Steve Leonard won the GC B-Level National Series Tournament at Hamptworth
[<<] [>>] by David Cooper
at Hamptworth
25th June 2017
(GC)
The weather for the weekend was mixed, some sunshine but mostly cloud and a few drops of rain. Fourteen players took part and they were grouped into two blocks of seven. So every player had 6 group games and 1 bye. Two players were from Hamptworth plus twelve from 9 other clubs.
The day started with a short briefing from the manager followed by ten minutes of practice before games commenced. All games were timed to sixty minutes[No drawn games]. The six group games were played over Saturday and first game on Sunday morning. Following group play there were two outright winners, Steve Leonard[Kingston Maurward(Block A) 5 Wins & Andrea Huxley[Guildford & Godalming(Block B)also 5 Wins, with 2 close second places on hoop difference, Bob Channon[Hamptworth] and Martin Isles[East Dorset]. These top four, two from each group, then played a best of three game semi-final and then a best of three game final to decide the Tournament winner.
The other players from the groups then fought out the minor placing again with best of three semifinals and finals.
The final between Steve Leonard and Andrea Huxley was keenly fought with many superb clearances from both players. The final went to Steve Leonard two games to nil{7-5 7-4}. The third and fourth play-off between Bob Channon and Martin Isles went to one all, 6-7 7-6, and time forced a stop !. Due to the overall closeness of the two involved a decision of equal 3rd place had to be fair result !
The Manager then thanked the organiser, Richard Jenkins, and the players for making the tournament an enjoyable and very friendly occasion and presented the winner with a bottle of bubbly and wished him well for the national finals.