So last night saw another of our internal doubles tournaments taking place, this one kindly organised by the Chairman. We had 20 participants confirm in advance abd then turn up on the night, which split nicely into 10 pairs, and 2 round robin divisions of 5 teams each. Games were played to 21, no setting, and total points decided the victors.
Pairs were decided by grouping players into 4 groups based on ability, pairing one from the highest and lowest, likewise with the two middle groups. We had one exception, which saw Steve and Khartick get paired together for match practice in advance of Wed's crucial fixture, they were given a -11 flat starting handicap.
The tourney kicked off about 20 mins into club night when everyone had turned up and warmed up. No detailed match reports at this stage, but the tone for the evening was set as the first match on saw a clash of titans, as Chris and Andrea punished Karthick and Steve for not making up their handicap quickly enough.
Matches progressed in good time, keeping a good flow to the evening, but there was an air of competition. Gone was the light banter and casual rapport between club members on the other side of the net... Instead we saw people taking up match tactics and trying to find holes in their enemy's defenses. Though Ben received some boos from the crowd when he took a net kill and ignored 'the gap', hitting Emma with the shuttle instead... funnily enough no-one complained when he did similar to Rob.
The groups were decided, with a display of excellent handicapping, as Stevd snd Karthick missed out on the 3rd / 4th place playoff by 1 point, despite winning more games than the eventual takers.
The tournament wound up with Ben and Kiranam recovering from a shaky start against Martin and Rob, to take the 3rd spot. Whilst the finals saw Ian and Ruth continue to domiate as they dispatched the other group winners, Andrea & Chris.
A good night, and another one in the wings for next month!