Veterans Tournament
Graham Pulsford reports:
29/04/26: The Veterans is a great finale to the fives season and there is always a place for anyone over 40 to play.
This year’s highlights, apart from the glorious weather and general good humour amongst the competitors, included:
- New winners for the Open
- New winners for the Chris Cups
- A tough fight to retain the Walters Cup
- David Cooper competing at the ‘young age’ of 86
- New players David Ingram, Vishal Bhimjiyani, Justin Lefort, Justin Adie, John Tate and Pelham Lindfield-Roberts
For a flavour of the afternoon please scroll through the photographs.
The results of the three competitions are below. All games were to 15 points.
Open Competition for the MJS-J Cup
Richard Tyler & Graham Pulsford beat Vishal Bhimjiyani & Justin Le Fort
The four pairs played against each on a league basis to produce a winner and this included the new and refreshing pairing of Vishal Bhimjiyani & Justin Lefort - by some way the most youthful pair in the competition. There were three very tense and close scoring games - quality fives with some excellent volleying, excellent returning, and very different playing styles. In the first Richard Tyler & Graham Pulsford edged through 15-11 against Vishal Bhimjiyani & Justin Lefort with Vishal starting to dominate towards the end of the game. By their second game Vishal & Justin began to really click as a pair and they overcame the dangerous pairing of Chris Austin & Sid Simmons 15-13 in a marathon of a game where rallies were lengthy and where luck and Chris & Sid weren’t on the same side. A good game to watch!
In the third close game Richard Tyler & Graham Pulsford had to beat Chris Austin & Sid Simmons to win the MJS-J Cup outright. The game started disastrously for the Wolverhampton pair, probably exhausted from their previous match, and they were quickly 12-1 down and looked ‘down and out’. Normally they would have been, but a Veterans' game is up to 15 points. Whether at this stage Richard & Graham relaxed, or Chris & Sid upped the ante, is not clear, but the game momentum changed and 12-1 sped to 12-10 and then 12-11. The game became increasingly tense as each pair matched point for point to take it to 14-13. After having served for the game no less than 13 times, Richard made a theatrical diving return of cut and, at last, the winning shot to win 15-13.
The wooden spoon was ‘won’ by Tom Leach & Alex Knight who, although never outclassed, did win both shot of the day (Tom) and haircut of the day (Alex).
Alex Knight presented the cup to the happy winners and also acted as official photographer to round off his day.
Over 50s Competition for the Chris Cup(s)
Marco Rimini & Johnny Saunders beat Justin Adie & John Tate
The Chris Cups ran very much to form with one very close lengthy match and one of the eventual winners playing throughout in ‘Tom Cruise’ sunglasses. Last year's winners, Ashley Friedlein & Chiedo Nkwocha, rusty from lack of on-court time, were outclassed by the sound pairing of Ian Mitchell & Phil Lyndon in their first game together since last year, whilst Justin Adie & John Tate pushed Marco Rimini & Johnny Saunders to 15-9 in their inaugural match in the Veterans. The marathon match was a 15-13 victory for Justin Adie & John Tate over the more experienced Ian Mitchell & Phil Lyndon. This match lasted nearly 50 minutes, and Phil came off court looking like he had just stepped out of a shower! The consequence was that when Marco Rimini & Johnny Saunders played Ian Mitchell & Phil Lyndon the result was not in question and with an easier win than anticipated the former were declared champions.
The cup was presented to the delighted winners by Alex Knight. Sunglasses finally removed (Marco).
Over 60s Competition for the Walters Cup
Andrew Husselbee & Peter Scholey beat Peter Boughton & Jon Shorrocks
As last year this was another competitive line up and there were two to three pairs in the draw who could mount a challenge to last year’s champions, Andrew Husselbee & Peter Scholey. Could Peter Boughton with his new partner, Jon Shorrocks, get to his eighth over 60s final in nine years or would Matthew Beard & Stefan Nowinski or Martin Powell & Paul Kendall edge in ahead of them?
The early group phase included a milestone start as John Cooley & David Cooper, with a total age of 163 years, took on the Aldenham/Newbury pairing of David Ingram & Pelham Lindfield-Roberts. The Aldenham/Newbury ‘youngsters’ came out on top with a 15-9 win after a very polite 40 minutes on court! In the adjacent court the heavyweight pairings of Matthew Beard & Stefan Nowinski and Peter Boughton & Jon Shorrocks fought out a highly competitive game with some prolonged and exciting rallies. As the game progressed Boughton & Shorrocks used their joint experience to return more cuts, create more angles to move ahead to a 15-10 win. Martin Powell & Paul Kendall played well but couldn’t push their way into the final; Paul’s 116 length charity swimathon the previous day was probably not the ideal warm up for a day of fives!
As the round robin group stages were completed the two unbeaten pairs were Peter Boughton & Jonathan Shorrocks and Andrew Husselbee & Peter Scholey. The latter had worked through their matches with steady efficiency and looked very comfortable as a pair although they had been tested by Matthew Beard & Stefan Nowinski who moved up the gears as the competition progressed.
The final was a great advert for Veterans fives. The sight of Andrew Husselbee racing 3-4 metres out of the back of the court to retrieve a smash shot, and play a winner, is a suitable summary. Four experienced players playing quality fives. Andrew Husselbee & Peter Scholey won through 15-10 and as Jon Shorrocks said afterwards ‘they just had the edge over us, with Pete’s snap volleying and Andy’s angled returns. Congratulations to them’.
Matthew Beard & Stefan Nowinski took third place with the annoying thought that they had only just been beaten by both finalists.
Roundbush Pub
The post competition visit to the Roundbush was a pleasing end to the day. General bonhomie and tales of past fives exploits are always enjoyable.
