eton fives fixture results/reports

ETON FIVES
Fixture
The Richard Barber
Cup 14/10/12
Recent Fixture Results
Match report
St Olave’s School and the Old Olavians joined forces to enter and
defend their “Richard Barber Cup” title. This is a three pair Old
boy/School boy event where School boys have to partner Old Boys
from the same School.
This year St Olave’s entered two teams. Team One ( Chris Self,
Sanjay Kundu, Sudhir Balaji with Howard Wiseman, Seb Cooley and
Peter White) qualified in 1st position beating King Edward’s,
Shrewsbury 2 and Ipswich 3-0 in each round without dropping a set.
St Olave’s 2nd team (Josh Ravi, Will Phillips, Sam Rix with Peter
Cohen, Sanjay Ranasinghe and Edward Sanderson) finished 3rd
beating Lancing College and winning some sets against Eton College.
St Olave’s 1 made it into the semi-finals of the main event where
they defeated Eton College and the Old Etonians, in a convincing 3-0
win to secure their place in the final. Seb Cooley and School boy
Chris Self played some amazing Fives and appeared quite
unbeatable. In the other main semi-final the 2 Shrewsbury School
teams were battling it out to reach the final; Shrewsbury 1 were the
victors and secured a repeat final of 2 years ago.
In the plate competition, St Olave’s 2 had a convincing 2-1 win over
King Edward School in the semi-final to secure a place in the plate
final against Ipswich. Third pair had been conceded by us for the
Plate Final since one of our team was unavailable so late in the
afternoon. Second pair of Sam Rix and Edward Sanderson secured a
quick victory winning 12-4 which meant that Peter Cohen and Josh
Ravi had to come from 9-3 behind to take the victory. The 1st pair
match lasted nearly 40 minutes but Cohen and Ravi managed to
level at 9-9 clawing back one point at a time with some excellent
cutting from Josh Ravi. Peter’s experience and tactical play managed
to get them to match point first and to win the game 12-10.
In the main final, the St. Olave’s team did not get off to the best of
starts with all 3 pairs losing their first set in a best of three set
match. Both Seb Cooley and Howard Wiseman took charge of the
situation in first and second pairs and dominated their second sets
levelling their matches and 1 set a piece. In 3rd pair Balaji and White
put up a great fight against a strong pair but unfortunately lost 2-0.
Seb Cooley and Chris Self destroyed the 1st pair in the remaining
two sets, winning 8-12, 12-4, 12-1. The match score at this point
was 1match-all, therefore requiring Howard Wiseman and Sanjay
Kundu to win their 3rd and final set if the title was to be retained.
The St. Olave’s team got off to a flying start and had to really keep
the pressure on the Shrewsbury pair and not let them get into the
set. Sanjay played some excellent left hand block vollies and
Howard’s focus, determination and experience helped the pair to
secure a 12-6 third set win and the title!
The St. Olave’s 1st team beat Shrewsbury in the main final 2-1,
with wins at 1st and 2nd pairs. The St Olave’s 2nd team beat the
Ipswich team in the plate final 2-1, also with wins at 1st and 2nd
pair.
This was a great day of Fives for the School and Old Boys team, who
managed to defend their title successfully. It was great to see the
forces combine to win such a prestigious event.
St Olave’s Vs
Belmont Prep
School 16/10/12
On the 16th of October Belmont Prep School brought 4 pairs of U13
players to play a mixed St Olave’s U13 squad.
In 1st pair Kameron Swanson and William Carew took on a very
strong Belmont. The 1st set lasted 55 minutes. Belmont took an
amazing 9-3 lead in the match, but Will and Kameron clawed it back
to 10 all. When a match reaches either 10 or 11 all there is an
extension to the game, from here on it was neck and neck all the
way. Unfortunately Will and Kameron lost the 1st set 15-14. After
the 1 set defeat Will and Kameron played some amazing Fives to win
the 2nd set in style 12-7. Due to the length of these sets we ran out
of time and could not play the third and final set decider.
In 2nd Pair James Tate partnered Sam Richards. They had a slow
start to their match, only just winning the 1st set 15-14. The 2nd
and 3rd sets saw our pair enjoying flying starts, with some brilliant
Fives by both players. James took charge and got a high percentage
of cuts returns up to help them win the last two sets 12-4, 12-4,
with St.Olave’s winning the 2nd pair 3-0.
In 3rd pair Sam Perkins and Izaak Hasnian and 4th pair - Seb
Coveney and Niam Madlani both had great matches and played
some amazing back step shots and top step vollies. Both 3rd and
4th pairs won their matches 3-0.
