British Doubles Champs - Sep 25th - Results and Report

Stahl & McKee added their 2nd major doubles title to their records of success. After a great win at the English Open in 2010, they couldn't replicate this at the 2011 English Doubles Championships, but were able to produce the goods in this event. McKee was red hot after his success at the South of London singles tournament. Backed up by the ever dependable and consistent Stahl, they were a hard pair to crack with good abilities at all 4 sports.

They were pushed fairly close by the other pairs but ultimately won the event by taking care of Lesser/Hartley in both badminton and squash which were important sports.

Left to right:

Stuart Foster, Alex Hartley, John Garland (Tournament Organiser), Chris McKee, Duncan Stahl, Keith Lesser, Anthony Phillips.

Albon/Mauroy proved their merit with a very close match against Hartley/Lesser. The pair neutralising the table tennis set and playing a good tactical badminton game took an early +20 lead going into squash. With a strong 11-1 win over Albon, Lesser handed over to Hartley who in turn beat Mauroy 10-2 (a good result for Mauroy actually). This meant a 21-19 win in tennis for Lesser/Hartley gave a gumi-arm result, this of course happened after Hartley tinned a boast at the end of the squash. Albon played very well and is an excellent tennis player, but served long at the crucial sudden death point decider.

The Mens Doubles B was hotly contested with strong pair Gavin Larkin / Hassan Kayani odds on favourites at the start given Hassan’s regular practice at the Redbridge Racketlon Club (Sunday 6-8pm).  They were dumped out of the competition by Peter Sykes and Euan Bell, a new Scottish pair from Aberdeen. This bodes well for Scottish Racketlon and gives the likes of Calum Reid and David Culshaw hope to put together a Scottish team for the World Team Champs in Bulgaria July 2012.

Left to right:

Gavin Larkin, Hassan Kayani, Peter Sykes, Euan Bell, Daniel Gillett, Patrick Garlick.

Kayani/Larkin beat Gillett/Garlick by one point. This was a great match with excellent table tennis play. Gillett showing he is a tricky customer and able to compete with top table tennis players drawing on his previous experiences.

The Mixed Doubles saw the arrival of new Hertfordshire Lady Abbie Lench (a former GB tennis player). Abbie will line up for Herts 2 at the upcoming County Championship for which Middlesex and Herts have 2 teams confirmed already. Surrey, Oxfordshire, Kent and others will surely follow in due course.

Left to right:

Celia Hooker, Patrick Garlick, Gavin Larkin and Daniel Gillett.

Full results below. An informal Ladies Doubles event also took place.

Mens A Doubles

1^st Duncan Stahl/Chris McKee

2^nd Alex Hartley/Keith Lesser

3^rd Stuart Foster/Anthony Phillips

4^th Karl Albon / Fabien Mauroy

Mens B Doubles

1^st Peter Sykes / Euan Bell

2^nd Hassan Kayani / Gavin Larkin

3^rd Daniel Gillett / Patrick Garlick

4^th Stephen Lawrence / Richard Lawrence

Mixed Doubles

1^st Abbie Lench / Gavin Larkin

2^nd Daniel Gillett / Dominique Ford

3^rd Patrick Garlick / Celia Hooker

4^th Rachel Lawrence / Stephen Lawrence