2025 Closed Tournament – Report
28 June 2025 - 11:51
This year’s tournament was another improvement on the previous year. Not only did we have more entries overall, but we had a full set of events including ladies singles and doubles, mixed doubles, plus for the first time in quite a few years, three junior events.
We’d made some changes to the running order of events as we usually do, learning from the previous year where the main overlaps occur and trying to, as is the case with all tournaments, fit 20 gallons into a half-pint pot. We separated out the over 50s and over 60s events as we’ve done previously, and the hard bat event too, which still has to be played but we do now have a date planned for that. More on that later.
The over 50s and over 60s events are always well attended and very competitive and it is now the case due to entry numbers that fitting a singles and doubles event into one evening is becoming a problem. We are considering options for next year to alleviate some of the stresses and organisational challenges this is presenting.
On to the report of the events themselves…
Over 50s Singles
18 entrants battled it out, the final being between Brian Wooding and Andras Bayer which was played on the main tournament day as we ran out of time on the evening.
The winner was Andras, beating Brian 13-11 11-8 11-5.
Over 50s Doubles
18 entrants (a slightly different 18 to the singles) formed 9 pairs which ended up with a final consisting of Jamie Chamberlain and Ian Baldock versus Albert Pang and Paul Chan. This final was played on a separate night also due to time constraints. This was quite a close affair after a lopsided first end, Jamie and Ian winning 11-3 12-10 8-11 11-7.
Over 60s Singles
11 players in this event, and after some tough games the final was between the same players as the over 50s singles, Andras Bayer and Brian Wooding. This was Andras’ first season in the Over 60s bracket and was always going to be a strong favourite. He won 11-7 12-10 11-1, the second end in particular being very competitive with both players going 100% for their shots.
Over 60s Doubles
12 players for the doubles making 6 pairs, and would you believe it, the same two pairs in the final of the over 50s ended up in this final too. Jamie Chamberlain and Ian Baldock getting over the line with the first two ends close enough to have gone either way, but taking them both proved decisive and an easier time in the third end gave them the win, 12-10 12-10 11-4.
Under 13 Singles
We had 3 juniors in this age group so this was a group format. Joseph McCormack won both his games to win the group and the title. Noah Hales won one of his matches to be runner-up. Honourable mention to Theo Panton for competing well losing his game to Noah 6-11 11-6 7-11 4-11.
Under 15 Singles
Just two players in this age group, the very strong junior Tor West-Ley beating Toby McCormack 11-6 11-4 11-6 to take the title.
Under 18 Singles
Tor West-Ley was in good form on the day, Scott Wiles ending as runner-up and Tor the winner with the scores 11-6 11-6 11-7.
Mystery Doubles
A fun event, always well supported with some very strong pairings made for a good, competitive mystery doubles where almost anything can happen. John Stamp and Paul Nichols made for a well-balanced pair, reaching the semi-final where they faced Razvan Rotariu and Hartley Hancock. The Stamp/Nichols duo prevailed, going through to the final winning 6-11 12-10 11-2 11-8.
In the other half of the draw Vasile Onta and Darren Johnson got to the semi-final and faced Ian Mead and Yosuke Kikuchi. The strong attacking play from Ian coupled with good control from Yosuke got them through 11-9 11-7 11-9.
The final then was Stamp/Nichols versus Mead/Kikuchi, with Ian and Yosuke proving too much of a handful for John and Paul to contain, and they ran out comfortable winners 11-0 11-5 11-7.
Division 2 Singles
This was a well competed event with some outstanding individual performances. Julie Neal reached the semi-final after a fantastic five set win over number 2 seed Darren Johnson to face Yosuke Kikuchi. Ethan York has had a good season and got to the other semi-final to play Yinzi Zeng. Yosuke beat Julie in another close game 11-5 12-10 10-12 11-9, and Ethan defeated Yinzi 5-11 11-6 11-6 11-4.
The final went Yosuke’s way, after losing the first end 3-11 he took the next three 11-2 11-4 11-7 to add a second title on the day.
Division 1 Singles
We had 6 division one players enter this event. Kevin Ye reached the semi-final and scraped past Paul Nichols 11-9 13-11 11-9 and in the other semi-final the much improved Steve Carroll got past Vincent Galvin 11-8 7-11 11-6 11-6. The final though proved a bridge too far (pun slightly intended) for Steve, as Kevin played a strong game to take the final and title 11-8 11-6 11-5.
