Pontypridd Open

Saturday saw the first tournament held at the newly set-up table tennis programme at Pontypridd High School. There were about 30 players entered in all, with the standards ranging from beginners to established Welsh internationals. It was played in a fun, friendly environment, along with the competitiveness and desire to win from all players.
The first event of the day was the Band 2 (for beginners) and was contested by 13 competitors. It was good to see so many Ponty players involved, also joined with new players from the Tonyrefail academy, and one from Treorchy Comprehensive. There were two initial groups, with the top three placed players progressing into the top group playing for positions 1-6, and the bottom three/four moving into the bottom group playing for positions 7-13. Kyle Adams (Pontypridd High) and Tyler Wasley (Tonyrefail) were the front runners going into the 2nd stage having stayed undefeated in the initial groups. There was also strong competition from Soffi Jenkins (Tonyrefail) and Ben Davies (Pontypridd) that had only lost once going into the final stages. It was Tyler who came out a convincing winner only dropping 1 set on route to victory. Kyle was a worthy runner-up playing very well considering the short amount of time he has been playing. Soffi took 3rd place coming out on top in a three way count back between herself, Ben and Bradley (Treorchy).
The second event of the day was the Band 1 (established players) and was contested by 10 players. This again started with two groups of five with the bottom 2 placed players playing a preliminary round to try and progress to the quarter finals. This was a highly contested event with over 50% of the group stage matches going the full distance. Connor Edwards (Tonypandy) came through his group unbeaten justifying his number 1 seed placing, only having one scare against his fellow team mate Stefan Jeczalik. Jack Parry (Tonyrefail) came through 2nd, with Stefan taking 3rd leaving Steven Fawkes (Ferndale) and Sadie Edwards (Tonyrefail) going into the preliminary rounds. In the second group the much fancied Nicole Hall (Tonyrefail) didn’t have it all her own way, losing out to the in-form Chris Griffiths (Ferndale) in a match that went the full distance. She was also made to work hard in getting past Liam Winder (Ferndale), just coming through in a tight 5th set. Tyler who had an invite to Band 1 found it tough, coming 5th with Jac Jenkins (Tonyrefail) coming 4th. Sadie and Steven came through the preliminary rounds joining Connor, Stefan, Nicole, Jack, Liam and Chris to make the final eight. The quarters were very competitive with Connor and Chris coming through fairly comfortably with wins over Steven and Sadie. The other two quarters however were a different story, and were very tight affairs with Stefan coming through against Nicole, and Jack coming through against Liam, both in tight 5th sets. The semis were played in fantastic spirit and fight with Connor coming through an exciting match 3-1 against Stefan. The other semi produced probably the match of the day with Jack and Chris both hitting top form producing a very exciting spectacle. It was Chris who came through in a tense 5th set, setting up a Final encounter with Connor. However, it wasn’t meant to be for Chris who couldn’t reproduce his top form, resulting in Connor coming through a 3-1 winner, taking the prize on offer.
The final and main event of the day was The Open. This was made up of players from the previous events as well as the inclusion of Cameron Thomas, Benjy Gregory, and Brian Kerley who along with Connor Edwards made up the top 4 seeds. The groups went as seeding suggests, with them all progressing through. They were joined by Chris, Jack, Liam, and Nicole who were the runner-ups in each group. In the quarters the highlight was Connor against Liam, this was a fantastic match that went all the way with Connor finally joining Cameron, Benjy and Brian who all progressed safely through. The semis were set to be exciting with all 4 seeds making it through, in the first Cameron came through comfortably against Brian, booking his place in the final. The other produced a great match between Connor and Benjy. It was Benjy who had that little extra experience coming through 3-2 to set up a final encounter with Cameron. The final was a good match which was won by the tournament favourite Cameron coming through in three close sets, taking the £20 prize money on offer.