A fine day for the 2018 SCPA Mixed Doubles held at Burridge on Sunday, September 9th. There was an entry of 28 teams, a little down on last year and slightly disappointing given there are over 180 women players in the region!
After the morning leagues, the number one seeds were defending champions Paula Fauvel (Fareham) and David Franco-Cruz (Cobbetts) with an impressive 3 wins +30. Karen Lombard & Stuart Floyd (Beacon View) were in second place. With some very strong leagues, the only other team with 3 wins was Hilary Kidd (Handcross) & Steve Daykin (Cobbetts).
In the afternoon knock-out stages, Hilary and Steve lost out to the excellent junior pairing of Francesca Evans-Jones (Adur) and Liam Floyd (Cobbetts). The juniors then found Shelley and Malcolm McKenzie too strong for them. Shelley and Malcolm reaching the semi-finals for the second year running in their final SCPA competition before they move to Scotland. They will be greatly missed by us all.
Diane and Lee Redfern from the home club (Main consolage winners last year) had another good competition winning through to the semi-finals before losing to Paula and David. With Karen and Stuart beating Shelley and Malcolm both the top seeds were safely through to the final undefeated. Stuart and Karen looked to have the game won but David and Paula survived some chances to come from behind to win an excellent final 13-12.
Sam Thatcher and Steve Lombard won the Main Consolage against the Over 50s champions Frank and Christine. The Plate final was won by Debbie and Glenn who defeated Hassi and another of our junior players, Jamie, in the final. The Plate Consolage was won by Hilary and Chris from Muscliff who were up against the Cobbetts pair of Sue and Rod.
The Wooden Spoon was run as a four team league and the Worthing double of Carol and Martin won all 3 games.
Dave Stubbs
Photos: Mike Porter
