19
Oct
Just home from a long day at the Warwickshire U17 Silver held in Birmingham. It was a mixed start both in firm and format and alas Daniel did not quite get started and was out the first round of mixed. After sitting out for singles due to his grade he was ready to go for doubles with Joe Scott – Warwickshire.
Their group could have gone a number of ways initially but they started with a confident 2 set win coming from behind in the 2nd set 15-11, 15-13 against a pair who’d already won their first round. Then came the 3/4 seeds Sameer Chenia & Harry Clare who they beat 15-11,15-7. And finally Lukas Dimatteo & Finn Saunders who pushed them the most taking it to 3 but the boys took it 12-15, 15-10, 15-8 to top the group.
They then faced the 1st seeds Reuben Bodman & Alex Dillingham in their semi. And after a shaky 1st set losing 15-9, they got their tactics right and took the next 2 sets 15-12, 15-11 to reach the final.
They played Luke Griffiths & Toby Dillingham in a tight final keeping their cool under pressure to take the 1st set 18-16 and then had a clear lead in the 2nd but let it slip near the end to win 15-12. An impressive and well deserved result winning U17 silver especially as everyone else they played were at least 1year older.