Last Sunday
saw the Newbury & District League once again stage the annual Robin
Deasley Mixed Tournament, with pairs from all over the area entering to
win the much coveted trophy. This year’s tournament, although not as well
attended as previous years, still produced an entertaining and well fought
contest. The early stages were split into two leagues with the winner and
runner up of each league progressing to the semi final stage. In Group 1,
unsurprisingly the winners were county pair Andy Norman and Lucy Burton,
who did well to battle through their group starting off on a –5 handicap.
However the runners up were a surprise as the new pairing of Phil Desbois
and Andrea Woods took some notable scalps on their way to second spot. In
Group 2 the favourites Kevin Walker and Claire Beavis missed out on the
runners up spot by a single point to the unlikely pairing of Steve Fox and
Alice Sun. The winners of this group were Mike Pembroke and Sally Norman,
who despite looking a little worse for wear, managed to produce some good
badminton and grind out the results.
With the group
stages decided the semi finals were both rather one sided affairs with
Norman and Burton making up the massive deficit in handicaps to
comfortably see off Fox and Sun and book their place in the final. In the
second semi final, Mike Pembroke and Sally Norman after a shaky start saw
off Desbois and Woods, who were unable to deal with Normans deft net
shots, power smashes and reliable serving.
So to the
final, and what a final it turned out to be. With a family and friendly
rivalry to contend with the 2 pairs slugged it out in the best of three
match. The first game went the way of Andy Norman and Lucy Burton 21-17.
However, the second game put the match in the balance with Mike Pembroke
and Sally Norman taking it 21-18 after an unfortunate shot by Andy Norman.
The final game saw a gigantic tussle which eventually saw the county pair
take the title, doing so 21-18, and take the prestigious trophy
home.
Winners:
Lucy
Burton & Andy Norman (Shaw)
Runners Up:
Sally Norman and Mike
Pembroke (Shaw)
