Tees Sport Butterfly Blackpool Grand Prix

[DaveR]

Hampshire’s Hannah Hicks and Scotland’s Craig Howieson towered to victory on day one of the Tees Sport Butterfly Blackpool Grand Prix, on Saturday 5th April.
Held in the 23 table venue of the town’s Sports centre, these two juniors lit up the playing arena, in their own very determined way. Playing in their respective band one events, both Hannah and Craig didn’t have it all their own way and were made to fight en route to their titles.

Hicks was all at sea in the group stages, losing out to England junior international, Natalie Slater, however progressed through as runner up to the knockout stages. Hannah then enjoyed victories over Andrea Harrison, followed by a real nail biter of a match against top seeded Stephanie Donnelly. Hicks then had another five setter in the semi final against Scotland’s Natasha Milliken, to take her place in the final.
Meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw Natalie Slater assumed the role of 2nd seed, and continued playing dodgems to accelerate past Liz May, then Annabelle Sorrentino to reach the final, which set up another confrontation with Hicks. Unlike the group match, Hannah quickly asserted with her dual purpose play of mixing defence with attacking play to run out a straight sets winner, and collect the women’s band one, winners’ cheque for £50.

Craig Howieson, top seed for the men’s band one event, also had to work very hard for his £60 winner’s cheque. At his quarter and semi final stages he had to produce some spectacular play to eventually overcome the determined challenge from the two Italian visitors, Igor Millic and Fabio Mantegazza, both going the full distance, to reach the final.

In the lower half of the draw, Matt Ware was enjoying good performances over Ireland’s Peter Graham, followed by a four set victory over his England Junior International team-mate Damien Nicholls, to also reach the final.
Howieson had a fight on his hands in the final. Going two sets down against Ware, he somehow found the extra gears to take the next three legs with some lightning 3rd ball attacking play, to eventually run out a deserved winner.

Highlights of the rest of the day’s banded play has to be firstly, 12 years young, future superstar Sam Walker’s unbeaten performance’s in taking both the men’s band five and six, titles. This Nottinghamshire attacking pocket dynamo had all his opponents washed up on the Blackpool beach.

Yorkshire’s own Mary Fuller continues to impress with yet another women’s band two title. At her penultimate stage Mary came back from 2 sets to love down, against Rachel Baker, to find the extra resolve and take her place in the final. Fuller played some controlled attacking play against her final opponent Scotland’s Natasha Milliken, to take the band 2 title.

What a joy it was to witness the skills of the Beijing Paralympic qualifier, Will Bayley in the men’s band four and five events. Proudly wearing his Olympic tattoo on his left leg, this very likeable young man thrilled us all with his mix of power and determination to reach the final of band 4, and the semi final stage of band five.
Daniel Welsh took the men’s band two title with a workmanlike display in the final against Daniel Kolesnik. Julie Lawrence dominated in women’s band three, and Scotland’s Sean Doherty dropped only two sets on his way to the men’s band three crown, those coming from his semi final and Scotland team mate opponent, Richard Main.

The Tees Sport series of Butterfly Grand Prix events continue to provide excellent opportunities for all levels of playing abilities throughout the country and are always very well attended. Several players have travelled from all parts, to participate in Blackpool this weekend, and the following have hardly missed a Grand Prix this year, so many thanks to, Alasdhair Broadbent, Daniel Fielding, Shaun Murray, Steve Smith and Stephanie Donnelly your support is very much appreciated.
The next satellite Grand Prix will be held in the beautiful Channel Island of Jersey next weekend from Friday 11th- Sunday 13th April, and if you cannot make this one, we look forward to inviting you to the next main Butterfly Grand Prix held in London on the weekend of 26th/27th April.

Day two at the “Golden Mile” venue, attracts the appearance of England number two ranked Darius Knight. He will have to be at his best to halt the challenge coming from the Chinese pair of Hong Ming Zhang, and Wang Zheng.
Will we see another Women’s Open title going to Shu Ying Xu, or can one of her 30 opponents halt her inevitable “ Hen Party” in Blackpool?

Full results from Day One.

Men’s Band 1.
Craig Howieson (Sco) beat Matt Ware (Ha)
9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4

Men’s Band 2.
Daniel Welsh (Cv) beat Daniel Kolesnik (Gs)
11-3, 11-7, 11-7.

Men’s Band 3.
Sean Doherty (Sco) beat Lloyd Gregory (Av)
11-8, 11-7, 11-8.

Men’s Band 4.
Richard Main (Sco) beat Will Bayley (K)
11-8, 11-8, 11-7.

Men’s Band 5.
Sam Walker (Ng) beat Maciek Szymanski (Irl)
11-4, 12-10, 11-7.

Men’s Band 6.
Sam Walker (Ng) beat Ashley Robinson (Irl)
13-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9.

Women’s Band 1.
Hannah Hicks (Ha) beat Natalie Slater (St.)
11-9, 11-6, 11-7.

Women’s Band 2.
Mary Fuller (Y) beat Natasha Milliken (Sco)
11-7, 11-2, 11-8.

Women’s Band 3.
Julie Lawrence (Sco) beat Josie Bruce (Jey)
11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9.

ETTA Report by Geoff Ware (ETTA Butterfly Grand Prix Press Officer)

[DaveR]

Updates to the TeesSport Blackpool Tournament...................

London Progress resident Chinese Superstar Hong Ming Zhang never broke sweat on his way to collecting the Men’s Open winner’s cheque for £300 at the Tees Sport Butterfly Blackpool Grand Prix.
Zhang was never extended on his way to the title, and dropped only one set all day, that to Kevin Dolder in the semi final. Dolder enjoyed some superb wins against Italian Fabio Mantegazza and Paul Mcreery, to reach the semi final. Zhang had earlier been much too strong for Matt Ware in the last eight stage, (Ware just had a great win over Mike Marsden). Zhang then awaited the tournament pre favourite Darius Knight in the final.

