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Report on 2010 Salisbury Senior Open Grand Prix Table Tennis Tournament 6th/7th February.

Band 6 National Title for Max Tupper!

Josh Band takes a sackful of top ranked international scalps!

Four of the Island's top Juniors travelled to Salisbury over weekend to compete with more than 140 others in a Grand Prix event at the Five Rivers Leisure Centre. Josh Band, Luke Walker and Max and Hugo Tupper played in banded groups of ability due to ranking points and also in the Men's Open and Under 21 Men's events.

In the Banded groups [where Band 1 is for the highest ranked players down to Band 6 for the lowest ranked players] they all achieved some fantastic results in the two bands that they were eligible for due to their ranking points, [their own ability group and one higher].

In Band 6 from a field of 27 players, Max and Hugo Tupper both won their groups unbeaten to make the knockout with Hugo beating the number 2 seed to claim his automatic slot in the quarter finals. Max joined him after defeating Dave Fung from Wales. This set up a last eight match for the elder Tupper against Liam Robilliard from Guernsey. He duly converted in fine style whilst his brother also reached the semis with a 3--0 win over Wiltshire's Adam Valovec. Max then met Alan Cherry from Buckinghamshire who had unseated the No. 1 seed in his group. After a shaky start Max eased through the gears to eventually storm to the final 9/11, 11/9, 11/5, 11/5. Hugo just missed out on a sibling final losing out narrowly to Danny Lawrence form Kent 3--1. Max then made no mistake in the final exacting family revenge on Lawrence 12/10, 9/11, 11/6, 11/4. A BAND 6 OPEN SENIOR TITLE FOR 15 YEAR OLD MAX TUPPER!!

The step up to Band 5 and a field of 43 players proved to be more testing with Hugo Tupper being eliminated at the group stage after a single win and two extremely close five game losses. Max Tupper won his group at a canter all by perfect 3--0 scores but came unstuck in the knockout preliminaries losing 3--1 to John Wilson from Sussex. Luke Walker also entered the fray with three hard fought wins to top his group including one against the Band 5 No. 1 seed David Walton from Wiltshire which he claimed 3--1. He then met Danny Lawrence who was runner up to Tupper in the Band 6 final. This time the talented Junior from Kent was not to be denied and Walker exited in the last 16.

Band 4 and the aptly named Josh Band, installed as No.4 seed started his campaign in a field of 32 players. He eased through the gears to win his group unbeaten despite a slight wobble against the awkward Hiroshi Matsuura from Middlesex going down 8/11, 9/11, before storming back 13/11, 11/9, 11/8 to reach the last sixteen. Walker also made the last sixteen as runner up of his group with two impressive wins and a loss against higher ranked opponents. Walker put up a brave effort against the No.1 seed Nathan Bingham from Dorset but the experience of the older player told as he took the match 8/11, 9/11, 8/11.

Band lost in the fifth game to Andy Smith from Avon with an incorrect let call early in the last game being called by Smith when Band had already won the point. This unsettled Band who went on to lose the game and the match.

Band 3 with Josh Band being the only representative at this higher level and an entry of 39 players. On paper there was no way that the 16 year old De La Salle student with 1666 ranking points was going to make it through the group. However such is the progress and of this young player that..............he stormed the group as winner beating en route Lee Morgan from Wales 15/13, 8/11, 11/9, 4/11, 11/9 followed by Ireland's No.16 ranked senior Rory Scott [2120 ranking points] 6/11, 11/4, 11/9, 14/12 and then for good measure the even higher ranked Anthony Johnson from Middlesex [2190 points] 11/9, 11/5, 5/11, 11/6 !! There followed a long wait to play in the last sixteen and Band's momentum was eventually halted by Dean Cundy from Wales who avenged the defeat suffered by his fellow countrymen in the group stages.

All four Jersey juniors then played in the Men's Open and the Under 21 Men's singles.

