October 13, 2025 | Graham Frankel
BATTS†2* Star Under-13 Open yesterday started with our strongest ever line-up. With four in the England top 10, three more in the top 20, and four more in the top 30, we knew would have an exciting tournament, and we were not disappointed.
The players must have been excited too, given that all the expected 48 arrived in such good time we were even able to start 10 minutes before our scheduled time.
As usual we had a wonderfully diverse group of competitors with players from 21 different clubs and 14 different counties. I stand by the slightly controversial decision made earlier this year to limit clubs to a maximum of eight entries. There is a huge benefit to be gained from competing against people from other clubs and areas.
During the group play in the morning, tension mounted as the matches got steadily closer and some of the newer players overcame their initial nerves, giving a few worrying moments to their more experienced opponents.
We had some of notable performances in the group matches where players achieved unexpected wins. Callum Campbell (Hampstead) won four of his five group matches to secure a place in Band 1. Three players overcame more experienced opponents to reach Band 2: Bradley Prosser (BATTS), Noah Clarke (Kingfisher) and Matthew Boa (Woodford Wells).
All three of the girls who entered performed well. Saskia Svoboda (Brighton) reached the semi-final of Band 2, while Sky Brafield (Rougham) and Hanusri Mohansundar (Britannia) met in the semi-final of Band 3. Hanusri won that and then went on to beat Samuel Hamilton (Ellenborough) in a very closely fought final.
We hope all three girls, and many others will continue entering our mixed events as well as our first girls-only open tournament scheduled for 5 July next year.
The Band 2 final was another extremely close encounter. The finalists, Elias Amin (Ellenborough) and Kenzo Boulton (Clissold) had met in at the group stage. In the morning match, Kenzo had narrowly won in five sets after Elias had taken the first two sets. The final was beginning to look like an exact replica, with Elias winning the first two sets, Kenzo refusing to give up and taking the next two, then building up a big lead in the decider. But Elias had other ideas. He demonstrated a calm determination to claw back the lead and win the decider. The final scores: 13-11, 11-9, 13-15, 9-11, 11-9.
The Band 1 final between the top two seeds was fascinating. We expected high-class table tennis and were not disappointed. But it had something more than that, almost like a game of chess.
Both finalists were superbly impressive. Li Hao Chen was doing his best to work out how to deal with Lusioâ€s highly skilled bat twiddling. There were times when it began to look like he might have found an answer, but Lusio managed to keep one step ahead and emerged as the grand master, winning 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. A well-deserving recipient of the £80 top prize.
We now look forward to our next junior open tournaments at BATTS. The Under-17s on Sunday 23 November is almost full, and the Under-15s on Monday 29 December has only a few places left.
Thanks to our great team of officials: Linda March, James Pettigrew and David Gatheral and to Neil Brierley for all his help and continuing to keep the club in such pristine condition.
Prize winners: Hanusri Mohansundar (Winner B3), Samuel Hamilton (Finalist B3), Kenzo Boulton (Finalist B2), Elias Amin (Winner B2), Chris Darby (Semi-Finalist B1), Daniel Pavia (Semi-Finalist B1), Li Hao Chen (Finalist B1), Lusio Wen (Winner B1), Linda March who presented the prizes.
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