Club Championships- Early Rounds

      It is that time of year when we determine who the Club Champions will be.  This year the Club Championships are running over the course of this week.  Matches started on Tuesday and continue through to the finals on Saturday, which wraps up with a BBQ.   This year there were a lot of divisions to be decided and many juniors were scattered throughout the divisions, forcing the "old-timers" to step up their game.

Tuesday

     A busy night as most people that entered were playing.  In the A draw, Jagroop Bhangoo made a statement by defeating Brian Porter in the first round 3-0.  In the B draw, all the seeds moved on but the highlight match of the night was Jay Patel vs. Steve Allen.  Jay hyped the match early by declaring Steve would have a tough match ahead of him.  By end of the evening however, all seeded players prevailed and Steve Allen survived to play another day.
     In the 40+, the big match of the night was Wilbur v. Lansens.  A match that could go either way.  On this night, Wilbur brought his A game and defeated Lansens in a tight match.  Other than that, all the seeds moved on.
     Moving on to doubles, which featured many entertaining matches on this night.  In B doubles the team of D'Souza/Charles rode Charles' frame winners to victory over DeMarco/Brousseau.  In A doubles, up and coming team of Khan/Guthrie (Amin/Ryan) took on veterans Guthrie/Lansens.  At first glance it appeared that the veteran experience was more valuable than youth energy.  However, as the match went on and headed into game 5, it was anyone's match.  Veteran experience eventually won out in a tight game 5.

Wednesday

     Matches on this night proved to be much closer than the previous night.  The A draw saw a great match between #1 seed Paul Gebreal and upstart Jagroop Bhangoo.  Bhangoo took Paul to a fifth game but couldn't defeat Paul in the end.  Paul is the lone adult in the A semi finals.  Jagroop, however,  was not done this night.  He continued his strong play and took down Usman Khan to earn a spot in the junior semi-final draw.
      In the 40+ draw all the seeds moved on leading to some great Friday night matches.  Without a doubt though was the match of the night.  Young vs. Old(er) (sorry Anis but as you put it "40 years of experience needs to get going").  And get going it did.  Anis was down 2-0 to Aparna but somehow found the fountain of youth and made an incredible comeback to win in an amazing game 5.   Chalk one up for the older guys.

     Matches continue every evening right through until Saturday at 4 when Graeme and Dave will be BBQing some food for everyone.