terrific matches. Holders Steve Burnell & Tim Gregory from Ipswich looked to be in with a shout of defending their title, but went down 12-10, 12-9 to Tom McCahon & Josh Ravi, who then made it through to the final after coming from one down to defeat Alex Knight & Alex Abrahams. In the other side of the draw, Mill Hill school pair Charlie Plummer & Iain Kidd were making up for a slightly disappointing first round performance by racing through their quarter and semi-final matches. They continued this form into the final, defeating Ravi & McCahon in impressive style to claim the trophy in the last match of the day.
The entry for Sunday's festival was slightly down on the usual number - most likely due to a clash with Mother's Day (Fives players being a very caring bunch) - but 16 was the perfect number for a tournament and the pairs who did take part had a tremendous time. There were all sorts of interesting little sub-plots, with marital harmony put to the test, a repeat of last year's ladies final and some classic youth vs experience battles. After the morning group stages, the field split into Festival A and Festival B. The A Festival was won by the Berkhamsted staff/pupil combination of Anthony Theodossi and Joe Hubbard, who narrowly pipped ladies champions Karen Hird & Charlotta Cooley in a close final and the B Festival - after a series of incredibly close knockout matches across the board - was won by Olavian schoolboys Arvan Barry and Mattie Mitropolous.
My thanks to Mike Hughes and Eton for hosting the tournament, to Mark Williams for his organising and to everyone who came along to play and/or watch.
Results:
Round 1
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley (1) BYE
G.Chapman & A.Taylor beat K.Hird & C.Cooley 3-0 (12-1, 12-6, 12-6)
V.Bhimjiyani & J.Patel beat T.McCahon & J.Ravi 3-0 (12-9, 12-6, 12-3)
A.Benson & C.Koksal beat T.Barker & J.Prior (8) 3-2 (3-12, 8-12, 15-12, 13-10, 12-10)
L.Brock & A.Joyce (5) beat R.Morgan & C.Ballingall 3-0 (12-2, 12-4, 12-1)
J.Marks & M.Kovar beat A.Knight & A.Abrahams 3-0 (12-2, 12-5, 12-6)
C.Austin & A.Simmons beat M.Scurr & T.Betts 3-1 (12-6, 8-12, 12-7, 15-14)
G.Campbell & P.Dunbar (4) beat P.Thompson & S.Cass 3-0 (12-5, 12-0, 12-1)
J.Ho & R.Houlden (3) beat T.Thurnham & S.Shah 3-0 (12-1, 12-0, 12-1)
R.Tyler & N.Shaw beat A.Bhattacharya & A.Bhattacharya 3-2 (12-2, 12-4, 7-12, 10-12, 12-8)
J.Piggot & T.Kirkby beat T.Gregory & S.Burnell 3-0 (12-1, 12-2, 12-9)
E.Taylor & S.Tailor (6) beat D.Cooper & W.Thomas 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-0)
T.Cox & R.Worth (7) beat A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 3-0 (12-7, 12-0, 12-1)
C.Hughes & T.Welti beat N.Gill & S.Chapman 3-0 (12-2, 12-3, 12-2)
M.Bassot & H.Ravi beat C.Plummer & I.Kidd 3-0 (12-6, 12-7, 12-3)
J.Toop & H.Wiseman (2) BYE
Round 2
