Last night saw our annual Moses Chang Commemorative Tournament take place. In it’s fourth year now, it’s always proved to be popular with the members and raises a good bit of money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. This year certainly didn’t disappoint!
Before I get into the report, I wish to offer my sincere thanks to Jo Thorpe for organising the event again this year. She’s always delivered a superb night with things running smoothly throughout and she excelled again this year. The time and effort Jo has put into the tournament has been phenomenal and I can’t thank her enough. Not only has she organised the draw, the groups, the order of matches and getting the hall early for warm up – she also organised getting the trophies produced (which I think everyone agrees are superb), the cake toppers with the logos on them and finally she put together the very popular Haribo jelly bowl! My heartfelt thanks Jo for all of your efforts.
Thanks also to Paula for the cakes which were as popular as ever (I have to admit now that I had 2 of them!).
Thanks as well go to Noel for formally opening the tournament and making the announcements to keep everyone in order (and thanks for the crisps too!).
Thanks to Heather Chang for coming along to present the trophies to the winners.
Final thanks go to all of the members who turned up to play in the tournament and who helped to raise money for a very worthwhile charity.
So, on to the report of the night. The first thing everyone did when they arrived was to look at the draw for the night. The pairings and groups were as follows:-
Ladies Group:
Charlotte / Julie
Linda / Sue
Lisa / Ruth
Jess / Penny
Men’s Group A:
Ross / Adam
Andy W / Peter
Kent / Dave R
Gary Y / Marc
Tom / Paul B
Men’s Group B:
Alan C / Rob
David P / Darran
Andy P / Steve
Kirk / Henry
Kevin / Paul G
Olly / Nick
Looking at the draw it was going to be a tough night for everyone with games looking likely to be very evenly matched. On to the matches!
As there were more men’s matches to be played, the night kicked off with all four courts hosting the men. Group A had 5 pairs and Group B had 6 pairs. It soon became apparent that people were really up for the tournament and the determination on everyone’s faces was good to see. There was a marked increase in standard on show as everyone sought to raise their game in the competitive atmosphere.
The top two pairs based on points scored progressed through to the semi finals with the winners of Group A playing the Runners-Up of Group B and vice versa.
Group A was a close run affair (80% of the games finished 21-17 or closer!) with the top 2 pairs finishing just a point apart with third place a further 10 points back:-
[table id=9/]
Group B had the closest finish we’ve ever seen. With so many matches finishing 21-20 it was going to come down to the last matches to decide the group (84% of the games finished 21-17 or closer!). It proved to be even closer than that when figuring out the winner of the group. With 2 pairs tied on points scored, it moved to points against to separate them. Incredibly, they had an identical points against record so it then moved on to the result between those 2 pairs to decide the group winner! It literally could not get closer which was fantastic. Third place in the group were only 5 points further back with fourth place only one point less than third:-
[table id=10/]
The semi final line-up was now in place:-
Semi Final 1:
Andy W / Peter
vs
Andy P / Steve
Semi Final 2:
David P / Darran
vs
Gary Y / Marc
Now, on to the ladies. As there are less ladies than men, it was a more straightforward affair with only one group. As with the men’s matches, the ladies provided some extremely close matches (75% of games finished 21-17 or better) with the group finishing with a clear winner but only 1 point separating 2nd from 3rd for a place in the final:-
[table id=8 /]
With no semi final for the ladies, the final draw was in place:-
Ladies Final:
Jess / Penny
vs
Lisa / Ruth
Now, on to the men’s semi final. Played on adjoining courts it made for compelling viewing by all.
Semi final 1 (Andy W / Peter vs Andy P / Steve) was a close game but the scorecard makes it look more one-sided. It was not. With some good rallies, it looked to be a close run affair but Andy W and Peter had the edge and seemed to have the killer instinct to finish the rallies and win the points. It ended 21-11 to Andy W and Peter.
Semi final 2 (David P / Darran vs Gary Y/ Marc) was a very close run affair indeed. Some good long rallies kept the spectators entertained and provided a nail-biting finish. With the scores all square at 20-20, there was no setting so it was literally match point for both pairs. David P and Darran provided the winning shot to snatch the match and see them through to the final.
So we now had a final and a third place playoff to take place:-
Men’s Final:
Andy W / Peter
vs
David P / Darran
Men’s Third Place Playoff:
Andy P / Steve
vs
Gary Y / Marc
The ladies final and the men’s third place playoff took place again on the adjoining centre courts. The ladies final was not as close as the match up seemed, certainly after how close the group finished. Jess and Penny won the corresponding group match against Lisa and Ruth 21-14 so all eyes were on the rematch. However, Jess and Penny proved too strong for Lisa and Ruth running out victors 21-8 to take the title. Well done to both pairs for a fantastic tournament and congratulations to Jess and Penny for being crowned 2014 champions.
On the other court, the men’s third place playoff was still in full swing with both pairs taking points off each other to keep it a close match. However, it seemed that Andy P and Steve could not keep Gary Y and Marc pegged long enough and it ended with a win for Gary Y and Marc 21-15. Congratulations to both pairs for some very close run games and congratulations to Gary Y and Marc for their third place.
So all eyes were now on the men’s final between Andy W / Peter and David P / Darran. The match seemed to take many twists and turns with both pairs going on runs of several points to pull ahead, only to be pegged back by their opponents on a similar run of points. However, it soon appeared that Andy W and Peter were pulling away. With errors on both sides, the pressure was showing and the spectators seemed to sense it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the hall so quiet before!
After some very long and entertaining exchanges, Andy W and Peter had pulled out a 10 point lead and were 20-10 up (a score that did not reflect the closeness of the match at all). After a brief rally they nicked the point needed to seal the match and saw them crowned 2014 champions. Congratulations have to go out to David P and Darran for an excellent tournament with 135 points scored on their way to runners-up. Finally, congratulations go to the 2014 men’s champions, Andy W and Peter.
The final standings were:-
Ladies Champions – Jess and Penny
Ladies Runners-Up – Lisa and Ruth
Men’s Champions – Andy W and Peter
Men’s Runners-Up – David P and Darran
Men’s Third Place – Gary Y and Marc
Men’s Fourth Place – Andy P and Steve
It was now the turn of Heather Chang to make the raffle draw and present the trophies (presentation photos are on our Facebook Group Page). The lucky raffle winner was Lisa who won the rather fetching Corinthians Badminton Club branded water bottle.
The Mo Chang Tournament Trophies and Raffle Prize
A huge thanks go out to everyone involved in the 4th Annual Moses Chang Commemorative Tournament. We raised a massive £130 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. The cheque will hopefully be presented at the AGM on the 11th June.
It’s certainly going to be hard to beat this year’s tournament! Roll on next year……
– Ross
