The Annual Handicap Tournament was well supported and I would like to say thank you to all that took part. As well as pairs from the Chesterfield League the Tournament attracted couples from the Sheffield, Coventry, Nottingham and Derby Leagues, with the later doing particularly well!!!
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The Mens competition saw 16 pairs split into two Groups of 8. At the end of the round robin competition Group 1 saw Andy Petty and Brian Wheatley (Venturers) lead the group with Dave O’Hare and Richard Cronin (Staveley) in 2nd. Group 2 was lead by Paul Holmes and Edward Grimwood (Alfreton) with Nick Tranter and Sam Burdon (Rolls Royce, Derby) runners up.
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In the Semi-Finals the young Derbyshire County pair of Tranter and Burdon playing off scratch overcame the ‘not so young’ County pair of Petty and Wheatley 15 - 8 playing off OH -8. In the second Semi-Final Holmes and Grimwood (the only non-county pair in the semi’s!) were outgunned by O’hare and Cronin 15 - 11 in a level game.
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The final was fairly balanced with Tranter and Burdon playing off scratch again against O’Hare and Cronin’s OH Scratch...but in the end experience won through with O’Hare and Cronin taking the Mens Handicap title 15 - 14...a great final!
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In the Ladies competition there were 8 pairs put into one group. At the end of the round robin competition Megan Griffiths and Andrea Smith (Brookside, Derby) topped the group with Julie Morris and Gill Walton (Venturers) coming in second. The straight final could have gone either way but the Derby League pairing of Griffiths and Smith playing off Scratch against Morris and Walton’s -10 took the Ladies Handicap title 15 - 11
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In the afternoon, the Mixed event saw 14 entries split into 2 groups of 7. After a very close round robin competition, and some very tired players (especially Andy Petty of Ventures, who in total with his Handicap, in both Mens and Mixed Events had played 26 games of Badminton!!! in 7 hours!!!...sorry Andy!) from group 1 emerged Robin Harris and Ruth Gee (Alfreton) as group winners with Andrea Smith and Simon Shaw (Brookside, Derby) in second place. From Group 2, Dave O’Hare and Jenny Calvert (Staveley) topped the group with Julie Morris and Nigel Rodgers (Ventures) in second.
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There were two fantastic semi-finals played out. In the first, ladies runner up Morris and her partner Rodgers playing off scratch beat mens winner O’Hare and Calvert playing off OH Scratch 15 -10. In the second semi Harris and Gee off OH -6 were beated by ladies winner Smith and her partner Shaw playing off scratch. This set up a rematch between the ladies from the earlier competition!!
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In the final, the Mixed Handicap title was won by Morris and Rodgers 15 - 7 who controlled most of the match although they started from -6 against Smith and Shaw’s scratch. All in a great day with some fantastic badminton!!
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