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This page is all about the grand prix events--the top group of tournaments nationally for junior players. More & more Woolwell players are now competing
East Midland Junior Grand Prix
Richard Marshall had an excellent weekend including a win over number nine cadet Mark Simpson & victory in the cadet banded event. Laura McLeod qualified for the main draw of the junior girls against all the odds by beating two girls in her group ranked above her. Vicky Smith reached the semi-final of the under 11's, once again a full year younger than the other semi-finalists. Sally Smith played just three matches all weekend (boring!) but only lost in the last 16 of the juniors to England international & number eight seed Sarah Perks..
2003/04
Derby Junior Grand Prix
Starting as 18th ranked in the event, Sally Smith pulled off by far the greatest triumph of her career and Woolwell Table Tennis Club's short but ever more illustrious history, taking the Junior Girls title at Derby. She beat five girls ranked above her, including Lisa Radford (who was the lowest ranked of them!) and, in the final, Karen Shepherd, who is England's ninth ranked woman! Not only did she win the small matter of £80 prize money & make huge strides up the ranking list but will now almost certainly claim a place at this year's Junior Masters, for the top sixteen players nationally.
Sally is probably the lowest ranked Grand Prix winner ever, and also the youngest for over two years, being over 35 months under the age limit. She still had just enough energy to reach the banded junior final and could afford to smile when she lost her first match of the day at 7.30pm 10-12 in the fifth game!!!
Her achievements overshadowed excellent performances by Chris Smith & Richard Marshall. Chris became Woolwell's first ever Grand Prix semi-finalist by taking advantage of a shock defeat for No 2 seed Myles Evans to battle through, before going down to highly ranked William Maybanks. Richard was unlucky to face Myles in the last sixteen. In the banded cadet event Richard had a tremendous win over number two seed Jonathan Durham before bowing out in the quarter-final to Ashley Shaw. This left an opening for Chris who defeated Shaw in the semi-final before succumbing in a good final to Stewart Mudie.
Richard lost narrowly in his junior group to the highly ranked Dorian Robinson after being two games up, then in the banded event claimed another excellent scalp, number three seed Andrew Wilson, before Durham gained his revenge in the last sixteen. Chris had a fine win over Ashley Shaw's older brother Oliver and two narrow five game defeats against the much higher ranked Robinson and Tom Bray.
Vicky Smith qualified for the knock-out stages of the under-11, event then missed out in five tight games in the last twelve.
With five of the thirty entrants ranked above her, the odds against Sally Smith retaining her junior girls grade one title at Cheltenham were fairly long. 2-1 down to number four cadet Sophie Byron in the first knockout round, Sally seemed to be heading for a predictable defeat, but a brilliant fourth game & holding her nerve better to take the fifth 13-11 saw her on her way. A tough three game quarter-final against Cippenham's Caroline Linz was followed by another five game thriller against number nine cadet Caroline Hallows. Sally saw her two game lead evaporate but again edged home. The final against the event's top-ranked player, number three cadet Melanie Farquhar, saw Sally at her very best, frustrating her opponent's open style to win in straight games. In fact, Sally only lost twice all day--to number three seed Nicola White in her junior open group & then narrowly in four games to in-form Joanne Meads who later astonishingly claimed the scalp of full England international Kelly Sibley before bowing out in the semi-final.
Richard Marshall played superbly in the last sixteen of the under-13 event to beat Chris Smith in four and take his eighth seeded position but then disappointingly lost to Cornwall's Matthew Trevorrow in the quarter-final. He then seemed plagued with tough draws for the rest of the weekend. Chris recovered well to reach the last 32 of the open cadet event before bowing out to Bradley Evans then put up an excellent showing against Bradley's prodigious ten year old brother Gavin. An excellent five game win in his other match saw him through to the band one junior knock-out stage but the older players again proved too powerful for the rest of the day.
Making her grand prix debut, Laura McLeod survived the group stage of the under-13 event but then came up against top under-11 Martha Travis, while a good group win also saw her through in the banded cadet event. However, a disappointing defeat to Rachel Trevorrow was followed by a tough Cadet open group against older girls.
Vicky Smith took a game off number five seed Rachel Godfrey in the under-13 event. An excellent win to take the runner-up spot in her group was then followed by a gallant 10-12 10-12 9-11 scoreline against number six Charlotte Calcutt. Although outgunned in the cadet event, Vicky put up a great show against the experienced Sally Hughes, going down in four close games.
East Midland Junior Grand Prix
Sally, Chris & Vicky Smith and Richard Marshall represented Woolwell at Grantham.
Strong groups of Norwegian boys and Swedish girls strengthened the event and in some cases messed up the seedings as Chris found to his cost in the under 13 event. Although seeded seven he lost in his group to a strong unseeded Norwegian and then went down to number six William Maybanks in the first knock-out round. Richard did one better by winning his group and only losing to number four seed Stewart Mudie in the last sixteen.
Both boys had good runs in the cadet banded event. Richard reached the last sixteen before going down again to Mudie, while Chris went one better after defeating number eight seed Jonathan Durham . Richard survived a very tough cadet group but then succumbed to the same Norwegian who had been Chris's undoing in the under 13 event. Chris reached the last 32 & did well to take a game from number five seed Daniel Rees.
Both boys did well to complete a clean sweep of qualifying by proceeding in both junior events. In the main event Richard beat the higher ranked Chris Daffin to qualify while Chris beat a good Norwegian in five tough games before taking a game off national under-13 number two Myles Evans.
Both lost in the last 64 of the banded event but not before Chris had taken the first two games from Russell Nicholls of Shropshire, a player with more than double his ranking points.
A small but high quality entry of ten contested the girls under-11 event. Vicky couldn't survive the toughest of the groups in an event won comfortably by Martha Travis.
However, she did much better in the under-13's, taking eleven points off national number one Emma Vickers before defeating Emily Greener 12-10 in the fifth game. Then in the first knockout group she had her second match of the day against under 11 number two seed and beaten finalist from Wales, Hannah Avery. Vicky came back twice from a game down & narrowly lost in five.
Sally was unwell all weekend but battled on grimly, losing narrowly to the higher ranked Bethany Rees in the banded junior event.
She finished third in her junior group behind number one seed (and eventual champion) Shuang Zhoe and one of the highly rated Swedes. In the unaccustomed position of contesting the plate competition, she had a late night she wasn't particularly relishing as she reached the semi-final before going down to another surprise plate participant, original number eleven seed Gemma Yarnley!
The Smith family represented Woolwell at the Essex 4 Star Junior Select in Harlow which had a massive entry including nearly every top player in the country at every age level.
Sally Smith yet again exceeded expectations. After reaching the last eight of the banded junior girls event before succumbing to the fourth seed, she had probably her finest ever win in the last 32 of the main event. An astonishing turnaround saw her come from 10-4 down in the final game to scrape home 13-11 against national number two cadet Sarra Wang. Sally is just two weeks too old to qualify for the cadets (under-15) this season but has now recorded wins against eight of the top ten current cadet players.
Christopher qualified from the group stages in every event, no mean achievement in the junior events where he is playing opponents up to five years his senior. The highlights were taking the number eight seed from Switzerland (rated three places higher than Chris Brown!) in the main junior event to five games, and taking a game off Europe's leading 14 year old, Paul Drinkhall.
Vicky (7), the youngest of the 280 competitors, played well to finish second in her under 13 group and qualify for the last sixteen.
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