In the MENS SINGLES OPEN with 76 entries Max Tupper took full advantage in his reduced group of three players and despite losing 3--1 to the lower ranked Michael Andrews from Essex he converted against the powerful Hungarian Zoltan Kulics by three games to one to claim the runner up slot. His joy was short lived however having to play in the preliminary knockout stage against Billy Pegg ranked 39 for the tournament and boasting 2303 ranking points to Tupper's senior one of single figures. Max played really well and took a game off the man from Shropshire but Tupper could not stem the barrage of smashes and finally succumbed 3--1. Luke Walker [739 points] likewise had a reduced group and seized his chance by winning against a lower ranked scratch entry and then beating higher ranked opposition Dave Marshall from Wiltshire [ 898 points] to win his group. 13 year old Hugo Tupper was meanwhile under the cosh in a really tough group and despite three spirited performances particularly against Lewis Gray from Kent and Luca Mariano from Essex he bowed out at the group stage. Josh Band had two matches that he should have won being in the lead in both, one against higher ranked Fred Cutler form Devon [ 1887 points] which he lost in 4 close games and then the same scenario against lower ranked David Walton from Wiltshire. With a place in the knockout stage now impossible Band made up for the disappointment with his best win to date and indeed the best win of any Jersey junior at a senior Grand Prix tournament. His scalp was that of Yasa Mauthoor ranked 20 for the tournament with a whopping 2793 ranking points!! Band played his usual patient game blocking intelligently and keeping the rallies going to winkle out an error from his opponent.The match swung back and forth with Mauthoor twice coming back to level at two games all, 11/5, 6/11, 15/13, 9/11. But it was Band who kept his nerve and focus to close out the match 11/9 in the final game for yet another maximum ranking points win.

So Luke Walker was the only Jersey junior to make the final 32 and he celebrated with a gritty 3--2 win against Michael Andrews from Essex who despite being lower ranked was a tough nut to crack. His reward in the last sixteen was a match against the highly talented No.3 seed Matt Ware. Walker did everything he could but the power and spin of Ware proved to be too much as the England No.11 took the match 3--0.

In the UNDER 21 Mens Singles with 36 entries Hugo Tupper had a great win against Ryan Ferris from Buckingham and rattled Michael Griffiths from Devon but agonisingly lost 3--2 at the death and then 3--0 to Matt Ware to exit at the group stage. Max Tupper claimed the runner up slot in his group with two good wins against Ryan Flood from Ireland and Andy Smith from Avon and an expected loss against higher ranked Nathan Bingham albeit by the narrow margin of 2--3. Luke Walker also had two excellent wins against higher ranked players Billie Ho from Wiltshire [769 points] and Fred Cutler from Devon [1887 points] finishing up a well deserved group runner up despite losing as expected to the tournament's mercurial No. 11 seed Emran Hussain. Group 8 became the focus of attention where once again the odds were stacked against Josh Band with the number 12 and 37 ranked players for the tournament odds on to proceed from the group. Jersey's talented sixteen year old had however not read the script and started his final campaign of the Grand Prix by taking yet another huge scalp in the guise of Ceri James, the Welsh No. 7 senior!!!!!!!!!!!! Band played some breathtaking table tennis to dislodge his illustrious opponent coming back from a game down to win 8/11, 11/9, 13/11, 15/13. He also had a fine match against Richard Marshall the No.12 ranked player for the tournament and despite the 3--0 loss kept focus to grind out his necessary last match win against a determined Matt Rogers from Dorset in a nail biting five games 9/11, 11/4, 11/7, 2/11, 11/7. In the preliminary knockout stage Max Tupper had a superb chance against Lewis Gray, England's No. 5 ranked junior squaring at two all before the England player stormed the fifth with all out power play. Luke Walker also exited at the last sixteen stage but thoroughly enjoyed his match against the Wales No.4 senior Patrick Thomas gaining valuable experience. Meanwhile Josh Band was involved in yet another classic in the knockout stage against the hugely consistent Aaron McKibbin from Surrey. Band put on another majestic performance against the older UK School Games gold medallist with exhausting rallies of loops and smashes finally coming to an end in the fifth game where a ball into the net from Band finally lost him the match by a whisker 1/11, 11/7, 12/10, 10/12, 11/13.