Hertfordshire U18 Open – Luke Davies

Hertfordshire U18 Open – Luke Davies

At the Hertfordshire U18 Open I came away with a respectable bronze medal in the doubles despite 2 new scratch partnerships on the day.

In the mixed I partnered Anoushka McIntosh, and we found ourselves draw into group which was compromised of First Seeds Ryan Curtis (who ended up bagging himself 2 golds on the day) & Megan Hassell and Charlie Wakefield & Caitlin Parfait; a box that can only be described as anyone’s to win for all 3 of the pairs; and that all players would’ve had much more opportunity to medal if all not drawn against each other.

Firstly Anoushka and I had to play Charlie and Caitlin, unfortunately due to a poor start from the pair of us we lost the first 21-15 however we were able to battle back to win the second 22-20. With it all to play for in the third it was a neck-and-neck affair but Charlie and Caitlin were just able to pull ahead to win the deciding game 21-16. Next we had to play first seeds and eventual winners Ryan Curtis and Megan Hassell and despite being in the rallies throughout the whole game the final scores not reflecting how we played in a disappointing 21-12 21-8 loss.

After a 6 hour long gap after the mixed I was looking forward to hopefully getting some redemption for the mixed in the doubles especially as partner Anoushka had great success in the singles only just losing in her semi-final 24-22 21-23 19-21 to a very strong Angelina Wong. Due to the massive delay in the running of the tournament the scoring had been changed for best of 3 to 21, to now instead best of 3 to 15. Firstly new partner Mannah Rahman of Essex had to take on Nadeem Dalvi and Liam Purton (some of the countries best players in their respective age group) we were fortunate to win the first 21-20 after a clutch return of serve ace from Mannah and in the second we got off to a early lead and never looked back winning with a final score of 15-10 to close it out in 2 straight games. Next we had to play Charlie Wakefield again; this time partnering Bradley Smith. And again due to poor running of the we were called back onto court with out of even had time to hand the matchslip of the previous match. We got of to a poor start losing the first 15-11 but not to be defeated easily, we managed to win the second 15-12 and managed to close it out in the third game to win with the same scoreline of 15-12.

Again due to a lack of time the knockout rounds of the doubles was forced to be 1 game to 21 which is a shame at this level as it doesn’t allow for a pair to despite; losing the first, to come back and win in 3. Our semi-final found us drawn against a very strong pairing of Wiltshire boys in Daniel Strickland and Jack Agnew, and again with very limited rest we did our best but they proved to string for us losing 21-17 to take a well deserved Bronze medal in the doubles.

I would like to thank ForzaWM for helping and providing me with kit and equipment for me and my partners which in turn allows me to participate and play to the highest level I can.