This was a great team performance from our U13 squad which lead
to a 3.5-0.5 victory over Belmont Prep School.
St Olave’s Vs Emanuel
School 16/10/12
On Thursday the 16th October St Olave’s took a large mixed squad
of U13s to Emanuel to take on their best players. Sohayl Ujoodia,
Sam Caine, Laiq Nagi, Austin James, Hari Patel and Aahan
Sabharwal, took on a very strong Emanuel squad.
In 1st pair Sohayl and Sam took on a top year 9 pair and
unfortunately lost 3-0. Sam and Sohayl played extremely well and
managed to stay in the rallies and really pushed the Emanuel pair.
Although the Scores do not seem very close, they do not do the
match justice. The experience of the Emanuel pair really did show!
St Olave’s Vs Windsor
and Eton Club - Adult
League – Division 3
20/10/12
In 2nd pair Laiq and Austin took on Emanuel’s top year 8 pair, and
Hari and Aahan took on a combination of a year 8 and a year 9
players. Both matches went Emanuel’s way with Laiq and Austin
putting up a good fight but unfortunately losing 3-0. Aahan and
Hari had an amazing start to their match winning the 1st set 12-11
in an extremely close battle. The following 2 sets were won by
Emanuel – 12-5, 15-12 winning the 3rd pair match 2-1 and the
overall match across all three pairs 3-0.
On Saturday 20th October, the St Olave’s School team played their
first adult league fixture against the Windsor and Eton Club lead by
team Captains Josh Ravi and Sam Rix.
Josh Ravi, Sam Rix, Aran Sivapalan, Jon Leech, Sam Fergusson and
Coach Dominique took on the Adult club and started their division 3
campaign. In 1st pair Sam Rix partnered up with Dominique to play
against a very experienced adult pair. In the 1st two sets both
Olavian players played some flawless Fives, with Sam returning a
high percentage of cut returns from under the front wall. The 3rd
and 4th set went to the Windsor and Eton Club, although Sam and
Dominique were ahead; a few mistakes crept in from both players
which allowed the Windsor and Eton players back in. In the 5th and
final set the Olavian pair really put the pressure on and took a 6-0
lead within minutes. The Windsor pair managed to gain some points
and narrowed the gap to 10-7; a comeback was on the cards! At this
-
point, Sam Rix played some superb Fives and reached match point,
and putting a dampener on the Windsor pairs’ spirits. The Olavian
pair took match point with a fantastic top step volley, deep into the
back left hand corner, hitting the back bricks and making the shot
un-returnable. This was a great 3-2 win in first pair.
In 2nd pair Josh Ravi and Aran Sivapalan had a convincing 3 -0 win.
Josh and Aran won in three straight sets 12-4,12-0,12-1 with some
great shots and team work. Both Aran and Josh completely out
played their opposition and dominated each set and only dropped 5
points in the whole match, a great achievement and performance.
In 3rd pair Jon Leech and Sam Ferguesson unfortunately lost in a
very close and well contested 3 sets. In the first set the Olavian pair
got off to a good start but the Windsor pair was right behind them
and really piled on the pressure. This was the way the game
continued with the Windsor pair playing some steady, consistent
Fives with Jon and Sam on the other hand showing moments of
brilliance which they could not sustain on the day. Sam and Jon lost
9-12,8-12,9-12.
Eton Fives Report Olavians Vs
Berkhamsted Club
9/10/12
The School team won the overall fixture 2-1; a great start to their
Adult league campaign.
Last Night Sanjay Kundu, Chris Self and Ross Henderson joined
forces with Old Boys Howard Wiseman, James Toop and David Mew
to play in our 3rd adult league match in the 1st Division 1 this
season.
Sanjay partnered up for the 2nd time this season with Old boy and
Coach Howard Wiseman, in 1st pair against last year’s men’s
National semi-finalists Doug Foster and Old Berkhamstedian Jeremy
O’Neil. The Olavian pair got off to a flying start taking the 1st set
12-5, with some amazing back and front step play. Unfortunately
the next three sets did not carry on in the same way. The
Berkhamsted pair put the pressure on and the Olavians failed to
gain enough cut returns up to create many point winning
opportunities. A few unforced errors crept in from the Olavians
which allowed the Berkhamsted pair to gain in confidence and the
following three sets went their way and the 1st pair match.
In second pair Chris Self partnered Old Boy Dave Mew. This was an
extremely close match with some fast and explosive rallies. The
Berkhamsted pair went two sets ahead. Chris and Dave started a
good come back by winning the third set 12-8. Unfortunately the
Berkhamsted pair were just too strong on this occasion, barely
missing a shot and they continued with their steady and consistent
play and took the 4th set 12-4 winning the match three sets to one.