Darius was made to work really hard for his place in the final. Right from the start of the event, Knight was taken right to the wire in the group stage by the talented Scottish youngster Richard Main, with Darius coming through 11-9 in the fifth end. He then powered past Ben Barlow and Craig Howieson. Knight’s semi-final opponent was Damien Nicholls, who had played exceptionally well to reach this stage enjoying good performances over Stephen Denny and Stewart Crawford. Damien took Darius to five ends, however the number one seeded Knight went away in the final end.
So it was as expected in the final, with Darius taking on the Chinese hotshot.
Hong Ming Zhang was never really threatened by Knight, and ran out a comfortable three straight sets winner.

The Women’s Open competition was thrown wide open with the late withdrawal of the top three seeds. The pre tournament favourite, Shu Ying Xu and her Peniel best friend Meihan Liu were unable to travel up from London due to the bad weather and train cancellations.
Lindsey Reynolds also had to withdraw due to personal reasons which left a headache for Referee, Dave Cochrane to unravel! He soon shuffled the groups round and with no hold up we were back on track.
Karen Shepherd assumed the role of top seed, however lost to England Cadet International Natalie Slater in the group stage. Natalie then proceeded right through to the final with some strong performances over Roz Carpenter, Liz May and Stephanie Donnelly to await the outcome and her final opponent from the bottom half of the draw.
Caroline Hallows now seeded at two, was having to pull out all the stops to make her path clear to the final. Her first opponent Scotland’s Julie Lawrence, made Caroline fight all the way in the first round going down 8-11 in the fifth end after a remarkable see-saw match.
Hallows then brushed past Italian Nadine Scarizuola, to face the in-form Mary Fuller in the semi’s. Mary had earlier fought off the challenge of Hannah Hicks, and fancied her chances against Caroline. It was a great match with both Girls going for everything. Hallows eventually came through in the tightest of five sets, and took her place against Natalie Slater in the final.
Caroline with her vast experience proved just too strong for Natalie, winning in 4 sets to take the Women’s Open Butterfly Blackpool Grand Prix title, with a rewarding cheque for £175.
The Under 21 Men’s and Women’s Singles were soon under way. Following the group stages, Damien Nicholls, so often a winner in the Under 21 Men’s event was making stealthy progress through to yet another final. Disposing of Scott Barton, Mathew Dodds and then having to find his best form, after going two sets to love down against Ireland’s Peter Graham, managed to come through in the fifth end.
Meanwhile, in the other half of the draw David Mcbeath was producing some controlled yet aggressive play to reach the final with victories over Andrew Wilson and Adam Feargrieve.
Matt Ware was his semi- final opponent. Ware was also firing on all cylinders to eliminate Jonathan Crawford and Paul Mcreery, to then face his Hampshire team mate Mcbeath.
David found top form just when he needed it, to gain an unexpected straight sets win over Ware.
In the final, Damien Nicholls proved just too strong for David Mcbeath taking the Under 21 Men’s title in four sets.
The under 21 Women’s event went to Hannah Hicks, with a straight sets win over Scotland’s Natasha Milliken, in the final.
Hannah played superbly throughout this competition coming through against another Scottish competitor, Corrina Whittaker, followed up with a semi final defeat of Ireland’s Claire Nelson.
Natasha Milliken had also played extremely well to get the better of Stephanie Donnelly, and Mary Fuller, to reach the final stage.

The Veteran Men’s Tournament went to Darren Mcvitie. Darren had his work cut out in the semi final with a tough 5 setter against Richard Lightower, to meet Julien Gittens in the final. Julian too, had to work very hard chopping his way to victories over Andy Packford and Chris Ford, to get the chance to play Mcvitie in the final.
Darren Mcvitie ran out a comfortable winner in a three straight sets, final.

The Restricted Men’s title went to top seed Stephen Denny, with a four sets triumph over 2nd seed, Daniel Welsh at the final stage.

The Tees Sport Player of the Weekend award and a voucher for £50 went to twelve year old Sam Walker from Worksop, for his fantastic achievements in Men’s Band five and six, after competing in his first ever Butterfly Grand Prix.

Tournaments such as the Blackpool Grand Prix event could not be successfully staged without the very hard work from many individuals including the Organising Committee, the loyal team of Blackpool Volunteers, led by Martin Ireland, and of course, the ETTA umpires. A special mention of thanks to Dave Cochrane on his first referee’s appointment.
Well done Dave, Brian Jackson and Jim Kenny.

Ken Armson would have been very proud of the professional show you all put on.

Full Results from Sunday’s play.

Men’s Open.
Hong Ming Zhang (Chn) beat Darius Knight (Sy)
11-8, 11-8, 11-5.

Women’s Open.
Caroline Hallows (Ch) beat Natalie Slater (St)
12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 11-2.


Men’s Under 21.
Damien Nicholls (Sp) beat David Mcbeath (Ha)
11-6, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9.

Women’s Under 21.
Hannah Hicks (Ha) beat Natasha Milliken (Sco)
11-9, 11-7, 114.

Veteran Men.
Darren Mcvitie (Du) beat Julian Gittens (Y)
11-4, 11-2, 11-5.

Restricted Men.
Stephen Denny (Y) beat Daniel Welsh (Cv)
11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8.


ETTA Report by Geoff Ware (ETTA Butterfly Grand Prix Press Officer)

[Pingpongeoff]

not a bad report! maybe this guy has a future as a reporter?

[DaveR]

Never as good as you though Geoff !

ps I do add the name of the report, having said that did i miss that one off............my apolagies.

Nice report though and always worth reading.