Liverpool’s Neil Pickard was the winner of the Halton Senior Open 2* tournament held on Sunday 18 January, while Aneta Kula won the women’s competition.
Liverpool’s Neil Pickard was runner-up and put in a thrilling performance to become the winner of the tournament. He defeated Cheshire’s Joe Killoran 3-2 (4-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4) in the final.
In the semi-final Killoran defeated 13 year old Ronan Lamont-Tierney of Halton TT Club 7, 10, 2, but what a day Ronan had as he defeated former European Champion John Hilton in 5 in a group match and won game 9 in the fifth! In the second semi-final, Pickard defeated Halton TT Clubs Matthew George 3-1 (11-2, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5).
This was one of a number of competitions using the second day of the third British Club League weekend, played on Saturdays only. The competition was played in groups of five, with the two at the top going to the knockout and the other players going to a consolation event.
There was a round-robin for the women’s event which was won by Aneta Kula from Cheshire, beating Lisa Rinnhofer Halton TT Club 4-3 (11-2, 6-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7), playing best of seven to give them more playing time. Rebecca Bayley from the Isle of Man finished in third place.
The Men’s Consolation event was won by Neil Wright from Crewe, playing as Wales, who defeated 10-year-old Hayfield Lam from Halton 6, 9, 6, who currently holds the England Under 11s number 1 spot. In the semi-final, Neil Wright defeated Isle of Man’s Adam Teare 8, 9, 9, while Hayfield defeated Stockport Cheshire’s Neil Fineberg 10, 8, -5, 4.
The Veterans’ Mixed Event was played in groups of four, with two in the main event and two in the consolation event. No. 2 seed Pawel Orzechowski, who plays SBCL for Hurricane TTC in the Championship Division, emerged victorious over No. 1 seed Neil Pickard, who went for the double, 6, 6, 6.
In the semi-finals, Neil Pickard defeated Rob Beatti 6,6,6; while Pawel emerged victorious against Brian Jeanes of Wales with 6, 6, -9, 5.
The consolation event was won by Muhammad Saqib Chughtai from Lancashire, beating new member Halton of the Wirral Mehdi Eskoroochi 10, 9, 3. Losing semi-finalists were Steven Clay from Cumbria who lost to Medhi 9, -10, 8, 9; and Rob Midgley who lost to Muhammad 6, -9, 8, 8.
Special thanks to Ken Tonge, level 4 tournament organizer; Tom Purcell IU for refereeing the finals and managing the referees; and to Wasiu Adeshina who live streamed the event and interviewed the winners.
Photos by Ken Tonge
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