In the third pair Ross Henderson partnered one of the best players
in the country, James Toop. James is currently ranked number 1 in
both Eton and Rugby Fives, an achievement only managed by one
other person ( 100 years ago!). They also took on last year’s men’s
National semi-finalists George Campbell and a top senior
Berkhamsted School player. The 1st set was neck and neck all the
way, with some brilliant cutting from Ross who managed to
consistently cut George Campbell down by playing a mix of fast
pace, high cuts along with cuts laced with back spin, and made
some incredible returns from the back court that seemed impossible
while crashing into some chairs. Although the Olavians lost this
match in 3 sets , 12-8,12-5,12-10, this was a fantastic performance
from Ross Henderson who was player of the match and showed an
extremely mature performance, dealing well with a difficult pair and
the pressure of the situation.
Our next adult league fixture is against the Old Westminster’s next
week.
The Rossall Fives
For the fifteenth year in a row, St.Olave's sent a strong team to
Championships 6th
play in the Rossall schools Fives Championships. Teams from
and 7th October 2012 Loretto ( in Edinburgh), Whitgift, Wolverhampton, Latymer,
Bedford, Emanuel and Rossall were also taking part. The U15's was
fiercely contested, but there was considerable Olavian success! In
the doubles, the top three Olavian pairs all reached the semi-finals,
with Morgan Pugh & Tom Gallagher making it through to the Final.
With another year to play in this age bracket, this was an impressive
achievement! Leo Henderson, Harry Russell, Will Edmunds and Kosi
Nwuba deserve special mention for reaching the semi-finals.
In the U15's Singles, Kosi proved to be pretty unstoppable seemingly terrorising all his opponents with his relentless battery of
powerful shots to the back corners, his complete determination to
get everything back into play and his rather large, but silent
presence on court! Kosi was stopped, eventually, in the Final. His
left-handed opponent from Latymer school, having too many
answers and too much energy for him to handle. Again, as an U14
playing up a year-group, this was an outstanding result!
Congratulations to Kosi!
The Open section of the championships saw both Singles and
Doubles titles being won by St.Olave's. Seasoned tournament
players, Chris Self and Sanjay Kundu both found a way through all
of their toughest matches to win a place in the Final against each
other! Their play was of the highest level and the result could have
gone either way! It was Sanjay who managed to find the extra bit
of manic at e end of the match to just squeeze home to win the title,
11-9.
The consolation for Chris Self was that he and Sanjay won the
Doubles title, defeating a very strong Wolverhampton pair in the
Final! They now both join an illustrious list of names who have won
this very tough event, and with it the “Good Shot Trophy" for
Singles, and the “Pile of Balls" for Doubles.
St.Olave's vs
Emanuel school 4/10/12
St.Olave's U14's beat Emanuel school 2-1, at Emanuel. Kosi Nwuba
& Tom Gallagher overwhelmed their opponents at 1st pair, never
really letting them get a strong footing into the match beating them
in 3 straight sets 12-4,12-3,12-1. Coby Plews & John Oxley lost 0-3,
but Alex Leggett and James Tate prevailed 2-1 at third pair to win
the fixture 2-1 overall.
St Olave's Vs Ipswich Another spectacular Fives match, this time against Ipswich school
School - 3/10/12
who brought four pairs to Orpington. Ipswich have their strongest
team ever at the moment and brought with them the previous
year's U14 National Finalists, as well as a very strong second pair of
the same age, now U15. St. Olave's were not expected to do too
well against these two pairs, so most attention was perhaps on the
U14 pairs of Kieran Walton & Sohayl Ujoodia and Jack Gillings &
Sam Caine. After two hours of play, amazingly, only one match had
ended - Will Edmunds & Billy Belsham had lost 0-3 at second U15,
very much as expected, but both players were very pleased with the
stubborn resistance that they had offered. Against expectation, Leo
Henderson & Harry Russell, had not only managed to come close in
the first set at first pair of U15, but had recovered from the
disappointment of losing it despite having had set points, and had
come back to win the second set! After almost two hours, this
turned into a best of three set match. Harry and Leo played
outstandingly, with Leo returning over 90% of the cuts and Harry
working hard to hold position and to control the rallies from Base.
They won the final set in another very close battle! In doing so, they
secured what was without doubt, their best personal victory as a
pair. The result of all the hard work at training on Monday evenings
Olavians Vs Old
Harrovian’s - 29/9/12
was especially clear to see and produced a real breakthrough in the
confidence and belief for this particular pair. So, 1-1 at this stage.
