2005 Under 25 Tournament

James Toop reports:

The under 25s championships took place again at Westway this year on the day before the Kinnaird final. A relatively small, but enthusiastic field took part and the first round was a group stage with the top four pairs going through to the semi-finals. There were no real surprises as Toop and Sarmah predictably finished bottom and were therefore eliminated from the competition.

The semi-finals were the best of one game to fifteen. The first semi was comfortably won by Seb Cooley and Mark Herring playing Anthony Theodossi and Doug Foster, however the other was a much closer affair. Simon Randall and Josh Rose had played extremely well to finish second in the group stages and faced Kinnaird quarter-finalists Dave Mew and Pete Cohen. Dave and Pete's power were more than matched by the consistency and determination of Simon and Josh though and they repeated their group stage win.

The final was going to be close. Simon and Josh were getting everything back and playing some fantastic shots, including one of the most amazing shots I have ever seen - Simon calmly played a volley that had hit the buttress left-handed from behind his back! They were always on the back foot in the first game though as Mark Herring hit a superb run of winners to kill the game off 12-5. The second game was much more evenly matched from the start and there was little to chose between the pairs. The match was set with step at fourteen and as each pair edged closer to winning, it was Seb Cooley's cool experienced head that won the game and the championships. Both pairs had chances to win the match and it was a fantastic finale to the competition.

Our thanks to Westway for hosting the championships. Next year's competition will be at Christmas time again, so I look forward to another excellent occasion.

Semi-finals

S Cooley & M Herring beat A Theodossi & D Foster 15-3

S Randall & J Rose beat D Mew & P Cohen 15-8

Final

S Cooley & M Herring beat S Randall & J Rose 2-0 (12-5, 15-14)