ANOTHER very successful U13 tournament at BATTS yesterday, with 48 players from 25 different clubs battling for a share of the £200 prize fund.

Thanks to all the parents whose prompt communication made it possible to start the day with a full entry giving every player a minimum of 6 matches and as many as 10 for those who reached the finals of one of our three knockouts.

A BATTS spokesperson said: “There were so many rewarding moments during the day, I hardly know where to begin. Great to see friendships and support from players and parents, especially to those who were new to tournaments.

The smooth running of the day was only possible thanks to my super band of helpers. It was a great team, including several qualified umpires.

Thanks especially to James Pettigrew for his unflappable support on the control desk and Lin Roff for her umpiring advice and presenting the prizes. Congratulations to all the competitors. They will all have benefited from the experience and learned something from the top players in the event.

The overall winner of Band 1 was Noah Byrne-Smith who had a phenomenal day. Starting as number 3 seed, he overcame Robert Coe (6th seed) in the QF, then Li Hao Chen (2nd seed) in the SF and then Kai Lun Chow (top seed) in a superbly fought final. It was brilliant to see some great performances from the girls who entered and congratulations especially to Penny Muil (from Bridgend) and Grace Liu who both reached the semi-final of Band 2, Kiana Yeung who won Band 3, who overcame 4 boys during the knock out to claim her victory.

“The winner of Band 2 was Chris Antonopoulos who turned in a phenomenal performance considering his limited tournament experience. He just edged past Charlie Ware in the final. Charlie had played very well throughout the day.

“So many players showed considerable promise. Many parents commented to me how sad it is that there are few similar tournaments around. We are lucky that Neil at BATTS is so helpful with the venue and many of the other arrangements.

“Finally, thanks to Alex Ware for taking the photos. The next tournaments at BATTS will be U15 on Wednesday 27th December (only 9 places left), U17 on Sunday 28th January (already more than half full), U13 on Sunday 12th May and U15 on Sunday 30th June”.