Skip to main content

Under 21s: Wiseman & Pemberton Win At A Canter

20/01/25: Gwydion Wiseman & Jack Pemberton won the Men's U21 tournament in association with Advanta Wealth at Eton yesterday, relatively unchallenged.

A slightly disappointing entry this year of only nine pairs made it to the start line, with some potential challengers not playing due to exams, leave weekends and various other weekends.

With Gwydion Wiseman involved in a morning Barber Cup match, he and Jack Pemberton - looking for a third and second title respectively - were seeded through to the knockout stages while the other eight pairs battled it out to join them.

There was an early surprise in Group B, as Shrewsbury's Louis Malanaphy & Freddie Ogilby produced a fine performance first up, surprising the rather under par Oxford pair of Tommy Farmer & Aaditya Deshmukh with a 15-9 win. Both pairs went on to defeat the other two pairs in the group, whose match against each other was one of the best of the day, Harrow's Woody Venville & Henry Murray winning 15-14 against Shrewsbury's Jonty Swan & Isaac Simmons.

There was a similar story in Group A as the rotating Harrow trio of Judah Amankrah, Ved Patel and Alf Beresford Pierce finished in third ahead of Shrewsbury's Gabriel Smith & Miles Tomblin. The top two spots came down to the game between Shrewsbury U17 pair Michael Draper & George Battersby and St.Olave's U15s Luke Whitnall & Krivi Bhavsar with seniority triumphing 15-10 in a fine match.

This meant that the past and present Olavian pairs were to play off for the chance to take on Wiseman & Pemberton in one semi-final, while the other semi was an all Shrewsbury battle. Farmer & Deshmukh - still smarting from their slow start - produced their best Fives of the day to race past Whitnall & Bhavsar, but that early defeat meant they came up against the tournament favourites in the semi-final and despite their best efforts they were never really able to trouble the top seeds, who controlled the match from start to finish, winning 12-2, 12-2.

The all-Shrewsbury semi also went to form, with Draper & Battersby winning 12-5, 12-5 to give themselves a chance of a second Eton tournament win in consecutive weeks after their narrow victory in the Richard Barber Cup. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their league and tournament experience, Gwydion & Jack were too strong for Michael & George in the final, dominating the match from start to finish to win 12-1, 12-3.

This was their last year at this level and they finished with three wins in a row for Gwydion and two in three years for Jack; they can now set their sets on the U25s and also on trying to make an impact in the remaining senior tournaments this season.

Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the tournament and to Advanta Wealth for their continued sponsorship.

 

Play-Off

T.Farmer & A.Deshmukh beat L.Whitnall & K.Bhavsar 15-3

 

Semi-Finals

M.Draper & G.Battersby beat L.Malanaphy & F.Ogilby 2-0 (12-5, 12-5)

G.Wiseman & J.Pemberton beat T.Farmer & A.Deshmukh 2-0 (12-2, 12-2)

 

Final

G.Wiseman & J.Pemberton beat M.Draper & G.Battersby 2-0 (12-1, 12-3)

 

Plate

 

Semi-Finals

W.Venville & H.Murray beat G.Smith & M.Tomblin 15-4

V.Patel & A Beresford Pierce beat J.Swan & I.Simmons 15-9

 

Final

V.Patel & A Beresford Pierce beat W.Venville & H.Murray 15-14

 

under 21 2025 001
under 21 2025 002
under 21 2025 003
under 21 2025 004
under 21 2025 005
under 21 2025 006
under 21 2025 007
under 21 2025 008
under 21 2025 009
under 21 2025 010
under 21 2025 011
under 21 2025 012