Over 40 Singles
Always a big entry for this event, 21 players in all. One player did not attend on the day due to illness and out of the 20 remaining the semi-finals were Andras Bayer versus Jamie Chamberlain, and Adrian Piotrowski versus Ian Mead. Andras ended up withdrawing from the event at that point allowing Jamie Chamberlain a somewhat easier route to the final than Ian Mead had in the other semi-final, eventually overturning a 1-2 deficit, beating Adrian 4-11 12-10 8-11 11-7 12-10 to get to the final.
Jamie got off to a good start, nicking the first end, but Ian ended up powering through, winning 9-11 12-10 11-8 11-7.
Over 40 Doubles
With the number 1 seeded pair not present, father and son Clive and Malachi Kelly took their chance and made it through to the final, and the Ian Mead/Chris Stone duo seeded 2 had done likewise.
Mead/Stone having dropped the first end, ran away comfortable winners in the end, the final scores 9-11 11-2 11-5 11-6.
Senior Singles
This was a strong field, with lots of very good games. Craig Brown was the number 2 seed, getting to the final by defeating Tosh Verma in the semi-final 11-8 11-5 11-9.
The number 1 seed Nick Howard reached the final after getting past an in-form Jaimy Kheddoo 9-11 11-9 11-9 11-3.
Craig played extremely well to take the title, beating Nick 11-8 12-10 11-8.
Senior Doubles
Five pairs entered this event, Jaimy Kheddoo and Vasile Onta beating Colin Yue and Lewis Copp 11-4 11-5 11-3 in one semi-final, while Nick Howard and Craig Brown overcame Dom Barker and Jordan Moss 11-7 11-6 11-7.
After dropping the first end in the final Nick and Craig got going and ran out comfortable winners, the scores being 9-11 11-4 11-5 11-4.
Mixed Doubles
Jordan Moss and Nick Howard beat Yinzi Zeng and Michael Nong in one semi-final, while Lena Sachita and Ethan York defeated Julie Neal and Gavin York in the other. Jordan and Nick took the final and the title 3-0 with the scores 11-8 11-5 11-7.
Ladies Doubles
This was a straight final, with Lena Sachita and Yinzi Zeng in a titanic five set struggle against Julie Neal and Jordan Moss. Lena and Yinzi eventually got over the line to take the title, the scores being 8-11 11-8 10-12 11-9 11-9 in one of the closet matches of the day.
Men’s Doubles
This was another very well supported event, 16 pairs entered. A couple of retirees during the day meant some slight changes, but many excellent games culminating in the epic semi-final win for Tosh Verma and Vasile Onta over Dom Barker and Adrian Piotrowski, eventually winning 11-13 11-8 11-8 4-11 13-11 to reach the final.
The other semi-final was between Nick Howard and Craig Brown versus Jacob Midson and Ian Mead. This was another epic game also going right to the wire, with Howard/Brown getting though to the final with scores of 7-11 11-8 11-7 13-15 12-10.
The final was a cat and mouse affair, Verma and Onta mostly defending, punctuated by Tosh’s powerful forehand winners, but eventually the overall consistent attack of Craig and Nick saw them through, winning 9-11 11-7 11-9 11-6.
Ladies Singles
This was a 3-way round-robin between Julie Neal, Lena Sachita and Jordan Moss. Without dropping an end Jordan won both her games to take the title. Lena was runner-up after beating Julie 12-10 11-5 5-11 11-9.
Open Singles
We had 12 groups for this event. All the seeds except one made it through their groups, Kevin Ye playing exceptionally well to overpower an unfortunate Jacob Midson.
In the quarter-finals Adrian Piotrowski played outstandingly well to beat number 4 seed Craig Brown and set up a semi-final against Andras Bayer.
Nick Howard had beaten the top junior Tor West-Ley to play Ian Mead in the semi-final. Nick managed to overturn a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 and book his place in the final. The scores were 10-12 10-12 11-5 11-8 11-3.
Andras was too strong for Adrian and sailed through to the final winning 11-7 11-4 11-5.
The final was a high-quality game, with Andras serving well and his powerful attack from both wings proving decisive. Nick had his chances in the third end, but Andras took the match 3-0, the scores being 11-7 11-7 18-16 and another Northampton TTL Open Singles title in the bag.
Many thanks to everyone who played on the day, to everyone who umpired games, in particular Jacob Midson who helped out umpiring so many matches, and to the rest of the committee for helping make the event a success. See you all next year and thanks for playing.