Meanwhile, Kieran and Sohayl prevailed in three close sets, 3-0 and
the result of the whole fixture rested with Jack and Sam who were
by now stuck on sudden death in the fifth set. Jack enjoyed some
moments of pure brilliance with his volleying, whilst the reliable and
steady hands of Sam Caine steered the pair through some very
shaky moments as the match reached its nervous conclusion. Their
win, 14-13 in the fifth set secured a fabulous 3-1 win over Ipswich
for St.Olave's. Congratulations to the Junior team!
The top St Olave's players took on the Old Harrovian’s who had an
exceptionally strong team fielding two recent and current men's
National Champions. Howard Wiseman partnered up with Sanjay
Kundu in 1st pair to take on Nick Shaw and Will Jones. This was the
match of the day. The first set was extremely close with the Olavian
pair coming from behind to level the match at 11 all but
unfortunately just lost the set 14-12. Howard and Sanjay piled the
pressure on and came back with an impressive 2nd set victory
wining the 2nd set 12-7. Both Olavian players played the 3rd set
just like the 2nd with great placement of their shots and some sharp
volleying on the top set to take the 3rd set 12-9. The 4th set went
the Harrovian’s way winning 12-5, this meant a 5th and final set
needing to be played. Howard and Sanjay got off to a great start
going 6-2 ahead but the Harrovian pair caught up with the Olavians
levelling the match at 10 all. The match was extended and the
Olavians reached match point first but were pipped to finish line by
the Harrovian’s who won the final set 14-13 and won the match.
This match lasted well over three hours.
In 2nd pair Old boy Tony Barker and School boy Chris Self took on
current Men's national Champion and top Harrow School boy. This
was an extremely close match. The young Olavian pair could not
overcome the experience of the Men’s champion and lost the game
by 3 sets to 1. Tony and Chris played extremely well to stay close in
all sets and for winning the 3rd set 15-13.
In 3rd pair Will Phillips in year 11 partnered Old Boy David Mew. Will
and David took on one of the highest nationally ranked men and
recent Men's National Champion, Peter Dunbar and a top Harrow
School boy. The Olavian pair beat the Harrovian pair in three
straight sets, with the 2nd set being the closest of the three. Will
Phillips played extremely well and cut both Harrovian’s down
frequently and returned a high percentage of cut returns; which is
crucial to win any game. David Mew provided the experience and
guidance to help secure the win.
Unfortunately the Old Olavians 1st team lost this fixture 2-1.
Our next league match is against the Berkhamsted club on Tuesday
the 9th October at St Olave’s where Chris Self, Sanjay Kundu and
Ross Henderson will be partnering Old Boys, Howard Wiseman,
James Toop and David Mew.
28th September 2012 This week has been a busy week for the St Olave’s Fives team.
Vs Mill Hill & Vs
Harrow
Vs Harrow
On Tuesday 25th September St. Olave’s played a four pair fixture
against Harrow School in the U18/U16/U15 and U14 age groups.
This years’ fixture was extremely close with all four pairs having to
play the fifth and final se. All players were on court for well over two
hours. Our U18s top pair, Chris Self and Sanjay Kundu, took on a
very strong and established Harrow pair. Chris and Sanjay one the
first set with an impressive score of 12-6 with some fantastic Fives.
Unfortunately the 2nd and 3rd set went Harrow’s way where their
top pair really applied the pressure with some solid and consistent
Fives taking the 3rd and fourth sets 12-10 & 12-5. St Olave’s
needed to win the 4th set to stay in the match, which they did,
winning 12-8 and regaining the form they showed in the first set.
The fifth and final set had it all!! St Olave’s went 9-3 up, then
Harrow managed a spectacular run on points to go 10-9 ahead.
From here on it was neck and neck and Chris and Sanjay managed
to snatch a victory winning 14-13 in the last set.
Our top U16 pair of Will Phillips and Ross Henderson had a very
similar game to our U18 pair. All rallies in the match were extremely
close and well contested. The was some amazing attacking play
form Will and some very impressive back court and defensive play
from Ross. Over all we lost the pair in a fantastic 5 set battle , 1314, 12-2, 12-10, 7-12, 7-12.
Our U15 pair of Leo Henderson and Harry Russell also had a very
competitive and close match against a very difficult and experienced
Harrow pair. Leo and Harry took the first set with an impressive 125 win. Unfortunately they then lost the 2nd set 12-5. The last three
sets were very closed with Olave’s taking the third set to go 2-1 up.
The remaining two sets went Harrow’s way beating St Olave’s 12-10
in the 4th set and 12-7 in the fifth and final set.
