Fourteen teams entered today’s Monkstone Open Doubles and after a chilly start the weather and the competition warmed up. With 14 teams it was difficult to have the usual pools followed by knockout and so a computer generated random draw was carried out where each team would play 6 other teams. By lunchtime, after 3 rounds, there were 4 teams on 3 wins:
Keith Nott & John Barnes | Richard Harris & Matt Howells |
Kon Tomczyk & Peter Westall | Roger Griffin & Bernard Adshead |
The afternoon session got underway and Round 4 brought Nott & Barnes against Griffin & Adshead. Unfortunately John Barnes was suffering with a shoulder injury and Griffin & Adshead ran out comfortable winners. With the other two lunchtime leaders also winning it put 3 teams on 4 wins. All 3 teams notched up a win in Round 5 to set up an exciting finish in Round 6.
Going into the final round all 3 teams were very close on games for/against but the order was:
1 | Richard Harris & Matt Howells |
2 | Roger Griffin & Bernard Adshead |
3 | Kon Tomczyk & Peter Westall |
The round pitted Tomczyk & Westall against Griffin & Adshead which meant only 2 teams could finish with 6 wins and with Harris & Howells drawn against Len Field & Jeremy Clare (3 wins) they were clear favourites to win the competition. The game between Tomczyk & Westall and Griffin & Adshead was nip and tuck with each team grabbing the lead only to lose it again. Unknown to both teams Harris & Howells had succumbed to Clare & Field meaning the winners of this game would win the competition being the only team with 6 wins. In a nail biting finish Tomczyk & Westall just managed to triumph by 9-8.
The final results were announced by Club President, Mike Jones:
Pos | Team | W | F | A |
1 | Kon Tomczyk & Peter Westall | 6 | 73 | 35 |
2 | Richard Harris & Matt Howells | 5 | 73 | 25 |
3 | Roger Griffin & Bernard Adshead | 5 | 73 | 35 |
Congratulations to Kon Tomczyk & Peter Westall and a big thank you to all those who entered and took part. A special thank-you to Tony Smith for acting as organiser and running the competition.