72 young players from around the Eastern Region (comprising the counties of Beds, Cambs, Essex, Herts, Norfolk and Suffolk) travelled to Stowmarket TTC on the 29th November for the Regional Trials. There were six categories in total U11, U13 and U15 boys and girls. With three players in each category receiving automatic qualification and three being placed on the reserve list for the National finals being held in April 2009, there was strong competition amongst the players to see who would go through.

In the U11 girls Kristelle Brook (Essex) won all her matches to take the group honours and she was joined by Lara Esquivel (Essex) and Amaka Okafor (Essex) in qualifying for the finals. On the reserve list is Olivia Hossack (Essex), Natalie Wills (Suffolk) and Alexandra Hossack (Essex). There is a special mention for Natalie who was playing in her very first tournament and managed to finish in 5th position, which is a great performance first time out.

In the U13 girls, Essex domination was broken by Wen Ting Wang from Hertfordshire who took the third qualify place. A key win for Wen Ting was her match against Nicole Cleminson. Losing the first two sets 7-11 9-11, she then pulled off what turned out to be a qualifying win by taking the next three sets 11-7, 12-10, 11-8. Ifunanya Okafor (Essex) won the group, with Estelle Purkis (Essex) 2nd. On the reserve list is Lucy Zu (Suffolk), Nicole Cleminson (Essex) and Rebecca Lockwood (Essex).

In the U15 girls there were just five competitors on the day, with Molly Ajeto (Norfolk) not attending due to injury. Bethany March (Essex) was undefeated and qualified along with Evangeline Collier (Essex) and Natasha Walsh (Herts). Evangeline threatened to take the top spot from Bethany when she took the first game in their match 12-10, but Bethany took the next three, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7. Reserve list players are Connie Hodges (Essex) and Amy Catlin (Cambridgeshire).

The U11 boys saw players from Essex, Herts and Suffolk competing for honours. Once again there was a clear winner with Christian Gibson (Essex) winning his six matches. He was stretched to four sets by Benjamin Holland (Essex) but that was his only cause for concern. That match was Benjamin's only defeat and he qualified in second place with Andrew Whitcombe (Essex) taking third. On the reserve list is Arlen Crawley-Smart (Essex), Anthony Close (Herts) and Taylor Nunn (Essex). Taylor had two close five set battles with Anthony and Arlen just losing out on both, this demonstrates just how close the battle was between these three players.

In the U13 boys event we had 20 entries, meaning players were placed in three groups with the winner from each group qualifying for the finals and the runners-up being placed as a reserve. In group one Alex Holland (Essex) was undefeated and Damola Fenuyi (Essex) came through as a reserve.

Group two provided some fierce competition with Lewis McKenny (Essex) and Luke Walsh (Herts) having a real battle for the qualifying position. They played each other in their last match of the day with Lewis coming through 11-5, 6-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9. Luke taking the reserve place. Group two match of the day.

Group 3 winner Hilkiah Adebanjo (Essex) duly won his five matches being stretched only by Glen Vardon (Herts) who took him to a fourth end in their match. Glen coming through as the reserve player, although he had quite a scare in his match with Sahad Ahmed (Beds). Glen seemed comfortable taking the first two sets 11-8, 11-3, but Sahad staged a great comeback taking the next two sets 13-11, 19-17. Glen got his act together in the final set not allowing Sahad to get a foothold and running out the winner 11-6.

The U15 boys gave us the biggest entry of the trials, 25 in total, meaning three groups once again. There were three clear winners in each group.

Group one saw Azarel Adebanjo (Essex) take the honours, he was taken to a fourth end by runner up and reserve nomination Ross McNiven (Herts).

Group two winner was Jared Patel (Essex), but below him there were battles galore for the reserve place. Phillip Lawson (Essex), Sam Rock (Norfolk), Nishanth Narayanan (Beds) and Owen Warren (Essex) all had chances for the opportunity. In the matches between these players, Phillip beat Sam, Nishanth and Owen, however he lost to Issac Beever which left the door open for Sam, Nishanth and Owen. For Owen it was his last match of the day that saw him lose out, a nail biting five set marathon against Sam. Sam coming through 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8. Sam had earlier seen his bid fail when he lost his third match to Jared. Nishanth too, had his chances until his match with Owen. Match Referee Arthur Clark spent quite some time working out this group to ensure the final order of players was correct.

Group three winner was Brandon Crouchman (Essex), with Bradley Tuttle (Herts) taking the reserve place. Bradley had a scare along the way with a five setter against Tom Baines (Herts) and also Sam Langton (Essex).

Click here for the boys results and here for the girls.

ETTA Article