Our U14 pair was Alex Tomlinson and Vish Shetty. This was also a
long five set match with Harrow coming out on top, snatching
Vs Mill Hill 20.09.12
victory by 1 point winning the 5th set by 1 point 12-11.
This was an extremely close fixture with St Olave’s losing the fixture
against Harrow 3-1.
On Thursday Mill Hill came to St Olave’s and brought 1U18 pair, 2
U16 pairs and 1 U14 pair. This was a fantastic fixture which saw St.
Olave’s win all four pairs, with straight set wins for our U16 squad.
Josh Ravi and Aran Sivapalan beat Mill Hill 1 13-10, 12-6, 12-9, with
some impressive back court play and a very high percentage of cut
returns. Jon Leech and Ed King played extremely well to beat Mill
Hill 2 with a straight set victory in just under an hour of playing,
beating Mill Hill 12-2, 12-1,12-1.
Our U14 pair of Joshua Hutko and Tom Storer had a close match but
managed to win in three sets beating Mill Hill, 12-4, 12-10 and 12-7.
Both Tom and Josh played some brilliant top step and back court
shots to out-play the Mill Hill pair.
Our U18 pair of Sam Rix and Dominic Robson were involved in the
closest match of the fixture. This match saw Mill Hill win the first set
12-7, St Olaves win the 2nd set 12-6, Mill Hill won the third set to
go 2-1 up. St Olave’s won the 4th set 12-5 to level the match at 22. Sam and Dominic needed to win this set to beat the very
consistent Mill Hill pair. St Olave’s had a flying start in which they
went 8-2 up before closing out at 12-4 and in doing so secured a 40 team win over Mill Hill.
This was a great week of Fives that saw some very level and
challenging matches take place.
Our next School Fixture is against Ipswich and Emanuel School on
the 3rd and 4th of October. Our top senior players will be taking on
the Old Harrovian’s on Saturday the 29th September in the 1st
Division.
19th September 2012
v Westminster
Yesterday the top senior pairs, along with our U15 squad played
Westminster school in a thrilling 4 pair fixture.
Top senior pair Chris self and Sanjay Kundu beat Westminster’s top
pair in the 5th and final set. Chris and Sanjay got off to a shaky
start which resulted in them losing the opening two sets. Gradually,
however, they picked up their game, which enabled them to win the
next three sets. The fifth set was conclusive at 12-4, but Chris and
Sanjay did brilliantly to dig themselves out of a very pressurised
situation. The scores in their match were: 9-12,7-12,12-9,15-13,124
Our second senior pair of Sam Rix and Sudihr Balaji also got off to a
bad start losing the opening set 12-8 but managed to compose
themselves to win the following two sets 14-12,12-10 in a best of
three set contest.
Our 1st U16 pair for this match which was Josh Ravi and Aran
Sivapalan who also ended up in a 5 set battle against an
experienced Westminster pair. Josh and Aran won the 1st set 12-8
and then lost the following set 12-2. At one-all, the crucial third set
was won 14-12. They lost the 4th set 12-4 and were looking very
tired after two hours of constant play. Determination to finish the
job successfully seemed to revitalise the flagging Josh Ravi, and with
great team-work, he and Arun won the last set and the match 12-8.
Jon Leech and Max Brookes took on Westminster’s 2nd u16 pair and
took command from the outset, producing a convincing victory in
straight sets. Jon and Max won 12-5,12-5,12-0.
This was a great 4-0 victory over Westminster school which at one
stage looked to be heading for a 2-2 draw!
Well done to all players, especially Chris, Sanjay, Josh and Aran who
all prevailed from nail-biting five-set matches which lasted well over
two hours!
Our next school fixture is a home match against Harrow school on
the 25th September.
Adult League
Fixture
th
12 September 2012
v Berkhamsted Club
On the evening of Wednesday 12th September, the St. Olave’s top
School players, Chris Self, Sanjay Kundu, Will Phillips and Ross
Henderson travelled to Berkhamsted to play in their first adult
league match of the season for the Old Olavians, playing the
Berkhamsted club. Ross Henderson and Will Phillips made their first
appearance for the Old Boys team, which saw both players
partnering Old Boys Howard Wiseman and Tony Barker. Will Phillips
partnered Howard Wiseman in a very closely contested match
against an experience top player and top School boy from
Berkhamsted. Although the Olavians lost this match Will Showed
that he could compete at this top level with great shot selection and
on court presence. Ross Henderson played extremely well partnering
Tony Barker and also showed that he could compete at this high
level. Chris Self and Sanjay Kundu were partnering each other in
first pair and played with great determination against a very strong
adult pair and although they too lost as ever, this was superb
experience Our next first division league match is on the 29th
September at St Olave’s against the Old Harriovians.