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley beat G.Chapman & A.Taylor 3-0 (12-1, 12-0, 12-1)
V.Bhimjiyani & J.Patel beat A.Benson & C.Koksal 3-0 (12-8, 12-5, 12-3)
L.Brock & A.Joyce beat J.Marks & M.Kovar 3-0 (12-6, 12-1, 12-11)
G.Campbell & P.Dunbar beat C.Austin & A.Simmons 3-0 (12-3, 12-2, 12-4)
J.Ho & R.Houlden beat R.Tyler & N.Shaw 3-0 (12-2, 12-0, 12-0)
E.Taylor & S.Tailor beat J.Piggot & T.Kirkby 3-0 (12-3, 12-10, 12-1)
T.Cox & R.Worth beat C.Hughes & T.Welti 3-0 (13-10, 7-2 ret)
J.Toop & H.Wiseman beat M.Bassot & H.Ravi 3-0 (12-1, 12-8, 12-1)
Quarter-Finals
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley beat V.Bhimjiyani & J.Patel w/o
G.Campbell & P.Dunbar beat L.Brock & A.Joyce 3-0 (12-4, 12-10, 12-1)
J.Ho & R.Houlden beat E.Taylor & S.Tailor 3-1 (15-12, 12-8, 10-12, 12-6)
J.Toop & H.Wiseman beat T.Cox & R.Worth 3-0 (12-5, 12-5, 12-4)
Semi-Finals: 25th March, 2:30pm at Eton
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley v G.Campbell & P.Dunbar
J.Toop & H.Wiseman v J.Ho & R.Houlden
Pepperpot Trophy (Plate A)
Round 1
R.Morgan & C.Ballingall beat D.Cooper & W.Thomas 2-0 (12-3, 12-3)
T.Gregory & S.Burnell beat K.Hird & C.Cooley 2-0 (12-5, 12-9)
T.McCahon & J.Ravi beat P.Thompson & S.Cass 2-0 (12-3, 12-6)
Quarter-Finals
C.Plummer & I.Kidd beat R.Morgan & C.Ballingall 2-0 (12-5, 12-7)
T.Thurnham & S.Shah beat A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 2-0 (12-6, 14-12)
T.McCahon & J.Ravi beat T.Gregory & S.Burnell 2-0 (12-10, 12-9)
A.Knight & A.Abrahams beat A.Bhattacharya & A.Bhattacharya 2-0 (12-8, 6-2 ret)
Semi-Finals
C.Plummer & I.Kidd beat T.Thurnham & S.Shah 2-0 (12-4, 12-7)
T.McCahon & J.Ravi beat A.Knight & A.Abrahams 2-1 (8-12, 12-6, 12-3)
Final
C.Plummer & I.Kidd beat T.McCahon & J.Ravi 2-0 (12-6, 12-2)
Festival A
Quarter-Finals
J.Prior & P.Sathiyamoorthy beat Ab.Bhattacharya & D.Pritchard 2-1 (12-5, 1-12, 12-1)
A.Theodossi & J.Hubbard beat A.Abrahams & H.Asquith 2-0 (12-9, 12-1)
R.Morgan & C.Ballingall beat D.Redmond & E.Osen 2-1 (12-5, 10-12, 12-5)
K.Hird & C.Cooley beat A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 2-0 (12-8, 14-12)
Semi-Finals
A.Theodossi & J.Hubbard beat J.Prior & P.Sathiyamoorthy 2-0 (12-10, 12-6)
K.Hird & C.Cooley beat R.Morgan & C.Ballingall 2-0 (12-3, 12-6)
Final
A.Theodossi & J.Hubbard beat K.Hird & C.Cooley 2-0 (12-9, 12-10)
Festival B
Quarter-Finals
A.Barry & M.Mitropolous beat G.Hoskins & F.Kerr 2-1 (13-12, 11-13, 12-6)
T.McCahon & R.Wood beat I.Akpovwa & J.Akintolu 2-1 (12-15, 12-8, 12-9)
D.Naik & M.Chinery beat C.Bailey & E.Cameron 2-0 (12-9, 14-12)
S.Kelly & B.Dovgyy beat W.Seath & O.Avery 2-0 (12-2, 12-7)
Semi-Finals
A.Barry & M.Mitropolous beat T.McCahon & R.Wood 2-0 (12-9, 12-9)
S.Kelly & B.Dovgyy beat D.Naik & M.Chinery 2-1 (13-10, 9-12, 12-10)
Final
A.Barry & M.Mitropolous beat S.Kelly & B.Dovgyy 2-1 (11-13, 12-2, 12-0)
